David Letterman: Now we’re going to get to the bottom of things…our first guest is America’s favorite cut-throat billionaire, real estate mogul, and the star of the popular television program The Apprentice…Please welcome Donald Trump, ladies and gentlemen…
David Letterman: Welcome back…thank you for being here Mr Trump...Donald…How’s your family?
Donald Trump: Family’s good...
DL: You have a little baby boy…
DT: Correct…
DL: How old is he?
DT: Two and a half...
DL: Two and a half?...And you have a beautiful grown daughter, lovely woman...
DT: Ivanka…
DL: And you have a son, grown son…
DT: That’s right…
DL: Am I leaving somebody else?
DT: Well you left out two…I have a Tiffany and I have an Eric and all great kids…
DL: Wow…so that’s four kids, five kids all together?
DT: Five kids…
DL: Wow! That’s great, good for you…
DT: Last count...
DL: And is that it for the family or you wan to keep going?
DT: Well, stranger things have happened; you know that stuff does happen right?...So I don’t know...we’ll see what happens…
DL: You never know, well that’s all good…isn’t it…
DT: I have a wonderful wife who’s very capable and…who knows…maybe we’ll have a surprise for you…you’ll be the first to know…
DL: I’ll be the first to know!...Well!!...Thank you very much…Ahhh...Thank you!...You imagine that at some point in their early lives, in their formative years the kids all get together and say to one another: ”Oh my god! ...you know who dad is?"
DT: I would think it is a little bit strange…They really are good kids…
DL: Yeah they’re good kids…And when it's everything... one day your fortune would pass on to them I assume…
DT: Sure, I will kick the bucket and we’ll see what happens…if they behave themselves…they’ll be very happy probably you know…pretty sad isn’t it?
DL: They do pretty well on their own from what I understand…
DT: They’re doing pretty well. They really are…They’re in the business with me...the three elder children are in the business with me…They’re really doing a good job…Don, Ivanka, Eric… They’re very talented…
DL: I really was impressed by your daughter the night that she was here…But do you remember Leona Helmsley?...when she died she left all her money to a poodle?
DT: The Queen of Mean…I knew her very well…Actually, you know...they did a story on her, a television story and I think...Suzanne Pleshette, do you remember Suzanne?
DL: Sure…
DT: She did a great job, she played Leona and all she did is...she screamed and rant and rave to a bunch of people…And they called me up the next day and they said…”What do you think of her performance?”...And I said it was ok but not tough enough…See I knew Leona…
DL: She was really that difficult…
DT: She was a mean woman…this was a very mean...
DL: Yeah…Touching memories of the departed…
DT: Wonderful person!…
DL: Let’s…ahhh…the economy…I don’t recall it being worst…I know nothing about the economy but people tell me it’s never been worst… Have you noticed that?...or we’re looking at a different data?
DT: The economy is just absolutely…you know...New York real estate as you know has held up pretty well…
DL: Right…
DT: I think that’s because of the weak dollar which doesn’t sound good but from the real estate standpoint at least here is good…
DL: Now that means that foreign money can come here and buy New York?...
DT: Places like Palm Beach Florida have been very strong, New York’s been very strong…houses are selling in Florida for 60, 70, 80 million dollars in Palm Beach for a house…
DL: I’m sorry say that again…a house?
DT: A house…
DL: 60, 70 million dollars
DT: 60 or 70 million…
DT: Holly Molly!...Now...who’s buying a 60 million-dollar house?
DT: Lots of people that are not Americans…Pretty sad isn’t it folks?...
DL: But you sold a piece of property down there for like 70,80, 90 million…
DT: I sold a house for a hundred…A hundred million…
DL: ohhh…Two-bedroom…
DT: Two weeks ago…Even worst!...I think it’s a Dear Dead…you know I think it’s a Dear Dead? …To a very nice Russian…And I think he’s going to probably rip it down and start all over again…But I sold the house, I bought it from somebody who suffered great financial reverses…I bought it to a bankruptcy court and put it on the market and sold it for a hundred million dollars and it’s really telling you where the world is going…and the buyers were mostly…potential buyers were mostly from outside of this country…
DL: Now let’s take a look a little bit…First of all, why is a guy willing to pay what I think it’s clearly an inflated price?
DT: Well, I think…
DL: Let’s just say…60 million…that’s inflated, that’s in my opinion…
DT: Well, I think he actually probably made a good deal... in five years I’ll look back and I’ll say…”I probably shouldn’t have sold it for that”... but he’s a smart sophisticated guy, loves Palm Beach Florida, but Palm Beach is doing well, New York City is doing well, I don’t know how long New York is going to keep doing well frankly…and the rest of the country for the most part is not doing well…
DL: Is it...was it Alex Trebek…did he buy it?
DT: Alex Trebek…I’d love to do that…
DL: Now where does a guy get that kind of dough…you said that he was Russian…Where does he get 100 million dollars to spend?
DT: He’s known as the king of fertilizer…ok? Can you blame him? He’s the king of fertilizer…Actually, he’s supposed to be a very very highly respected guy, nice guy…and I love him, personally…
DL: yeah yeah, and the house? Big house? 20,000 square feet?
DT: Big, it’s about 68 thousand feet, it’s on five acres of soil, right on the ocean, and it just worked out and I always had my eye on it but I never thought I had the opportunity to…but I did it as a real estate deal, I bought it and I sold it...
DL: You flipped it …
DT: I flipped it, I did a flip…
DL: And you made about a 60 million dollar profit...
DT: I made a lot of money on it…you know I live in MonteLago…MonteLago is better...I like it...so what are you going to do?
DL: But now listen…You’re a man of the world, tell me about this…ahhh…I know some people who tell me with that kind of money, a hundred million dollars, if right now...to feed everybody in the world, not …everybody in the world, 6 billion …right here we’re sitting on a hundred million...Why are things so screwed up like that? Why can’t we get Mr Fertilizer to take his hundred million and help the poor people?
DT: Well, this country…if they stopped doing things they shouldn’t be doing…This country has the potential to be so rich…but we do things that we shouldn’t be doing…We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollar on a war and we have...you know... places in our country, New Orleans, places...that are dying...I was in New Orleans…You know we’re building bridges, we’re building buildings, we’re building everything in Iraq and other places…And you go down and they can’t even build a road in places like New Orleans so it’s a very very serious situation...
DL: It’s...of course it’s leadership now…
DT: We have had horrible leadership…
DL: We’re in trouble we need somebody to lead us out now…
DT: Well, I personally, I think we’ve had the worst leadership this country has ever had and it’s a really serious problem and we do need somebody to lead us out, we’re not respected like we were, as we say in Palm Beach it’s all foreign buyers looking, everybody was foreign, and you know…that shouldn’t be, frankly, and it doesn’t make me happy but we need somebody to take us, to lead us properly...and certainly that has not happened over the last eight years...
DL: And...and...you think, looking in the future and I’m not asking you to be a visionary but you have a vision about this, that the United States and their position of greatness would be observed…China perhaps?
DT: I’m not sure that it already isn’t...you’re looking at the Olympics, you’re looking at the way things are going throughout the world whether it’s China, Russia, India and the United States is not in the position that it was in 6 or 8 years ago...United States is really not thought of the same way, we’re not respected around the world...it’s a very serious problem...we really need somebody that take the bull by the horn, we need somebody to lead, we don’t have that right now…
DL: No it doesn’t seem to be…All right, I tell you what, we’ll be right back with Donald Trump ladies and gentlemen…
NOTE FROM THE BLOGGER: Hightlighted words and phrases are explained more in detail in separate posts: phrasal verbs, idioms, etc. Phrases in blue are present perfect phrases.
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