The Trophy Life
You think Donald Trump's hit reality show is a circus? Spend a few weeks watching him work.
Monday, April 5, 2004
By Daniel Roth
Donald Trump is not a great promoter. He has explained that to me a number of times already. "See, I don't view myself as a good promoter," he said during a five-hour flight from New York to Los Angeles on his private 727. "People say I'm a great promoter. People say I'm the greatest promoter that there is. Anywhere." So when we meet the next morning in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel, it's a relief to see that he's working through his promotional problems: On his head is a red baseball cap bearing the coat of arms Trump created for himself (a hand clutching an arrow, resting on a knight's helmet, which is perched over three leaping lions) and, emblazoned in gold, trump international, the name of his Florida golf course. His yellow Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt also sports the insignia, as does the white golf shirt underneath. Only his khakis are logo-free, along with his golf cleats.
What Donald Trump is great at, Donald Trump tells me, is building buildings, inside and out. And today he's focusing on the minute details of the inside, climbing into a limo for a trip to the factory of J.P. Weaver Co., which makes, he says, "the most incredible moldings you'll ever see." Trump is adding a 17,000-square-foot ballroom to his Palm Beach private club, Mar-a-Lago, a 128-room mansion built in 1927 from Dorian stone imported from Italy and containing 36,000 Spanish tiles dating back to the 15th century. And as soon as he walks into the company's showroom, designed to resemble a room at Versailles, he has seen enough.
"This is exactly what I'm looking for," he says to owner Lenna Tyler-Kast, his plastic cleats clicking along the hand-laid cherry floor. The room is a riot of celadon moldings—flowers in urns, flowers on their own, curlicues, leaves, tasseled ropes, ribbons. "Not the ceiling, by the way," Trump warns. "The ceiling no, the walls yes. I also think the mirrors should have this." He fingers a delicate strip of molding that splits a mirror into a grid. "The moldings are very important in the mirror." A few minutes later, as Tyler-Kast handles other business, Trump marvels at what he's seen. "Unbelievable," he says in a low whisper. "Can you imagine if I can pull that off in a huge room?" As soon as she comes back, though, the famously pursed lips return. "What's your price? I hope that you'll give me a discount. No. 1, because I'm Trump."