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| Playboy October 2004 |
For the first installment of a series to be known as "Reading List" we present excepts from this interview with Playboy magazine.
For those interested in the magazine itself, here's our listing in the Price Guide
Downtown Magazine has a few copies, but we're holding onto them. They are not currently for sale, but, if you can locate a copy, it's sure to become a collector's item.
The Playboy interview - even though it's 12 years past - offers a unique glimpse into the man who may or may not become the next president, but certainly has had a dramatic impact on the political process.
On page 66 of the magazine, the topic turns to alcohol and drugs:
PLAYBOY: Is it true you've never had a glass of alcohol?
TRUMP: I've never had drugs and never had alcohol and never had a cup of coffee. I have had other things that perhaps other people wouldn't like. And I certainly love women in abundance. And I enjoy my work to the point that I don't even consider it work.
Page 68 offers some insight into Trump's politics and what the mainstream media found so hard to believe (that he was against the War in Iraq):
PLAYBOY: Let's talk about that. You were considering a run for the presidency in 2000. How would a Trump candidacy have been different in 2004?
TRUMP: First let me say that although I got ridiculously high poll numbers, ultimately I didn't want to run primarily because I would have had to do it on the Reform Party ticket, and I thought the Reform Party was a total disaster. You would go to a meeting, there would be fistfights, and it was ridiculous. So that wasn't for me. But things would be a lot different today, from what I've been witnessing. If I were president, I would call Saudi Arabia in right now and say, "You get those fuel prices down or you're going to pay a heavy price," because they're ripping us off left and right. Fuel is at an all-time high. I would get Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in line. We saved Kuwait. Those guys were sitting in London in the most beautiful hotels when Saddam Hussein took their country away from them. We put them back into power and now they're ripping us off for oil. I'll tell you one thing: If I were president, a whole different negotiation would be going on right now.
PLAYBOY: You've said the first Gulf War contributed to your financial problems in the 1990s. What will this war do?
TRUMP: The Persian Gulf war was a different thing. You couldn't get gasoline - that was a big difference - and interest rates got up to 21, 22 percent. But this war is a total catastrophe. We never should have gone there. You could have done spot hits instead of sending in the troops. In all fairness, it's horrible on both sides. I see beautiful Iraqi children being killed and maimed, walking around with no legs and no arms. Then I see soldiers coming home with one arm and one leg, and they're going to have to live that way - and for what? Say anything you want, but Iraq wasn't heavily into terrorism. Saddam didn't allow terrorists, because he didn't want people blowing the hell out of his country. And of course, it turns out there were no weapons of mass destruction.
PLAYBOY: What do you think should be done now?
TRUMP: It's a catastrophic situation because there's no way to get out without losing face. As soon as we leave, the country will be taken over by the next dictator and then the next one. If we leave Iraq with a wonderful new government in place, it will be overthrown in about 15 seconds, just as the Saudi government would be overthrown in about 15 seconds if we weren't protecting Saudi Arabia.
Well, that's it for the reading list, for now. If you want to read the whole interview, you'll just have to buy a copy, because we're holding onto ours... or, you can make us an offer.
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