History for Fun, Profit, and Insight: Scams from the Great Beyond

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Trump's 1970 Racial Bias in Housing Lawsuit.

Another excerpt from my upcoming book. Consider this an introduction, nothing more, and if the subject interests you please research further. This was intended to be a concise brief portion of a biographical chapter that has now been cut. If you wish to learn more, remember internet search engines are your friend.

Donald Trump and his 1973 Federal Lawsuit in Racially Biased Discrimination in Housing

Donald Trump and his father in the 1970s,
the period in which they were both co-defendants in a federal lawsuit about racial bias in housing.

During this time, Donald Trump managed the subsidized housing properties his father had built. These were rented primarily to working class and lower income people.

In 1973, the United States Justice Department sued Donald Trump, his father and Trump Management of violating the Fair Housing Act and discriminating against Blacks and Hispanics in 39 of their properties. The evidence against them was very solid. Most people would have advised them to settle with the Justice Department, pay a fine, and fix the practices and comply with the Fair Housing act, giving all citizens equal access and rights to rent from the Trumps. But young Donald Trump, then 26, represented, advised, and encouraged by Roy Cohn, decided to respond in a different way. They denied all charges despite the evidence and counter-sued against the Justice Department for 100 million dollars. Then they dragged the case out for two years, occasionally holding press conferences where they mischaracterized the suit as being over housing people on welfare and not about racial discrimination, hoping the Justice Department would agree to settle. In 1975, an agreement was reached, the counter suit from Trump and Cohn was dismissed as groundless, the Trumps and their company had to change their discriminatory policies. A government press release announced that the suit had been “one of the most far reaching ever negotiated” and local papers announced that the Trump properties were now open to be rented by minorities. Trump continued to deny that the government never proved its case and continued to mischaracterize the suit and its conclusion from

Primary Sources

Johnston, David Cay. 2016, 2017. The Making of Donald Trump. Melville House: Brooklyn.

Kranish, Michael, and Fisher, Marc. 2017. Trump Revealed -The Definitive Biography of the 45^th President. Scribner: New York.

Finally, my books . . .

Yeah, I've written books. Please check them out and see if they interest you.

Marla Maples, Donald Trump Wife # 2 -- Scams from the Great Beyond -The Presidential Edition

Another patented "TRUMPinfoDUMP" from the cut parts of "Scams from the Great Beyond -The Presidential Edition."

Marla Maples, Donald Trump Wife # 2

Trump met his next wife Marla Maples and they began dating in 1989, which is kind of a shame as he was still married to his first wife, Ivana, mother of three of his children, at the time. The relationship, the affair, the scandal, the divorce was all astonishingly public, in part because Donald liked giving interviews to the press about it. To me, the most interesting thing about this relationship was the way the tabloids covered it.[1] According to Wikipedia, the scandal made the front page cover of The New York Post eight days in a row. ^{^[2]} I urge you to follow the links below and check out some of these covers. Once you see these, you will learn why the phrase "President Donald Trump" is tough to take seriously for most people in his home state.^{^[3]}

The couple got married three months after Tiffany was born. Their wedding was, like most Trump functions, attended by several celebrities, including strangely enough, Rosie O’Donnell, the comedian who he has publicly insulted.^{^[4]}

They had one daughter named Tiffany, reportedly named after “Tiffany’s,” a famous, upscale Manhattan jewelry store ^{^[5]} where Trump bought Marla a very expensive ring, apparently getting a discount if he promised he would mention the store each change he got, and then Trump spoke of buying.

Which kind of explains why I am really curious to know why Trump's second son is named "Eric." I confess, I still have no idea.

They divorced about six years later amidst issues involving Marla Maples and her bodyguard being discovered alone together under a lifeguard stand. They have both denied having an affair. Apparently, they both just wanted to climb under a lifeguard stand at the same time. ^{^[6]}

Finally, my books . . .

Yeah, I've written books. Please check them out and see if they interest you.

[1] “A complete collection of the best Donald Trump New York Post covers,” by By Emil Lendof January 20, 2017 The New York Post.
https://nypost.com/2017/01/20/donald-trump-in-new-york-post-covers/

[2] “Marla Maples.” Accessed on September 13, 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marla_Maples

[3] “Donald Trump’s Very 1990s Tabloid Scandal -The storyline is the same, but the technology changes,” by Adrienne LaFrance. January 18, 2018. The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/donald-trumps-very-retro-tabloid-scandal/550754/
“Tabloid covers from the '90s show the insanity of Trump's divorce from ex-wife Ivana,” by Sarah Jacobs Oct 10, 2017. Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ivana-divorce-tabloid-covers-2017-10#billion-dollar-blowup-she-wants-the-plaza-hell-take-manhattan-americas-gaudiest-couple-square-off-in-an-old-fashioned-battle-over-babes-and-bucks-direct-from-aspen-palm-beach-and-new-york-city-heres-the-latest-dish-4

[4] “Marla Maples.” Accessed on September 13, 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marla_Maples

[5] Personal communication. Ian Randall Strock, author of several books on the presidents and their families.

[6] “Marla Maples.” Accessed on September 13, 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marla_Maples

Trump's Marriage to Ivana, Wife #1 ---Scams from the Great Beyond -The Presidential Edition

Donald Trump's Marriage to Ivana,

the first of three wives.

I write in mid-September, 2020. I am furiously working on a book called "Scams from the Great Beyond --The Presidential Edition," a sequel to my two other "Scams from the Great Beyond" books (available at Amazon and elsewhere). Consider it my small and quixotic contribution to the effort to save America and perhaps the planet from our current president. Now in the editing stage, the editor advised to simply remove the biographical chapter as it was growing equal in length to half the book.

Excerpts are now offered as blog essays. My loss becomes your gain. Here we share a brief history of Trump's relationship with Ivana, his first of the three wives. He cheated on all three of them.

Trump’s first wife, Ivana was an immigrant, as, of course, is his third wife. His second wife, Marla Maples, was from Georgia, which although a part of the USA, to people from New York City seems distinctly foreign and exotic, making her kind of sort of an immigrant.
Ivana and Donald met In 1977. For years she was a partner in several of his business projects. They had three children. There are two stories that are shared about how they met. The first, most widely believed story involves Trump introducing himself to her while in a line to enter Maxwell’s Plum, a trendy and expensive singles bar located on Manhattan’s East Side where Ivana and friends were also waiting in line. He wound up paying for the night’s drinks for her and her friends and sent her a dozen roses the next day. ^{^[1]}

The second story, the one Trump prefers and shares in “The Art of the Deal,” is that they met at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. Trump likes to include Ivana’s love and ability as a downhill skier in this story, mentioning that she was an alternate for the Czech skiing team at the 1972 Sapporo Japan Winter Olympics.^{^[2]} She was, he said, expert in slalom and downhill. Nevertheless, Ivana has repeated and told it herself as well.^{^[3]} However, Czechoslovakia had no Olympic ski team that year, ^{^[4]} and in 1989, 1989, Petr Pomezný, Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee, told Spy magazine that they could find no record of Ivana having any connection with the Czechoslovakian ski team under any of her names. ^{^[5]}

Like so many others in Trump’s family, Ivana is an immigrant, and since her ex-husband has been using issues of immigration and immigration fraud as such a campaign issue, we should look at how she came to be standing in line waiting to enter a trendy singles bar in Manhattan in the late 1970s anyway. It seems that she had been working as a model in Canada and was in Manhattan that evening working at a show to promote Canadian furs, probably without proper American work papers. Which raises several questions.

First, how did she leave Communist Czechoslovakia, not an easy thing to do? She did this by marrying an Austrian ski instructor named Alfred Winklmayr. This allowed her to obtain an Austrian passport and leave Czechoslovakia. The marriage was a sham, never consummated, they both say, and done strictly for immigration fraud. When Winklmayr moved to California where he became a ski instructor, he did not bring Ivana. She then obtained a divorce on the grounds that he had allegedly abandoned her.^{^[6]}

Ivana herself says in her autobiography that they stayed married for two years to “fool the government and divorced in 1973 as soon as it was safe to do so.”

When her boyfriend, a well-known Czech playwright, died in a car accident in 1973, she moved to Montreal and Canada where she lived with George (Jiři) Syrovatka, a many she’d dated off and on since 1967. There’s a great deal of mixed statements regarding Ivana’s relationship with Syrovatka. They both seem to have stated they were married at one time or another and both then later denied it. One source reports Syrovatka was the one who arranged her sham visa marriage to Winkalmayr.^{^[7]} Another source describes him as her “former fiancé,” and they have stayed together for years.^{^[8]} No record of any marriage was found by journalists who have looked.^{^[9]}

Which is all quite interesting because it raises questions as to what sort of visa she was using to live and work in Canada. There is no record of her ever becoming a Canadian citizen, so this is quite important. Even more interesting is the question as to whether or not her Canadian visa, no matter how it was obtained, allowed her to work as a model in a fashion show that weekend in Manhattan? It looks unlikely and if she did not have a visa that enabled her to work in the USA then that means she was an illegal undocumented foreign worker stealing American jobs. Really. ^{^[10]}

Soon after marriage, Donald put his wife Ivana in charge of managing several important aspects of his businesses, apparently feeling that as a model and downhill skier she had the appropriate transferable skills to manage a business and workforce. While reports are that she was not good at managing employees and had several weaknesses, she did design uniforms for the doormen at Trump Towers which included large busbees, you know, those tall furry hats, s as well as the cheerleaders for the New Jersey Generals, Trump’s USFL football team. ^{^[11]}

Donald and Ivana’s wedding was officiated by Norman Vincent Peale, author of “The Power of Positive Thinking” and Dutch Reformed Minister. ^{^[12]} Peale and his self-confidence developing, self-help strategies and techniques is widely credited as a major influence on Trump who attended Peale’s church in Manhattan with his parents while growing up. ^{^[13]}

They had three children, Donald Jr., obviously named after his father, and Ivanka, named after her mother, (“Ivanka” is reportedly the diminutive of “ivana”)^{^[14]} They have a third son, named Eric, and despite extensive effort, I have not been able to learn where his name came from. My guess is that it is interesting.

Finally, my books . . .

Yeah, I've written books. Please check them out and see if they interest you.

[1] Page 79, Kranish, Michael and Fisher, Marc. “Trump Revealed -The Definitive Biography of the 45^th President.” ( 2016, Scribner, New York)

[2] Pages 18-19, Schwartz, Tony and Trump, Donald. “Art of the Deal.” ( 1987, Warner Books, New York )

[3] Page 78-79, Kranish, Michael and Fisher, Marc. “Trump Revealed -The Definitive Biography of the 45^th President.” ( 2016, Scribner, New York)

[4] “Ivana Trump,” Wikipedia, accessed August 29, 2020, and confirmed in several other sources as well. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivana_Trump

[5] See, van Meter, Johnathan (May 1989). "That's Why the Lady is a Trump". Spy. Sussex Publishers, LLC. ISSN 0890-1759 – via Google Books at

https://books.google.com/books?id=xaCC4gI-zJkC&lpg=PA98&q=trump%20master%27s%20degree&pg=PA86&v=onepage#v=onepage&q=trump%20master's%20degree&f=true

[6] “Ivanka Trump says her mother immigrated legally—that may not be true,” by David Gilmour, August 3, 2018.

https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/ivanka-trump-ivana-legal-immigrant/

[7] “6 Things You Need to Know About Donald Trump's First Wife, Ivana,” by Prachi Gupta, March 16, 2017
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a56426/ivana-trump-donald-trump-first-wife/

[8] “Just friends? Ivana Trump models a series of short floral frocks as she steps out with her first love during a trip to Prague,” by Erica Tempesta. June 21, 2017. DAILYMAIL.COM

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4626348/Ivana-Trump-steps-love-Prague.html

[9] van Meter, Johnathan (May 1989). "That's Why the Lady is a Trump". Spy. Sussex Publishers, LLC. ISSN 0890-1759 – via Google Books at

https://books.google.com/books?id=xaCC4gI-zJkC&lpg=PA98&q=trump%20master%27s%20degree&pg=PA86&v=onepage#v=onepage&q=trump%20master's%20degree&f=true

[10] For more on Ivana Trump, one interesting source is an old article in Spy magazine, a New York City based publication that in the 1980s took great fun poking at Donald Trump. See, van Meter, Johnathan (May 1989). "That's Why the Lady is a Trump". Spy. Sussex Publishers, LLC. ISSN 0890-1759 – via Google Books at

https://books.google.com/books?id=xaCC4gI-zJkC&lpg=PA98&q=trump%20master%27s%20degree&pg=PA86&v=onepage#v=onepage&q=trump%20master's%20degree&f=true

[11] Page 82-85, Kranish, Michael and Fisher, Marc. “Trump Revealed -The Definitive Biography of the 45^th President.” ( 2016, Scribner, New York)

van Meter, Johnathan (May 1989). "That's Why the Lady is a Trump". Spy. Sussex Publishers, LLC. ISSN 0890-1759 – via Google Books at

https://books.google.com/books?id=xaCC4gI-zJkC&lpg=PA98&q=trump%20master%27s%20degree&pg=PA86&v=onepage#v=onepage&q=trump%20master's%20degree&f=true

[12] Page 81. Kranish, Michael and Fisher, Marc. “Trump Revealed -The Definitive Biography of the 45th President.” ( 2016, Scribner, New York)

[13] For instance, see “How Norman Vincent Peale Taught Donald Trump to Worship Himself, The magnate’s biographer explains the spiritual guide behind his relentless self-confidence,” by Gwenda Blair. October 06, 2015. Politico.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-2016-norman-vincent-peale-213220

[14] Personal communication. Ian Randall Strock, author of several books on the presidents and their families.

Donald Trump at Business School --Scams from the Great Beyond --The Presidential Edition

Greetings. It's been a while since I've posted here. Frustrated by the current, sad state of this nation, and the poor, divisive, destructive leadership of our current President Donald Trump, I've thrown myself into quickly writing a book about his life and style of leadership. A sequel to my earlier "Scams from the Great Beyond" books, this one will be called "Scams from the Great Beyond --The Presidential Edition." Please stick around. Follow the project. I expect to be giving away the e-book for free. And whatever else you do, show your love for this nation, by voting this creep out in November.

“Perhaps the most important thing I learned at Wharton was not to be overly impressed by academic credentials. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was nothing particularly awesome or exceptional about my classmates, and I could compete with them just fine. The other important thing I got from Wharton was a Wharton degree. In my opinion, that degree doesn’t prove very much, but a lot of people I do business with take it very seriously, and it’s considered very prestigious. So all things considered, I am very glad I went to Wharton.”[1]

Trump has mentioned his education many times. According to a 2018 article in The Daily Pennsylvanian, the University of Pennsylvania university newspaper: “From June 16, 2015 to Jan. 11, 2018 where he mentioned Wharton in his interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump has said “Wharton” 52 times. Over the same time period, he has noted that he went to an Ivy League school 12 times, and referred to himself as a “good student” (or some variant like “great” or “excellent”) 27 times. “[2] (Interestingly, according to the same article, while on the campaign trail and during the same time period, Trump spoke of his education frequently on the east coast and much less so in western or mid-western states.) [3]

However, there are many questions about Trump’s grades and academic achievements while at Wharton. Former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, according to Michael Wolf, author of controversial and at times not always accurate books on Trump, has allegedly gone so far as to joke that Putin is using Trump’s college transcripts to blackmail and control him.[4] Wharton has never invited Trump to give a commencement speech and is close lipped about this famous alumni of their school. Time and time again, attempts to speak to his classmates about their memories of Trump during his time there, reveal that few remember him. Michael Cohen, his attorney of many years (who like many Trump associates has since been charged with crimes in connection with Trump, convicted, and disavowed the President) sent a threatening legal letter to Wharton, along with other schools Trump has attended, advising them not to release his grades and to be careful of what they say about him or face legal reprisals. Furthermore, while Trump has bragged about being first in his class, and in a now retracted article long before his entry into politics, The New York Times reported this claim as true, records from the school showing the names of top graduates reveal this to be entirely untrue. Some have commented on Trump’s twin obsessions of hiding his own grades while trying to expose those of President Barack Obama. It’s also been noted that Trump’s obsession with his college grades, both hiding and exaggerating them, is particularly troubling as few can deny that whatever else he may be, Donald Trump, first person to become President of the United States without government or public service experience, is undoubtedly an over-achiever. [5]

And while some would argue that grades are not nearly as important as learning, there are indicators that Trump did not actually learn much at Wharton. Aside from his own statements in the ghost-written book, “Art of the Deal,” that he got little from his time there except a degree that impressed people, David Cay Johnston in his well-researched book, “The Making of Donald Trump,” gives examples of surprising gaps in Trump’s understanding and knowledge of basic business principles. He reports how Trump was called to testify at a lawsuit that he, Trump, filed against Timothy L. O’Brien, a journalist who Trump asserted had understated Trump’s wealth. O’Brien’s lawyer questioned Trump on basic business principles, as it became increasingly obvious that Trump had given widely varying numbers for his own wealth over the years. One question concerned Trump’s understanding of “Net Present Value,” a basic concept used to determine the desirability of an investment.[6] This is something any business student would be expected to know. Trump’s answer was nonsensical gibberish that showed a lack of understanding of the concept.[7] When asked about Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP, another basic business principle, another extremely fundamental concept in business or investment,[8] Trump responded that he was not an accountant. In fact, the concept should be known by anyone who is having accountants handle their money. [9]

In this context, one has to ask what Trump learned in business school.

Finally, my books . . .

Yeah, I've written books. Please check them out and see if they interest you.

[1] Page 77. Trump, Donald and Schwartz, Tony. “The Art of the Deal.” (1987, Time Warner Books, New York.)

[2]

“How many times has Trump mentioned his Wharton education? We crunched the numbers,” by By Alex Graves, The Daily Pennsylvanian, January 17, 2018.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2018/01/trump-penn-wharton-data-education-times-ivy-league-business-finance-philadelphia-campaign

[3]

“How many times has Trump mentioned his Wharton education? We crunched the numbers,” by By Alex Graves, The Daily Pennsylvanian, January 17, 2018.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2018/01/trump-penn-wharton-data-education-times-ivy-league-business-finance-philadelphia-campaign

[4] “Fact-Checking All of the Mysteries Surrounding Donald Trump and Penn,” by JONATHAN VALANIA in City Life· September 14, 2019.

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/09/14/donald-trump-at-wharton-university-of-pennsylvania/

[5] “Fact-Checking All of the Mysteries Surrounding Donald Trump and Penn,” by JONATHAN VALANIA in City Life· September 14, 2019.

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/09/14/donald-trump-at-wharton-university-of-pennsylvania/

Here's Why Donald Trump Doesn't Want Anyone To Know His Grades Or SAT Scores,” by Christopher Rim, February 28, 2019. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2019/02/28/heres-why-donald-trump-doesnt-want-anyone-to-know-his-grades-or-sat-scores/#25f3163d3764

“Trump Overstated Academic Record, Report Says,” by Andrew Kreighbaum. July 9, 2019. Inside Higher Ed.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/07/09/trump-overstated-academic-record-report-says

[6]

Pages 78-79. Johnston, David Cay. “The Making of Donald Trump.” (2016, 2017. Melville House, Brooklyn)

“A Refresher on Net Present Value,” by Amy Gallo. November 19, 2014. Harvard Business Review.

https://hbr.org/2014/11/a-refresher-on-net-present-value

[7] If you would like to read his attempt at a definition, you may read it in Johnston’s excellent book or in several news and magazine articles. One place where you can find it without a pay-wall is

“What Trump Doesn’t Know About Money, You’ll Pay for His Tariffs-for-the-Wall Scheme,” by David Cay Johnston.

August 22, 2020. DCReport.org

https://www.dcreport.org/2017/01/31/what-trump-doesnt-know-about-money/

[8]

“Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)” By Alicia Tuovila, Reviewed By David Kindness,

Updated Apr 20, 2020. Investopedia.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gaap.asp

[9]

Pages 18-19. Johnston, David Cay. “The Making of Donald Trump.” (2016, 2017. Melville House, Brooklyn)

History for Fun, Profit, and Insight

Trump's 1970 Racial Bias in Housing Lawsuit.

Finally, my books . . .

Marla Maples, Donald Trump Wife # 2 -- Scams from the Great Beyond -The Presidential Edition

Finally, my books . . .

Trump's Marriage to Ivana, Wife #1 ---Scams from the Great Beyond -The Presidential Edition

Finally, my books . . .

Donald Trump at Business School --Scams from the Great Beyond --The Presidential Edition

Finally, my books . . .

Trump and Musk -What is motivating them? What is their end goal? Partial thoughts First

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