I attended a wedding a couple of weekends ago at Trump’s Mar A Lago estate & club in Palm Beach Florida. After a glorious wedding party I stood in the front driveway waiting for my Uber to take me back to my hotel. One of the valets came over and we started chatting. I couldn’t resist asking him his thoughts on Mr Trump.
“So, have you met Donald Trump?” I asked knowing full well that he gets asked that question all day long. I expected him to launch into some sort of prepared answer that would quickly end the conversation but instead he spoke candidly about “the” Donald.
He described Trump as someone who cares deeply about the people who work for him. A boss who will sit down and talk to his employees, remember their names, details about their lives, and often tip with hundred dollar bills. Nobody is too low in the organization for Trump, he will strike up conversation with everyone from the gardener to the valet. The Trump he described sounded like a pretty good guy who takes care of his employees. Someone that you would be lucky to have as your boss.
Following the very flattering description of what it is like working for Mr. Trump the valet started talking about Trump’s politics. He wasn’t careful in the words he chose or what he shared. He was all too happy to talk about his employer who in his own words has been a great boss. He said that Trump runs for President because he likes the publicity it brings for his TV show. It helps keep him in the spotlight and that reinforces the Trump brand which is good for business.
He’s run for President a few times before without much of a chance of winning. With the current election campaign however, Trump was shocked to see that he had a shot at winning the election. That wasn’t at all the plan from the start but the valet described a man who decided to grab the bull by the horns and go with it.
As the campaign unfolded it was clear the Trump was out of his element. That he had no idea what he was doing so he was relegated to doing the things Trump would do to publicize himself. The valet said that as things became more real for him he scrambled to find people who could help him make his campaign a real contender.
Looking back on Trump’s actions during the early days of the campaign, the valet’s story seems legit. It was fun talking to him and getting his insight into Trump. I’m not sure how much of this is his own opinion versus the real story so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe his story is closer to reality than one would like to believe. Truth is often like that.
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