George Beahm - Trump Talk: Donald Trump in His Own Words

Avon, Massachusetts

I have a reputation for being tough, and Id like to think its justified. You must be tough when a lot of influential people are saying that your day has come and gone, when your marriage is breaking up, and when business pressures are increasing. Toughness, in the long run, is a major secret of my survival.

Donald Trump, Trump: Surviving at the Top

Ive told people from the beginning: Never underestimate Donald Trump. He has been very successful for a reason. He knows how to market, and specifically he knows how to market himself, very well. He also understands what the customer wants.

Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader (Washington Post, August 14, 2015)

As with all the candidates running for the presidency of the United States, Donald Trump needs to be taken seriously. After all, he has put his money (hes pledged up to $1 billion), his time, and his reputation on the line. No matter what one thinks of Trump, who in the early stages of the race has towered over his fellow candidates in terms of invaluable media coverage, there can be no dispute that the principal issues hes brought upimmigration, fair trade, foreign policy, jobs, and the federal deficitstand at the center of every candidates concerns, regardless of party affiliation.

Win or lose, Trump is in the race. He stands at the center of a political maelstrom inside and outside his party and is on the offensive with a full court press. A Republican win in 2016 potentially means a clean sweepboth houses of Congress and the president will be on the same team. And precisely because the Republicans havent had one of their own in the Oval Office since George W. Bush (20012009), the pressure is on to nominate a winning candidate who can defeat the putative Democratic front-runner, currently Hillary Clinton.

By design, this book is nonpartisan on the subject of Donald Trump, because I want to present a more rounded picture of him. What are his thoughts on his political life, business life, and personal life? By reading his own words, by hand-picking selected quotes from his life from the past forty years that illustrate what todays voters are interested in knowing, we understand how he thinks.

I strove for impartiality precisely because hes a polarizing figure: either people love him or they dont, and their minds are already made up.

I hope that this book will provide food for thought, and show different sides of Trump by putting his life and his run for high office in perspective.

Will Donald trump Hillary? Will both be bushwhacked by Jeb? Or will a dark horse emerge from the shadows?

No one knows, but one thing is for certain: The race is on, the stakes are high, and you cant count anyone outleast of all Donald Trump, a businessman-turned-politician who is anteing up to place the biggest bet of his life.

We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Before the first Republican presidential primary debate, Star Trek-like shields were raised by the Fox News anchors who were concerned about Donald Trump playing a wild card, fearing that hed ignore the protocol and turn an otherwise formal debate into his own reality TV show. In that event, moderator Bret Baier held a nuclear option in reserve: As Stephen Battaglio wrote in the Los Angeles Times (How Fox anchor Bret Baier prepared for the GOP debate and got an instant headline out of Donald Trump, August 9, 2015), in the event Trump went ballistic, theyd tell him, Mr. Trump, in your business you have rules. You follow rules. We have rules on this stage. We dont want to have to escort you to the elevator outside this boardroom. Baier added: Were hoping we dont have to use it, [but] were locked and loaded.

As it turned out, the nuclear option was not needed, but Trump unwittingly created a tempest in a teapot by attacking Megyn Kelly, a Fox News moderator for the debate who asked,... how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who [is] likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?

Roger Stone, a former political advisor who helped Trump prep for the debate, cautioned him beforehand on how to handle such a question. According to the Washington Post (Growing pains for a sudden front-runner, by Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, August 10, 2015), Stonewho soon thereafter left his position, claiming he resigned, though Trump says he was firedtold him to exercise moderation. Dont get dragged down by petty attacks, Stone counseled Trump, but begin offering an agenda focused on the economy and hammer home what makes you a singular candidate.

As the newspaper reported, Trump did not heed the advice. Instead, after briefly flipping through the papers, he decided to wing itjust as he vowed to do.

Instead of explaining, as many think he should have, that he respects women, that he has many women working for him in the Trump Organization, and in key executive positions, and that his random comments shouldnt be taken as representative of the whole, Trump chided Ms. Kelly: Honestly, Megyn, if you dont like it, Im sorry. Ive been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldnt do that.

But the next day, Trump was out for blood, attacking her online, saying she had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.

Her wherever was construed by the media to be a reference to menstrual flow, and Trump suddenly found himself in the middle of a bloodbath, starting with a cancellation as the headlined speaker at Erick Ericksons RedState Gathering in Atlanta scheduled two days later. At his event, Erickson said, I dont want my daughter in the room with Donald Trump tonight, so hes not invited. If our standard-bearer has to resort to that, then we need a new standard-bearer.

Time magazine online (Time.com, August 8, 2015) quoted a spokesman for Trumps campaign who said, This is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all of the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader. Well now be doing another campaign stop at another location.

The war of words between Donald Trump and the media at large, and between himself and, indeed, anyoneeven with his own partywho in his mind has treated him unfairly, will continue to escalate even as the GOP tries to contain it.

The Washington Post (Trump sparks recoil in GOP, by Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, August 9, 2015) summarized the situation: Fearful that the billionaires inflammatory rhetoric has inflicted serious damage to the GOP brand, party leaders hope to pivot away from the Trump sideshow and toward a more serious discussion among a deep field of governors, senators and other candidates. The newspaper continued, They acknowledge that Trumps unique megaphone and the passion of his supporters make any calculation about his candidacy risky. After all, he has been presumed dead before after making incendiary comments about fellow Republican and Arizona senator John McCain and fellow candidate Carly Fiorina.

Meanwhile, Democratsespecially front-runner Hillary Clintonare looking on gleefully, biding their time, expectantly waiting for Donald Trumps campaign to implode.