What can we learn from Donald Trump’s past? Before the US election day, SBS Dateline follows the path from his millionaire upbringing to business successes, and failures. Who is this ‘apprentice president' and what is it about him that has everyone’s attention?
“He was not there for the purposes of making friends, he had to get marks, he needed to please his parents,” former classmate Peter Ticktin says on tonight's Dateline.
He has fond memories of Trump from their time at a military academy in New York, but no doubt that he was destined for leadership.
School yearbooks show Trump as a captain in football, baseball and basketball, and he was the highest ranked in his company.
“I think he was on a mission when he went to school… I think he’s been on a mission all his life.”
Those schoolmates have watched as his empire has risen high into the skies over Manhattan. But in Atlantic City, there are now few winners at the former Trump casino complex.
Donald Trump in the yearbook from the military academy he attended between the ages of 14 and 18. Source: Dateline
“Donald Trump, when he was here in the city, offered a lot of hope, but he took the hope away,” says Bill Southrey, who’s head of the rescue mission that now provides a soup kitchen serving many former employees.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Trump casinos were the biggest and most expensive in the world.
Signs in Atlantic City with the 'Trump' name removed reveal the location of what was once the biggest casino complex in the world.
Signs in Atlantic City with the 'Trump' name removed reveal the location of what was once the biggest casino complex in the world.
Now, part of the empire has had to be rescued from bankruptcy by another investor, while peeling signs with the ‘Trump’ name removed are all that’s left of the rest.
Today, Atlantic City has one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States.
“My impression of him is, ‘don’t bother me with the problems, just give me all the gold’,” Bill says.
But as Dateline follows the Trump campaign across America, it becomes clear that those disillusioned with politics are among his biggest supporters.
Signs in Atlantic City with the 'Trump' name removed reveal the location of what was once the biggest casino complex in the world. Source: Dateline
“Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” he tells a cheering crowd. “Until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists,” he says of Mexicans, and tells another crowd of supporters in South Carolina that he’ll build a 2,000 kilometre wall along the border.
It’s comments like those that especially concern Randall Pinkett, who won ‘The Apprentice’ reality TV show fronted by Trump in 2005.
“Donald is a master public relations expert, he’s a marketing guru,” Randall says. “He knows how to brand himself, he knows how to present himself, he knows how to tell his story.”
Eleven years on, he runs his own finance business, but is now disillusioned with his former idol.
“I think that the man has an issue with race and it’s starting to come to light,” he says. “We were cool, but we’re not cool now, after the Muslim comment.”
The huge Trump PR machine also stands between the man and the media at highly stage managed rallies and few cameras have ever filmed inside the Trump Tower campaign headquarters in New York.
'The Apprentice' winner Randall Pinkett with Donald Trump in 2006. Source: Wire Image
But why is it largely deserted at such a busy time for the campaign?
“There’s no strategy,” admits one of his advisors, Guido Lombardi, as other staff ask for filming to stop. “His only strategy is the primaries.”
“It’s a strange campaign, not your traditional campaign,” manager Rosine Ghawji concedes. “You can’t stop him, he has too many followers.”
“It’s nothing to do with the Republican Party, it’s only to do with the people who are completely disorientated in this country and don’t know who to turn to.”
What does it all say about the real Donald Trump? See the story on tonight's Dateline at 9.30pm on SBS.
No one has filmed inside the Trump campaign headquarters before, but Dateline reveals a surprising insight. Source: Dateline
