He had left Ivana for Marla Maples, a beauty queen from Georgia, who, according to Trump biographer Wayne Barrett, was selected to enhance Trump’s political viability among southerners in preparation for another presidential run.4 Barrett’s claim in his 1992 Trump biography—which was not rereleased until 2016—is in direct contrast to the “Trump is a political neophyte” myth often spread by a credulous mainstream media.
