THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2015
ELECTION 2016
5A
A TV star, Trump
the say-anything
candidate
Ivana Trump. All are married
and working as executives in
WASHINGTON — Don- their father’s business. Donald
ald Trump has been telling -U KDV ¿YH FKLOGUHQ ,YDQND
people for nearly three decades has two.
—college-age daughter
that he is what they really need
in the White House — a busi- Tiffany, born to second wife
ness-hardened deal-maker in Marla Maples, is an aspiring
singer who has followed her
chief.
Now that he is running for father’s footsteps to the Uni-
president, Trump gets to say versity of Pennsylvania.
—his youngest child,
it Thursday night from center
stage and in prime time as the 9-year-old Barron, is the son
top-polling candidate in the of Trump’s current wife, Me-
¿UVW 5HSXEOLFDQ SUHVLGHQWLDO lania.
“I think I’m a nice person.
debate of the 2016 campaign.
A guide to the say-any- Does my family like me? I
think so,” Trump said at his
thing candidate.
campaign announcement.
Associated Press
Trump is ‘really rich’
Most everyone knows
Trump is, as he puts it, “really
rich.”
Politicians tend to play
down the wealth that separates
them from most in the United
States. Trump, on the other
hand, has long been accused
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even the size of his debt when
he nearly went bust in the
1990s — for dramatic effect.
“A little hyperbole never
hurts,” Trump wrote in his
1987 book, “The Art of the
Deal.” “People want to believe
that something is the biggest
and the greatest and the most
spectacular.”
Trump says he is worth
about $10 billion. The
wealth-trackers at Forbes
magazine say $4 billion. The
Bloomberg Billionaires Index
puts him at $2.9 billion.
Much of the difference
stems from disagreement over
the value Trump assigns to his
famous name. He emblazons
across skyscrapers, resorts and
golf courses, but also leases
it out to brand other peo-
ple’s properties and products.
Trump says his name alone is
worth more than $3 billion.
%DVHGRQWKHLPSUHFLVH¿-
nancial disclosures required of
federal candidates, it’s safe to
say Trump is a billionaire, and
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ney, or year’s Democratic
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Clinton.
Trump says that unlike the
other candidates, he will not
be beholden to campaign do-
nors. “I don’t need anybody’s
money. I’m using my own
money.”
Building the family
business
Trump’s father got him
started in real estate. “I learned
so much just sitting at his feet
playing with blocks listening
to him negotiate with subcon-
tractors,” Trump said in June
as he announced he was run-
ning for president.
Fred C. Trump built and
owned thousands of rental
apartments and townhouses in
the New York City boroughs
of Brooklyn and Queens. The
family estimated his worth
at between $250 million and
$300 million when he died in
1999.
A natural showman, Don-
ald Trump says he was drawn
to the glamour of a mov-
ie-making career as a young
man. But he decided going
into the family business would
be smarter.
He worked for his father
while earning an economics
degree at the University of
Pennsylvania. By the time he
graduated college in 1968,
Trump says he was worth
about $200,000 — more than
$1 million in today’s dollars.
Trump, 69, says he ignored
his father’s advice by ven-
turing into the big leagues of
Manhattan real estate, where
he made his fortune. He re-
members telling his father: “I
gotta build those big buildings.
I gotta do it, Dad.”
Past runs for president
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of running for president as far
back as 1987, when a New
+DPSVKLUH 5HSXEOLFDQ DF-
tivist started a “draft Trump”
campaign.
Trump did not run, but
gave a teaser speech preview-
ing the pitch he still uses today
— that virtually all U.S. poli-
ticians are incompetent and
only he, as a master negotiator,
can outfox foreign leaders. It’s
a theme he often has come
back to.
“Our leaders are stupid.
They’re stupid people. It’s just
very, very sad,” Trump said in
a profanity-laced speech at a
Las Vegas casino, hinting at a
2012 presidential run that did
not happen.
Ahead of the 2000 elec-
tion, Trump took it up a notch
with a political book, “The
America We Deserve,” laying
out a mix of liberal and con-
servative views: He called for
universal health care, support-
ed abortion rights with some
restrictions and endorsed
tougher criminal sentences
and the death penalty.
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Party, created by billionaire
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blaming the rickety third par-
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Trump has mused publicly
about joining every presiden-
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idea of running for governor
of New York.
He acted like he meant it
in 2011, unleashing a new,
more-conservative
politi-
cal book, bashing President
Barack Obama’s health care
law, questioning whether
Obama was born in the U.S.,
and giving countless speeches
and interviews.
But that May, Trump an-
nounced that while months of
XQRI¿FLDO FDPSDLJQLQJ KDG
convinced him that he could
win the White House, his heart
was in his business, including
hosting the reality TV show
“Celebrity Apprentice.”
Cost to celebrity
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many senators and governors,
only Trump can boast a star
on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. His celebrity status —
cultivated for years as billion-
aire-about-town, author of get-
rich-like-me books, and star of
his two “Apprentice” shows
— has helped him leap to the
front of primary polls.
Forays into politics are
usually good for promoting
one’s personal brand. But this
time Trump has taken some
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His remarks characteriz-
ing Mexicans crossing into
the U.S. illegally as crimi-
nals, drug dealers and rapists
sparked an angry backlash,
prompting NBC to drop its
broadcasts of the Miss Uni-
verse and Miss USA beauty
pageants, which were a joint
venture between the TV net-
work and the billionaire.
Spanish-language network
Univision refused to broadcast
Miss USA. OraTV, a compa-
ny backed by Mexican billion-
Trump at home
“The Donald” of splashy aire Carlos Slim, said it was
1980s and 1990s tabloid fame ending a project under devel-
is a grandpa now. He has had opment with Trump.
The PGA moved its
two highly publicized divorc-
HV WKUHH ZLYHV ¿YH FKLOGUHQ Grand Slam of Golf out of
Trump’s Los Angeles golf
and seven grandchildren.
course. Macy’s stopped sell-
The Trump brood:
—three grown children — ing Trump-branded shirts and
Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric ties. Serta dumped a Trump
²IURPKLV¿UVWPDUULDJHWR mattress.
Stephen B. Morton/AP Photo
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Bluffton, S.C., in July.
Republicans take a crowded stage
in opening debate of campaign
Trump and
Bush in,
Fiorina and
Perry out of
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debate
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Ten
candidates have made the
FXW IRU WKH ILUVW 5HSXEOLFDQ
presidential debate Thurs-
day, with polling front-run-
ner Donald Trump hoping
for a civil evening but ready
to pounce if attacked.
The seven others lagging
in the polls and relegated
to an afternoon forum? Call
them the not-ready-for-
John Raoux/AP Photo
prime-time players, at least Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks in Orlando,
in the eyes of debate orga- Fla., in July.
nizers.
Sharing the Cleveland
stage with the billionaire
businessman will be former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wis-
consin Gov. Scott Walker,
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ken-
WXFN\6HQ5DQG3DXO)ORUL-
GD6HQ0DUFR5XELRUHWLUHG
neurosurgeon Ben Carson,
former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee, New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie and Ohio Gov.
John Kasich.
Candidates with time to
watch that debate are former
tech executive Carly Fiori-
QD IRUPHU 7H[DV *RY 5LFN
Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bob-
by Jindal, South Carolina
Sen. Lindsey Graham, for-
PHU3HQQV\OYDQLD6HQ5LFN
Santorum, former New York
Gov. George Pataki and for-
mer Virginia Gov. Jim Gilm-
ore.
The largest field of con-
Denis Poroy/AP Photo
tenders in modern memory Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks in San Diego in July.
challenged debate organiz-
ers. Fox News relied on an
Amy Frederick, an aide to
average of five national polls
Fiorina, wrote supporters.
to decide the lineups for the
“With many more debates
prime-time debate and the
to come, we fully expect
forum four hours earlier.
that Carly will soon stand on
“We never ever envi-
the stage and show America
sioned we’d have 17 ma-
what real leadership looks
jor candidates,” said Steve
like.”
Duprey, New Hampshire’s
Jindal
spokeswoman
UHSUHVHQWDWLYHWRWKH5HSXE-
Shannon Dirmann issued
lican National Committee
a challenge of sorts: “The
who helped craft the debate
governor will debate anyone
plan. “There’s no perfect
anywhere at any time.”
solution.”
Candidates already began
to turn their attention toward
Trump’s surge a
Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
Trump.
Asked about Trump while
Bob Kunst of Miami Beach, Fla., wears a Hillary Rodham
surprise
5HSXEOLFDQRIILFLDOVZHUH Clinton mask and holds an anti-Hillary poster outside the courting religious conserva-
tives on Tuesday, Bush said
particularly concerned about Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Wednesday.
Fiorina’s status, hoping she
the businessman’s rhetoric
would help balance Demo- discuss the issues” in the the support of 3.2 percent on immigrants is “wrong.”
cratic front-runner Hillary course of a “very civil” de- of voters. But after taking ‘’We have a different tone
5RGKDP &OLQWRQ¶V SXVK WR bate. Still, he made clear that the margin of error into ac- and a different view,” he
rally women. Trump’s re- if attacked, he would have count, Monmouth noted that said.
Kasich’s support could be
cent surge in the polls, a “to do something back.”
“I respect the fact that
Trump was far and away as low as 1.5 percent, while he’s the front-runner for the
VXUSULVHWRPDQ\5HSXEOLFDQ
officials, damaged Fiorina’s the front-runner in the five almost any of the candidates 5HSXEOLFDQ QRPLQDWLRQ´
most recent national polls who polled lower could be Bush continued. “This is
chances.
6RPH 5HSXEOLFDQV IHDU that determined the debate that high or higher.
a serious thing. But I think
Five more party-sanc- to win and govern the right
that Trump’s rhetoric on im- lineup. Several candidates
migration and other issues were grouped together in the tioned debates are scheduled way — we have to unite
single digits, most separated before primary voting be- rather than divide.”
could hurt the party.
“I probably am the tar- by a number smaller than the gins in February.
AP News Survey Spe-
get,” he said Wednesday margin of error.
cialist Emily Swanson in
For example, in a Mon-
on ABC’s “Good Morning
Washington and Associated
One opportunity
America.” He said he did mouth University survey
Press writer Eric Schelzig in
among many
not want to attack any of his released Monday, Kasich
“This first debate is just Nashville contributed to this
rivals and preferred to “just was the 10th candidate with one opportunity of many,” report.