“Trump spent every morning on the phone with me, with Page 6––he loved to get his name in the paper. As a result, he would drop dimes on other people in every industry he knew dirt on. You put the story in the paper, and then, three days later, you say, ‘Donald Trump was at a Knicks game with this supermodel.’ And he’s happy. That’s all it took.”
.. Calling Trump “shameless and shrewd at the same time,” Benza said “you might not like his style, but no one has played the American public and the U.S. government to this extent, and the media,” adding, “when he was with Marla Maples and we were going to write that they broke up, he cared more about ‘get my wealth in there, get the number right, how many billions I’m worth––that’s more important.’”
.. the gossip game was largely played on the barter system. To fill a blank page everyday for a city as high strung as New York, you can become somewhat dependent on publicists and managers and agents calling you and dropping a dime on someone so long as you were able to squeeze something in the column that helped them.
.. Having a PR flack sell out an A-List client’s extra-marital affair wasn’t odd at all, so long as I was able or willing to get one of their smaller, but vital, clients in the column. And God help them if I had a bit of dirt on one of their clients. Then the real negotiations began: “What are you gonna give me so that I bury this story and no one ever sees it?”
.. But the biggest difference in gossip, then vs. now, is we were more hung up on getting things right. Not so much getting things first.
.. I guess the aggravation he’s having now is see how much different it is trying to control ALL the columns, ink and electronic, rather than the wood, Page 2 or 3 and the more-pliable gossip columns.
.. I once said, he doesn’t check his pulse in the morning––he checks the papers to see if he’s alive. And that’s not a knock on him. Keeping your name in print in NYC has value.
..I’ve often said all columns should have a list of all the contributors who helped break, shape, and slant every story that began with a rumor or a tip. If that were the case, Trump would have a prominent position at the tippy top. But he wouldn’t be alone. More people than you think used to call me and just chat away over a cup of coffee.
.. What much of America hasn’t seen yet is the silly, compassionate, charming side to the guy.
.. The media ecosystem is ripe for takeover. The loudest, most popular voice usually wins. It’s no different than the atmosphere in a high-school cafeteria.
Give the crowd something to actualize their anger on and they’re off!
.. In general, people like getting angry––they’ll worry about the reason why later on.
..
Never before has the political world resembled a circus.
All Trump has done is put a face on The Strongman. And with everyone talking and gawking at The Strongman (or the anomaly), the circus gets a ton of attention, sells out every town, and rolls on without a hitch. I can’t see any other pol pulling this off or trying to adopt or whip up comparable anger. I don’t see anyone else with the same ego. And that’s saying a lot since everyone else who’s ever run for president have huge egos. But his is the size of Everest.