No room for improvisation! Before being able to speak with Donald Trump, Corinne Scemama, journalist in the Economy department of L’Express, had been warned: the prerequisites for meeting the real estate mogul are numerous and similar to real physical and mental preparation. Once you cross the threshold of the very private Mar-a-Lago club, its host reveals himself as himself: egocentric, impatient and unpredictable. Not to mention (already) a holy horror of these “loser journalists”. A look back at the highlights of this face-to-face meeting told by Corinne Scemama.
A meeting under conditions
Meeting the famous and very controversial real estate mogul, Donald Trump, is worth it. To approach him, the photographer had to put on his only tuxedo – his wedding outfit – and I myself had to play pretty woman, starting the day with a relaxing massage, followed by a visit to a hairdresser to give me a flawless blow-dry, and ending with a make-up session.
The outstanding saleswoman at Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach (near Miami), anxious about this meeting she has organized, begs me to agree to wear a huge necklace made of gold and green stones and orange – “The same as that of Superman’s bride,” she boasts to me along with its price, $155,000 – and a matching ring, so heavy that my hand bends under the weight.
To confront the luxury real estate mogul, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at 3 billion dollars – “Add 3”, he encourages – mental preparation is, I am told, also necessary.
When the billionaire finally arrives, he shakes my hand, no doubt reluctantly – in a book, he explains that this practice is “the door open to all microbes” – then listens to Elena praising L’Express, a “great French news magazine”, and the profiles I wrote on Ralph Lauren and Sheldon Adelson, one of the kings of Las Vegas, whose fortune is ten times greater than his. This last name clicks. His eyes finally focus on me.
Although warned of his expeditious methods, I am surprised by the speed of his delivery and even more by his way of provoking questions. “Go ahead,” he urges me, after each of his answers. “He is very impatient,” pleads a collaborator. But the most disarming thing is his way of interrupting his interlocutors at every turn.
Even if the process does not work with those – many – who hate him, the attention he shows to others often makes him popular with the man in the street as well as the great people of this world. “He knows how to make you feel like you’re someone very important. Bill Clinton has the same gift,” admires Jorge Perez, his partner in Miami and South America.
In 2008, L’Express met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the American billionaire’s very private club.
© / The Express
A secret difficult to believe
At the height of his glory, the sower of skyscrapers is not about to leave the stage. Even if his children, Don Junior and Ivanka, are already responsible for ensuring the image of the brand. “I lead an exciting life, everyone wants to touch me, talk to me, meet me,” he says happily, pointing to the Mar-a-Lago garden, where the reception is already in full swing.
Before disappearing, the most American of moguls blurted out: “If I had to live again another time, I would lead a secret life…” A secret difficult to believe: in the middle of this party, strictly reserved for the rich, he shines alongside of his wife, Melania, breathtakingly beautiful, so proud of her worldly successes and of being – as always – the highlight of the evening…
Angry questions
When I mentioned his two bankruptcies, in 1990, during the real estate crisis, then in 2005, because of his casinos, in Atlantic City, he interrupted me: he was never bankrupt, he said. -he retorted, since he managed to “turn” around ten angry bankers in his favor.
The “charm sequence” ended when I mentioned the investigation by an American journalist who accused him of overestimating his fortune: “He’s a loser, like all journalists,” he blurted, suddenly getting up to greet his guests. I ran after him – the interview had barely started – and he then introduced me to a few guests: “Here is the best lawyer in the United States and he is the best financier in the United States! “
Donald Trump then stood me on the spot, without a glance and without shaking my hand – germs, always. I found myself alone with this famous financier, who started talking to me about France. I learned his name later: it was Bernard Madoff.
.