Lucky Loser Quotes

“The January 17, 1984 letter to his fellow USFL team owners did encapsulate what became Donald Trump’s three-step rhetorical style, a pattern so predictable and unique it could be branded “Trump Logic.” First, he confidently makes an assertion that often oversimplifies or ignores the truth of the matter. He builds upon that soft foundation with an act of clairvoyance, claiming to know what large groups of people fear, or at whom they laugh, as proof that his original assertion was true. Finally, he closes the deal by making clear that disagreeing with his un-facts or his psychic vision is prima facie evidence of stupidity.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“Thanks to his tax lawyers and accountants, and an assist from President Obama, Trump had essentially collected more than $90 million for failing.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“He certainly appeared rich. That he had received the equivalent of a half billion dollars from his father, another half billion as a reality television star, and lost much of that money creating an illusion of success, never came up.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“He would pursue litigation with no regard to his chances of victory or the costs involved. When he lost, he would invent a phony enemy, or assign a phony motive to a real enemy, and reframe it as a victory.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“office. “I bought some land,” Trump would say enthusiastically. “Let’s do another golf course!” — One Friday, Trump stood”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“for those moments when Trump’s choice threatened to reflect badly on him, Burnett’s producers deployed television magic to save face. “Our job then was to reverse engineer the show and to make him not look like a complete moron,” Braun said. They would go back through the tape from the week—the contestants were filmed at nearly every waking moment—and selectively choose snippets “to make the person who he fired look not as good.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“Here’s the part that may sting most in a country that sees itself as history’s greatest meritocracy: Good things happened to Donald Trump. He did not earn most of those good things. He was born. He was discovered by a revolutionary television producer. And he was pushed into an investment against his will. And from those three bits of good luck came the equivalent today of more than $1.5 billion. That sort of tailwind could paper over a litany of failure and still fund a lavish life. And there is no evidence that in fifty years of labor Donald Trump added to his lucky fortunes. He would have been better off betting on the stock market than on himself.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“On that day in June 1990, Trump owed banks and bondholders $3.4 billion, nearly all of it high-interest debt he used to assemble his eclectic empire in about six years. His casinos alone were teetering under the interest payments on $1.3 billion in borrowed money.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“For the year The Art of the Deal was published, Trump’s core businesses reported a negative income of $45.4 million. His stock bluffs and inherited wealth had produced greater results than his business acumen. He reported $25.4 million in short-term capital gains, mostly, if not entirely, from the stocks he sold after letting investors believe he might take over the company. And he reported another $9.3 million in long-term capital gains, which appeared to be almost entirely from his father’s efforts. And despite his promise to donate royalties from the book, the records we obtained showed that he reported no charitable contributions through at least 1995.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“Trump’s lack of due diligence in major transactions, his belief that his instinct triumphed over in-depth analysis by anyone else, had become a defining characteristic. It was what stood out to Holiday executives when they partnered with him on the Plaza casino. It was what determined the fate of the USFL. It was why his plan to nearly triple the size of the previously approved project at the West Side rail yards had stalled and become increasingly costly.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“The letter did encapsulate what became Donald Trump’s three-step rhetorical style, a pattern so predictable and unique it could be branded “Trump Logic.” First, he confidently makes an assertion that often oversimplifies or ignores the truth of the matter. He builds upon that soft foundation with an act of clairvoyance, claiming to know what large groups of people fear, or at whom they laugh, as proof that his original assertion was true. Finally, he closes the deal by making clear that disagreeing with his un-facts or his psychic vision is prima facie evidence of stupidity.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“Donald had cut his costs at the end by using cheap finishings, reasoning that buyers would rip out everything and start over anyway. One interior designer, Ross MacTaggart, kept busy for years with renovations of brand-new Trump Tower apartments, replacing the cheap cabinets, Formica countertops, fake marble, parquet floor tiles, and low-end kitchen appliances.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

“Unknown for decades, we discovered that Donald would never repay at least $15 million of the money he borrowed from his father in those years. In essence, his father had given him the capital to launch a business and not received equity in those businesses. In the language of the tax code, Fred had given his son taxable gifts masquerading as loans, a likely tax fraud that went unnoticed.”
― Russ Buettner, Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success