Spades are Trump (Treated Edition)

1980's: As a kid, I somehow learn of Donald Trump and his wealth. I think of all the Ninja Turtles I could buy if I was rich, and think "Donald Trump must be cool."

Sometime between the 80's and 1999: I hear Trump divorces Ivanna. I'm like "Who cares?"

Early 2000's: I learn Trump really isn't that wealthy, relatively speaking, it's just he is hyped-up 'cause he does business in New York and cultivates an ostentatious public image.

2004: "The Apprentice" debuts on NBC. I say "Dumb."

Friday, July 22, 2005: Commuting home on a Friday night, dog-tired, starvin like Marvin, I come across Trump's voice on the radio. A talk-radio show is broadcasting an entire recording of Donald Trump addressing the Senate International Security Subcommittee from the day before. Drawn in by the effusive authority Trump's words carry, I resist changing the station in order to hear him out. I begin laughing so hard that I am afraid I will get in a wreck. I reach home and stay in the car to listen to the whole recording.

It is some of the greatest audio that I have ever heard in terms of entertainment, information, irony, and wonder. To my amusement, I gained much respect for Donald Trump.

This clip is 21:23. Listen here "Congratulations, you've got a mess on your hands."

If you enjoy as much as I did, you'll want to hear the Q & A session: "I could have built it twice."

In a sense, I can't understand fully why I am so drawn to listening to these audio files. But it has to do with the unexpected collision of major vehicles of thought within the words of a man of whom I wholly underestimated.

Keeping in mind that the United Nations expects the United States to loan them the money to renovate the U.N. Headquarters, on top of the fact the U.S. pays most of the U.N.'s bloated budget, some the greatest lines Trump delivers:

"And how could you have done that for $300 million dollars, when, at that time, Senator, they were talking about $1.5 billion dollars to renovate the United Nations. And this was around December of 2000. And I said, 'Well, there's only two reasons. Either gross incompetence, or something far worse than that.' And you know what the something is, and that's corruption."

"Now, anybody that says a building of renovation is more expensive than building a new building, doesn't know the business. Because you have . . . many components that can be used. And only a fool, it only costs a fool more money."

". . . when I went to see Kofi Annan, I was actually quite excited. Because I thought that I could save this country, this world, everybody, including myself, a lot of money"
(this world? You could not only save the U.S. money, but the "world"? Amazing.)

"They didn't really care. It got a lot of press. I walked into the room, and I sat down. I felt like a head of state. I was sitting with Kofi Annan, and a door opened, and there were literally hundreds of reporters taking my picture. I said, 'What are we doing? I just want to tell you, I can build a building a lot cheaper.'"

"Mr. Conners didn't know the first thing about what he was doing. . . He had no clue. And the price, at that time, was $1.5 billion dollars. I mean, I don't know why (the price estimate today) came down, because the world has gone up. But it came down. That was in the year, approximately 2000-2001. So he didn't have a clue. I don't know if he's still there. Perhaps he is. The one thing I found him very, very good at, is that he didn't want to lose control of this project. He was a man that absolutely wanted to keep control of the project, but he didn't have even the slightest inkling of what it was all about. Knew nothing about it."
(Pinpoint definition of bureaucracy:
1. Clueless
2. Controlling
3. Clueless
Welcome to the U.N.)

". . . you have to deal in New York City construction, to see what tough people are all about, to see what tough contractors are all about. And if you haven't done it, they . . . you're not going to . . . you're going to go to school, and they're just going to take you lunch, and you're just not going to even know what happened. So this project, at $1.2 billion, will cost, in my opinion, $3 billion dollars. In my own opinion, however, in my real opinion, it should cost approximately $700 million dollars." (The U.N. wastes are made of 20% U.S. taxpayers' cash. What could an efficient organization do with 2.3 billion dollars saved? Don't ask the United Nations.)

"It's going to be a disaster. And if you know your New York City landlords, and some of you do, there is no worse human being on Earth, okay? They are going to have more fun with these folks from the United Nations, when it comes to signing that lease. And the United Nations, their heads will be spinning. Assuming there's honesty, their heads will be spinning."
(Big assumption after Oil-for-Food, the rapes by U.N. soldiers, etc.)

"I'm listening to these people that are very naive, and I respect them, but they're very naive in this world. Now, I might be naive in their world."
(It is remarkable how plain it is to notice that Trump believes in the idea of the United Nations, and would like nothing more but to report the U.N. brass is on top of their game. But he cannot dodge the truth: They are incompetent.)

"I've seen tests of asbestos, versus the new material that's being used, and it's not even a contest. It's like a heavyweight champion against a lightweight from high school. But in your great wisdom, you folks have said asbestos is a horrible material, so it has to be removed."

"When I did the Wollman Rink, the City of New York was boggled down for a period of seven years. They had spent 21 million dollars. It was a tremendous embarrassment to the Koch administration. And I said I'd like to take over the project. And they said, the New York Times came out with an editorial. The New York Post came out with a great editorial. And they said let Trump do it. And finally, the city let me do it, and I rebuilt...and believe me, I used nothing that was there before. Everything had to be gutted out, because it was totally, incompetently done. Seven years, 21 million dollars. I redid it, and the Senator remembers this very well, I guess. I redid it in three months for 1.8 million dollars, and it opened, and I still run it today, and that was quite a while ago."
(It is refreshing to hear Trump rattle off the multi-million dollar development projects he has completed successfully with no pretense of humility. It's almost vain, except it's all true and relevant. In this example, Trump does in 3 months and for $1.8 million what the City of New York could not do in 7 years and $21 million!)

"Now, I listened to one thing, and I've seen one thing, and one number that sticks out more than all of the rest. Because whether or not somebody doesn't know what New York Steam is, or what boilers are, and whether or not they have boiler rooms, which the people at the United Nations didn't do. But the number of $44 million dollars for an architect, is one of the great numbers in the histroy...In fact, I think this man is a genius, whoever he may be, wherever he may be in Italy. I think he's a great genius. I would like to meet him. He is, without question, the richest architect in the world."

"So (the original architect hired by the U.N., who has since left the project) got paid $27 million dollars. They haven't done anything. They don't even have plans. Nobody even knows what they're building, and they got paid $27 million dollars. Now, I have respect for a lot of people. And I have great respect for architects. But I'm going to give you an example. The tallest residential building in the world, my architect got paid approximately $1.5 million dollars. "

"The worst thing you can do, and you said you were in the home building business for a while...the worst thing you can do, as you know, is start a job without complete plans and specs. Because the sub-contractors will eat your lunch, right?"

"Now, I have asked, on numerous occasions, to go in, and I would help them. I would love to help them. I don't want any money. I want nothing. I've made a lot of money. I don't care. I want nothing."
(Trump would love to help the clowns at the U.N out pro bono, and they don't take him up on it. His reward would be the priceless publicity he'd deservedly receive after saving them.)

To the U.S. Senate Senate International Security Subcommittee's credit, they at least heard Donald Trump out. But the U.N.'s budget recently exploded to $1.9 billion, as reported here.
The article points out that the U.S. is wisely capping their loan to the U.N. at $600 million, and also that they are charging interest, albeit at a low rate.

Wow. A spectacular example of the impotence of men not held accountable, displayed sharply in contrast with the success one man with knowledge, ambition, and responsibility via the private sector can acheive.