1
WINNING AGAIN
AMERICA NEEDS TO START winning again.
Nobody likes a loser and nobody likes to be bullied. Yet, here we stand today, the greatest superpower on Earth, and everyone is eating our lunch. Thatâs not winning.
We have a president who tries to get tough and draw a line in the sand, but when that line gets crossed, there are no repercussions.
And when we try to negotiate with foreign countries? We donât stand up. We donât threaten to walk away. And, more important, we donât walk away. We make concession after concession. Thatâs not winning.
If I ran my business that way, Iâd fire myself.
Take one of the worst agreements in our historyâthe nuclear âtreatyâ with Iranâwhich John Kerry negotiated and President Obama rammed through and around Congress. (Or, rather, he convinced his party to support it and filibuster any debate or vote on it.) This is probably the most important treaty of our time, and our very stupid leaders in Washington, DC, couldnât even bring themselves to hold a discussion and vote on it.
Ronald Reagan said, âTrust but verifyââbut in this case we arenât following either piece of advice. How can we trust a man like the Ayatollah Khamenei? Just a month before we approved the treaty, he reiterated that his country was pledged to destroy and eliminate Israel, our most important ally and longtime partner in preserving some semblance of stability in the region. And as for verification, we donât even know what side-deals the International Atomic Energy Agency has struck with Iran. Or if we do know, they havenât been made public.
Thatâs not winningâthatâs criminal negligence, in my view.
Then when every Senate Republican criticized this deal (and some of the Democrats did as well), the president compared his critics to our adversaries.
In other words, he sells out his friends and allies, and then defends his treaty by comparing his critics to our enemies.
Thatâs what we call successful diplomacy?
Now weâre going to open the gates to refugees from places like Syria, which is like extending a personal invitation to ISIS members to come live here and try to destroy our country from within.
This is America today, the shining city on a hill, which other countries used to admire and try to be like.
So what can be done about it? How do we start winning again?
To start with, we need a government that is committed to winning and has experience in winning. This book is about how we do that.
In early September 2015, I spoke at a major rally in Washington, DC. I told them that we need a military that will be so strong that we wonât have to use it. And then I asked, âAre you listening, President Obama?â Almost everyone in the crowd cheered, but I understand why some of them were skeptical. Americans are used to hearing the same old promises from the same tired politicians who never produce any results, let alone any victories. I should know. For years I gave moneyâlots of moneyâto candidates from both parties who made personal pleas for my support for their campaigns. They promised to change things with new ideas and bring government back to its original, more limited purpose of protecting our country and putting our people first.
Candidate after candidate made all kinds of pledges like this, and very little, if anything, was done. How many of those problems have been solved? Nothing seemed to move forward in Washington.
Look at Congress, which has an understandably negative reputation among Americans.
And why not? They do nothing.
They canât even pass an annual budget. They constantly bicker, which means that they just throw all our problems and our huge debt on to our children and possibly our grandchildren.
This has to stop.
Finally, I realized that America doesnât need more âall-talk, no-actionâ politicians running things. It needs smart businesspeople who understand how to manage. We donât need more political rhetoricâwe need more common sense. âIf it ainât broke, donât fix itââbut if it is broke, letâs stop talking about it and fix it.
I know how to fix it.
A lot of people were encouraging me to speak out, and I realized that with my well-known success story and record of building residential and office buildings and developing public spacesâall the while accumulating personal wealthâI could inspire people to help create the most massive turnaround in American history.
Of course, there were doubters. Between journalists who sell newspapers by creating controversy, and established politicians eager to preserve the status quo that in turn preserves their jobs, there were many âexpertsâ predicting my demise. Theyâve been reading the âpolls.â Theyâve been listening to all the lobbyists and special interests saying âTrump is a threat to our well-being.â Theyâve even been saying I was a bully or that I was prejudiced or that I hated women or hated Hispanics. Some of them even saidâand this is the cardinal sin in politicsâI was willing to take on even the richest people in America with all their tax benefits.
I have proven everybody wrong.
EVERYBODY!
Suddenly, those same newspapers and âexpertsâ were only talking about my ideas. And even as Iâve had to respond to some of the toughest and dumbest questions from supposedly nonpartisan journalists, people continue to listen to me and support my ideasâand guess what? Women are flocking to my message because theyâre just as tired as men are about how little is being accomplished in Washington.
Likewise, Hispanics are climbing on board because theyâve heardâfrom Hispanic employees whoâve actually worked for me and know me as a boss and leaderâthat Donald Trump builds businesses.
Donald Trump builds buildings.
Donald Trump develops magnificent golf courses.
Donald Trump makes investments that create jobs.
And Donald Trump creates jobs for legal immigrants and all Americans.
Even the most jaded journalists are realizing that Donald Trump is for real and that the people are responding to someone who is completely different from every other politician.
No one is paying me to say these things. I am paying my own way, and Iâm not beholden to any special interests and lobbyists.
Iâm not playing by the usual status-quo rules.
Iâm not a politician taking polls to see what I should âbelieveâ or be saying.
I am telling it like it is and going to the heart of what I think will make America great again.
Iâm not a diplomat who wants everybody else to be happy. Iâm a practical businessman who has learned that when you believe in something, you never stop, you never quit, and if you get knocked down, you climb right back up and keep fighting until you win. Thatâs been my strategy all my life, and Iâve been very successful following it.
Winning matters. Being the best matters.
Iâm going to keep fighting for our country until our country is great again.
Too many people think the American dream is dead, but we can bring it back bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. But we must start now.
We need to ensure America starts winning once again.
2
OUR âUNBIASEDâ POLITICAL MEDIA
FOR A LONG TIME Iâve been the man the media loves to hate.
It hasnât taken me long to learn how truly dishonest the political media can be. At the first Republican debate, Fox journalist Megyn Kelly was clearly out to get me. And of course, at the second debate, virtually everyone was attacking me because most of their poll numbers were sinking while mine were surging.
Iâm perhaps a controversial person. I say whatâs on my mind. I donât wait to hear what a pollster has to say because I donât use pollsters. The media loves my candor. They know Iâm not going to dodge or ignore their questions. I have no problem telling it like it is. These presidential debates would normally have attracted a couple million viewers, but the first night we had 24 million tune in, and the second debate drew a similar number. These were the largest audiences in Fox Newsâ and CNNâs historyâbigger than the NBA Finals, the World Series, and most NFL telecasts.
Why do you think people tuned in? To hear the nasty questions? To watch a bunch of politicians trying to pretend they are outsiders (like I truly am) so they can be more successful? The fact is I give people what they need and deserve to hearâexactly what they donât get from politiciansâand that is The Truth. Our country is a mess right now and we donât have time to pretend otherwise. We donât have time to waste on being politically correct.
You listen to the politicians and itâs as if they are speaking from a script titled âHow Boring Can I Possibly Be?â Watching some of these people being interviewed is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Theyâre so afraid of tripping on their own words, terrified that theyâre going to say something unscripted and go off messageâthatâs the phrase they use, âgo off messageââthat they are verbally paralyzed. Theyâll do anything they can to avoid answering a questionâand the media plays the game with them.
The object of this game is to appear thoughtful while still looking like a regular guy (or gal) who would be fun to have a beer with. The pollsters tell them how to be everything to everybody without alienating anyone. These same politicians who boldly promise they are going to stand up to our enemies wonât even give direct answers to reporters. I donât play that game, because Iâm a very successful businessman and my mind-set is that this country needs to bring itself back from the depths of all our problems and the $19 trillion we owe.
At the first debate, I responded to Megyn Kellyâs adversarial question by telling her, âI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. Iâve been challenged by so many people, and I donât frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesnât have time either. This country is in big trouble. We donât win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to Russia and Iran and Saudi Arabia.â
Iâm not bragging when I say that Iâm a winner. I have experience in winning. Thatâs what we call leadership. That means that people will follow me and be inspired by what I do. How do I know? Iâve been a leader my whole life. Thousands of my employees know that Iâll deliver and help them deliver. Sometimes I can be self-effacing, injecting a little humor, having some fun, and kidding around. We have a good time. What I say is what I say, and everyone that knows me really appreciates it.
With the problems weâre facing, these debates have become âTrump versus The Others.â The attacks are coming at me from all directions, because they all know I am the only one talking about really changing this country and making America great again. The moderators read some quote of mine (or misinterpret a quote of mine) and then ask someone else to comment. Do I have the right temperament? Would I run the country like a business? When did I âactually become a Republican?â These exchanges make great TV. Sadly, theyâre almost like watching a sporting event.
And guess what? Few, if any, of these questions get to the heart of what is wrong with our country and what really matters to Americans. Itâs all very personal, because politicians (and their journalist cronies) know that the public doesnât want to hear the details of our nuclear sellout to Iran or what weâre going to do about all the federal red ink bleeding the American taxpayer dry these days. The personal exchanges between me and the others become the big story of the debate and the focus of news coverage for weeks. Youâd like to think that Fox News and CNN could do better. For the record, I think CNN and Fox treated me badly. Still, youâd think a major news network would take their responsibilities more seriously and use these debates to help the public determine who has the best plan to make our country great again.
But they missed that opportunity.
The whole debate format has worked out fine for me. The American people are smart and figured out pretty quickly what the real motives are for turning up the personal attacks against me. And I get more minutes, more front-page coverage, more requests for interviews than anyone elseâand most important for Americaâthe opportunity to speak directly to the people.
There are many reporters whom I have a lot of respect for, especially in the financial media. When the financial journalists interview you they know what theyâre doing, and they ask direct questions that can provide important information to their viewers. Thereâs money at stake and they donât play the same silly âgotchaâ games as the political media do. They canât afford to.
I donât mind being attacked. I use the media the way the media uses meâto attract attention. Once I have that attention, itâs up to me to use it to my advantage. I learned a long time ago that if youâre not afraid to be outspoken, the media will write about you or beg you to come on their shows. If you do things a little differently, if you say outrageous things and fight back, they love you. So sometimes I make outrageous comments and give them what they wantâviewers and readersâin order to mak...