Photo credit: Courtesy of Ron Kessler
“Whatever the cost of protection, it’s nothing compared to the blow to this country if an assassination occurs,” best selling author Ron Kessler told Hollywood on the Potomac regarding the escalating costs of the President-Elect’s Secret Service detail that now includes Trump Tower in NYC and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. With news that the future First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron will remain in NYC until he finishes his school year, their home in New York will require around the clock protection by taking over several floors of the Trump building which could cost as much as $3 million. “The Secret Service will do whatever it thinks is necessary to protect the President-Elect [no matter] where he wants to reside.”
Photo credit: Creative Commons
Although the author is friends with Trump, he wasn’t called during the campaign to offer SS advice.”I’ve been friends with him ever since Pam and I flew down with him on his Boeing 727-100, since upgraded to a Boeing 757, almost twenty years ago for my book on Palm Beach: The Season: The Secret Life of Palm Beach and America’s Richest Society. We spent the weekend with him at Mar-a-Lago. Ever since we’ve been in touch with him and we see him in Palm Beach. I did talk to him on the phone periodically. In terms of advice, I think that anybody who thinks they’re actually going to give Donald advice is crazy. I think that Donald marches to the beat of his own drummer. I’ve interviewed his people. I really have a good idea of what he’s all about; that is, behind the scenes. He’s very savvy. He’s very reasonable. He’s very meticulous, which is just the opposite of the provocative comments that he makes on TV. On the way down on the plane to Palm Beach, he imitated the nasal-constricted sounds of the old guard – the WASP Society – that condemned his club at Mar-a-Lago because it admits blacks and Jews. To this day, some clubs in Palm Beach still do not admit blacks and Jews, so I could not be a member. My friend Juan Williams could not be a member. This is just a little peek at what Donald is really like. He’s not prejudiced. He’s not a nut.”
Since Kessler is a ‘social insider’ with President-Elect Trump, we took the opportunity to ask him to weigh in on other things currently in the news and how he expects Trump to handle the transition and the Presidency. By way of example, the potential appointment of former Governor Mitt Romney as Secretary of State who criticized the candidate throughout the campaign. Is Trump someone that can put aside differences? Here’s what Kessler told us in January: “I expect that one of the first people that he’ll invite to the White House is Megyn Kelly. He’s just a very happy, happy guy. He’s not someone who broods and holds grudges, you know, unless someone really takes him on. A lot of this is for show to get attention.” So does Mar-a-Lago’s club admit Muslims we wondered. “Oh yeah. I haven’t encountered that issue yet with him, he’s a totally inclusive guy, totally different from what some of those statements he makes seem to imply. If you really delve down into what he said about Mexicans [for example], he’s simply making the obvious point that if someone decides to enter the country illegally, they’re more likely to also be criminals, and that we need to protect our borders.”
Ron Kessler, Donald Trump and Pam Kessler
Here are some more excerpts from the interview in January 2016 where Kessler projects a Trump win and describes how he might handle the Presidency:
“Back in the 1980s, he came up with the idea of branding real estate, which was unheard of at that time,” Kessler recalled. “Real estate was owned by these obscure companies nobody ever thought of – creating a brand to represent real estate. He created the Trump brand, which came to stand for quality and prestige. He’s doing the same thing now with his campaign. He’s branding himself to win the nomination, but when he does get the nomination, he’ll totally change his message to become more inclusive and, I think, win the wider audience to get him into the presidency.”
“He’s best at visualizing in a grand way,” he said, “what he can produce in a given area, whether it’s a golf course or a hotel or a condo. He comes up with these ideas that nobody else would have thought of. Who would have thought of the kind of rallies that he’s holding, where he’s really an entertainer as well as conveying a message? People just love it. They instinctively like him. He’s the kind of guy that you might want to have a beer with, except he doesn’t drink. That’s very important when it comes to a President. That’s one reason people like Obama. He just seems likable. At the same time, Donald projects strength, and people understand that other countries are going to fear us because they don’t want to take on Donald. When it comes to the economy, I think people understand that he would stop the over regulation. He would stop demonizing Wall Street and business and that. It will have a psychological effect where companies feel they can expand and hire more employees, because they don’t have to fear that their profits are going to be cut into by over regulation.”
Kessler gave us some examples of Trump’s personal interactions: “What’s interesting is that the head of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce last summer denounced Donald’s comments about Hispanics, or about Mexicans, and called for a boycott. Then, in September, the CEO of the Chamber, whose name is Javier Palomarez, met with Donald at Donald’s invitation and spent an hour with him. He emerged and he told news reporters, ‘My God, there’s a huge difference between the private Donald and the public one. He listened. He was respectful.’ He was really very, very impressed by Donald. That is really at the heart of the difference between the public image and the private Donald.”
“I interviewed Norma Foerder who was his top aide for 26 years,” he added. “She did everything from PR to negotiating contracts – an example of how much he respects women, by the way. She told me that there are two Donald Trumps. One is the public one where he makes provocative comments to get attention, whether it’s for his brand or now, of course, for his campaign; whereas the private Donald whom we know is quite the opposite. He’s very competent. He manages the most minute details to insist on the highest quality. I saw that when we did the first trip and we met with his lawyers and architects as he was planning his new ballroom, which he called the Pavilion because he thought the town would be more likely to approve it because it would sound smaller. He checked the architectural plans, he took a black felt pin, and he indicated just where he wanted a window, where he wanted a doorway, things that the architect had not thought of.”
Pam Kessler with Donald Trump
“Then we went out to his golf course that was built in West Palm Beach, Trump International Golf Course, and he chose the color of rocks that he wanted for the waterfalls. There were different samples, different colors. He was leaning towards white. He asked the workmen and he asked us, Pam and I, what color we liked. We liked the red, so he went with red. That’s just the way he works, very different from the blustery Donald Trump that you see on TV. Donald treats employees with respect and consideration. When Tony Senecal was out there in Palm Beach, had a stroke, he not only visited him in the hospital but he insisted that he stay at Mar-a-Lago to recuperate. That’s just typical of the way Donald treats employees. They’re very loyal. He tends to hire really smart people. It’s just a very impressive operation and I think that same competence he’ll bring to the presidency.”
“Over the years, we would go to his New Year’s Eve parties. At the latest party, the big difference was that the Secret Service was screening guests for weapons. Agents were stationed at various locations with their stony-faced look with their hands clasped in front of their chests, so that they can grab their guns more easily, more readily. There were also agents who were not wearing the traditional earpieces, who were just in the crowd, also armed of course.”
“A few days before the party, Pam and I were chatting with Donald on sofas overlooking the pool, which is always 78 degrees, along with a second pool which is right on the ocean. I asked Donald what does he make of his Secret Service protection. By the way, I urged him in August to ask for protection. I said that personal protection at that point was useless. He finally did do it in October. I asked him what he made of his agents. He said, ‘It’s great being protected when I’m playing golf. They’re all looking in different directions, so when I miss a shot they don’t see it.’”
Melania Trump and Ron Kessler
“The party was spectacular. Hors-d’oeuvres included caviar with blini, cocktail shrimp, oysters in the half shell. The guests were the club members who paid a thousand dollars per couple and some real old friends. He could have had all kind of celebrities there, but he didn’t do that. For example, at one New Year’s Eve party, he sat us at his table and the other people with him were old friends going back 20 years, people that no one’s ever heard of. He does have some close friends, such as Regis Philbin who does go to the parties sometimes. This year, he had his family at his table. Then, of course, he did a Fox News live interview just before midnight with the family.”
En fin: Do you think he’ll be the nominee for the Republican party? “Yeah, I’m quite sure that he will be the nominee and I think he’ll be the President. There are a lot of conventional thinkers out there, a lot of pundits, who just cannot conceive of a different model for winning the presidency. I would vote for him. I definitely would. I like some of the other candidates as well, but I would definitely vote for him if he was the nominee. He’s not going to apologize to the world. He’s not going to say the US is arrogant. He’s going to reach out to countries at the same time, which is what he does in his business. He works with local politicians, local mayors, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, to get his projects approved. He’s very effective at doing that. He actually doesn’t hold grudges.” Are you listening Megyn Kelly?
Okay, this is beginning to sound like The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (look it up). Will the REAL Donald Trump just please stand up!
Ron’s latest book now in paperback: The First Family Detail
