Trump is the bombastic, aggressive, fearless business leader who is ready to take on any challenge, defend his often controversial opinions and relentlessly pursue his goals.
But in a story I reported on about the day that the presumptive GOP nominee cheated death showed another side…fearful, hesitant and…even sadness evidenced by a tear.
On October 10, 1989 a helicopter crashed along the Garden State Parkway killing three Trump executives: Stephen Hyde, 43, chief executive of Trump’s Atlantic City casinos, Mark Etess, 38, chief executive officer of the unfinished Taj Mahal casino, and Jonathan Benanav, 33, executive vice president of Trump Plaza. All three men were the masterminds of Trump’s expanding Atlantic City empire.
As fate would have it, Donald Trump was not onboard, but he was a changed man after the crash…even crying in public.
“Donald is standing alone at the casket, and looking at the picture of Stephen Hyde, and Jack [co-author of Trumped!] said he was certain that he saw a tear in Donald’s eye as he was standing there alone. But then he said like that he turned around and he said he was on again,” said James Rutherford, author of “Trumped!”
Shows me that the portrayal of any national figure in the media is only a part of the story. Even The Donald is capable of emotion. People should understand that there’s a human component to even the harshest business leaders.
Guess the only question I have is whether the tear Trump dropped that day was for his friend who would not be at his side any longer…or the reality that without this rising business star, the AC experiment might crash and burn as well.