I had the privilege of giving legal representation to The Donald in the mid ‘90s when he and architect Norman Foster teamed up to build the world’s tallest building in Shanghai, China. A Trump Tower, of course.
We were introduced by Chen Sam, a publicist we both knew. I had met Chen on a trip to Israel a few years earlier, with mutual client Elizabeth Taylor.
From the get-go we were meeting regularly for breakfast at New York’s Plaza Hotel – which he then owned. I would update him on the status of the negotiations with the Shanghai government officials. He was always polite, cheerful and analytical; his questions were thorough and he listened to the answers carefully.
As we know from a recent highly publicized brouhaha, President-elect Trump and the Chinese are equally firm on their respective bottom lines. I saw that side of the man back then, and experienced it first-hand.
Mr. Trump was always a good client. And I am glad to see he is disrupting the political New World Disorder – a phrase I coined, introduced and discussed in great detail in my first book Custom Maid Spin. I also shared a personal moment with The Donald’s wife Marla.
I blame our current World Disorder, the mess – that We the Maids – the People, have to repeatedly clean up and pay for in additional taxes, on religious leaders, career politicians and their enforcers who have subconsciously conditioned us not to look closer at their malfeasance, and I think We the Maids can sweep them out. The income inequality gap is widening as We the Maids’ tendency of ignoring bad experiences has been seized upon by the houses of worship and political halls of power.
Now that Mr. Trump is in a position to clean up dirty politics, “drain the swamp,” to quote him, of the Washington elite and its establishment disorder and paralysis politics, I would like to offer him my unsolicited advice. It comes from the books, columns and blogs that I’ve written about America’s slide toward insignificance. I believe it can help him fix the causes of our New World Disorder.
I don’t like all of Mr. Trump’s ideas, particularly immigration, but I do believe he has given voice to priorities that need to be addressed immediately, to make America and its human capital smarter, prosperous, safe and credit worthy.
To that end, I am going to start the New Year by sharing my unsolicited views with the incoming president — and you too — and write a weekly blog starting Thursday January 5 on war, January 12 and 19 on climate change and taxes, and on January 26, after Mr. Trump is inaugurated, the most important geopolitical partnership America has and must capitalize – the U.S.-Sino relationship.
I want to take this opportunity to wish The Donald a successful presidency. One that makes all Americans proud and gives them reason to crow during his first year in office – the Chinese Year of The Rooster.