Fred Trump's Housing Project

 

Folk singer Woody Guthrie (famed for This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land) complained about Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, in song. 

I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate 
He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts 
When he drawed that color line. . . 

From: https://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Old_Man_Trump.htm

The multi-building project called Shore Haven, an FHA (Federal Housing Authority) supported project.

Fred Trump's Housing Project

Fred Trump, father of ex-president Donald Trump, was a real estate and housing developer active in New York City. In the 1970s, he was sued for discriminating against minorities as tenants with employees testifying that they were not to rent to blacks or Puerto Ricans. His settlement was the largest for that type of suit up to the time.

I decided to take advantage of census information and look at the make-up of Fred Trump's tenants during an earlier period.

Census material is available to the public only after 70 years and the 1950 census is accessible online. 

Along with identifying where individuals lived, this census included race listed as: W (White), Neg (Negro), American Indian (Ind), Japanese (Jap), Chinese (Chi), Filipino (Fil), and other (spell out). The country of birth was noted (as well as other information). 

The Shore Haven Housing Complex.

According to a seminar on the history of the neighborhood presented by CUNY:

"In 1949, Shore Haven Apartments were built by Fred Trump on 21st Avenue near the Belt Parkway. The apartments were built over 16 acres and were mostly six-story buildings. Thirty-eight buildings were built, resulting in 1,344 apartments for families. Also, parts of Cropsey Avenue were used to built (sic) a shopping center as part of the housing project. At that time, this was the largest private housing development in Brooklyn."

The above article goes on to say that this neighborhood was the fictional setting of such movies and television shows as Saturday Night Fever, Welcome Back Kotter, and The Honeymooners.

Census Data

Census information regarding the Shore Haven Apartments is available online and listed as Enumeration Districts 24-2405 to 24-2409, Kings County, New York, comprising 149 census pages and 5 summary pages. Up to 30 individuals are presented per page.

I went through the pages and hand-counted households, number of residents, ethnicity, and country of birth. Very few apartments at Shore Haven were listed as vacant. 

The census enumerated 1301 households with 3717 tenants. 

So, what is the racial make-up of the entries? This was easy to determine: page after page, the same. All the entries (100%) where race was noted were W (white). There were not any labeled as Negroes, Chinese, Japanese, American Indian, Filipino, or Other. There were two tenants listed as born in Africa (country unspecified) and white, two born in China and white, one born in Japan (white), and one born in Haiti (white). The Japanese birth is listed as an infant and it is quite possible that the parents had been there for post-World War II military reasons.

Countries of birth were noted, with 589 individuals identified as born outside of the United States. These are the countries, other than America, with at least five individuals (hand-counted):

Russia 202

Poland 86

Austria 48

England 33

Italy 28

Germany 27

Romania 23

Canada 22

Hungary 19

Czechoslovakia 14

France 9

Holland 8

Lithuania 7

Chile 5

Switzerland 5

I did not attempt an analysis of surnames, however, I did note that there were many classically Jewish names, suggesting little to no exclusion for this reason. The large number of Eastern Europeans may also have reflected Jewish immigration. 

I realized early on that, among the countries of birth, Ireland was not mentioned. I eventually ran into one entry, listed as a mother-in-law, suggesting that the wife (born in the U.S.), was also of Irish ancestry.

Were the Irish also discriminated against? Of course, you don't have to be born in Ireland to have Irish heritage. The only other way of approaching this matter was to look at surnames. I could not determine the origin of all surnames and some surnames can be either Irish or from another country. As a compromise, I decided to search the listings for what are described as the top twenty Irish surnames in the United States. I came across a single entry: a family named Murphy. It can be argued that Bensonhurst is not a particularly Irish neighborhood. Nevertheless, out of over 3700 individuals, so few being Irish seems beyond chance. Bensonhurst is not a particularly British neighborhood, and yet there were 33 entries born in England and two from Scotland.

The 1970s lawsuit against Fred Trump also said that he discriminated against renting to Puerto Ricans. One tenant in the census was listed as born in Puerto Rico: listed with another family. Her occupation, maid, presumably a live-in maid. 

The large predominance of foreign-born individuals in the Shore Haven project came from Europe. Ex-President Donald Trump has recently complained of immigrants from virtually every continent but Europe. 

"They’re poisoning the blood of our country," Trump told the crowd at a rally in New Hampshire. "That’s what they’ve done. They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just to three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world."

Trump Tower

The folk singer, Woody Guthrie, moved into another Fred Trump housing complex in late 1950, Beach Haven. His song summed up the situation:

Beach Haven is Trump's Tower

Where no black folks come to roam.

Fred Trump in the 1980s

My recent novel, Floor 24, set in Manhattan in the 1920s is available from Oliver-Heber books.

Floor 24
Oliver-Heber Books

"From the mob underworld to the tops of new skyscrapers, Floor 24 is a heart-thumping New York 1920's historical mystery!" - Holly Newman, bestselling author of A Chance Inquiry mystery series.

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The Curse of The Apprentice

I enjoy curses. I don't believe in them, that is, not in the supernatural sense. But I do find it fascinating when a statistical blip delivers karmic justice.

In a previous post, I argued that Donald Trump's The Apprentice was never popular. Although it ranked in its first season among the top 10 TV shows, it did this while sandwiched between Friends and ER, both juggernaut series. Other series that were boosted into the top 10 by being in the Thursday night time slot when Friends and ER reigned included forgettables such as Fired Up and Boston Commons. 

When Boston Commons moved from Thursdays to Sundays, it dropped from 8th place to 52nd. None of the stars of Boston Commons or Fired Up have attempted running for president, although maybe Sharon Lawrence should. Or else Jonathan Banks.

With Donald Trump as the grumbler in chief, The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice lasted for 185 episodes. Of those, on only six occasions did it win its time slot against the three other networks (ABC, CBS and Fox). On several occasions it fell below the top offerings of cable, and in one case placed sixth.

Beginning with the season after the debut of The Apprentice, NBC's fortunes tumbled. This is the curse I wish to present here.

Below is a graph showing how many Top Ten TV shows (total viewers, all ages) ran on NBC during the years prior to The Apprentice, during the runs of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice, and in the time since.

Each year leading up to the debut of The Apprentice, NBC had at least three shows in the Top 10. During the years after the debut of The Apprentice, it never had three. When Trump's Apprentice was no longer on, NBC returned to having three or more.

 After the debut of The Apprentice, NBC lost its mojo. For three years it had no Top Ten TV Show. This was followed by four years with exactly one: Sunday Night Football. Although Sunday Night Football was a genuine hit, it only lasted for the fall, half of the television year (The Celebrity Apprentice took over in its spot in the spring.) In 2011, NBC debuted The Voice, a reality competition series that expanded to two nights, sometimes with both of its nights in the top 10.

In 2013-14, The Celebrity Apprentice took a hiatus. NBC bounced back with four top ten shows, including its first drama or sitcom series in the Top Ten since 2003-04: The Blacklist. In 2014-15, Trump's Apprentice returned for its final season and NBC returned again to two top ten shows: football and one night of The Voice.

Since the end of the scourge that was The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice, NBC has bounced back. In 2018-19, NBC had five top ten TV shows, although three of these were football.

Often what seem like chance curses are due to more than just randomness. With the debut of The Apprentice, NBC concentrated on reality programs while abandoning their strength: scripted comedy and drama series. In 2016, after Trump's reign had ended, NBC debuted This Is Us, its first comedy-drama series to consistently appear in the Top Ten since the end of Friends. In 2018-19, three NBC drama series, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med helped fill out the spots between 10 and 20 and NBC had eight shows in the Top Twenty.

In recent years, NBC has added Thursday Night Football to its schedule. The Sunday Night pregame show also scores well in ratings. Nine years before Apprentice, average 5.1. The year The Apprentice debuted, 3.0. The ten years of The Trump Apprentice, 0.2. The years after The Apprentice debuted without a Trump Apprentice show: 1.75.

 

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A Modern Major Twitterer

With Apologies to G & S

I am the very model of a modern major Twitterer.
I've several tons of grudges and no one could be bitterer.
I see everywhere conspiracies, historical, hysterical.
I announce them with misspellings and blame those on my clerical.
Okay, maybe not the trains, at least my scandals run on time:
Come five-thirty every weekday—but I haven't done a crime.
My cabinet just loves me, singing praises loud and glorious.
So forget that B.I.G., you see, I am the new Notorious.

My spacey doctor tells me that my vigor is the bigliest.
I love to chase the girls, most especially the giggliest.
Those pageant girls run fast but still that's leaving lots for me.
I know that even friends like Putin are burning, he's so hot for me.
I've got screw-pulls but not scruples, so I grab 'em by their pelvises.
I've a swagger to my hips, you'd swear that they were Elvis's.
I'm so devilishly handsome: I've a painting like that Dorian.
(And I stole some sports reports off that kid with the Delorean.)

I'm the greatest ever Christian by anyone's criterion.
Or else I've joined a cult: I've been told I'm Presbyterian.
I decided on this creed once I had my soul examined:
If Mammon is your God then you can serve God and Mammon.
The Middle East is easy, I banished all the growing fear
And brought about world peach by pressing on a glowing sphere.
But the always-lying press won't proclaim my deeds victorious.
So forget that B.I.G., you see, I am the new Notorious.

I was blinded by the czar and his pictorial pectoreals.
He helped me cheat on my exams at the college electoreals.
Did I say I brought world peach by pressing on a globe?
But Congress didn't care, they began a Russian probe.
I canned that giant Comey for continuing to fight me
And then I raised a bar and said: you must be this tall to indict me.
Sure, Congress wants its hearings but I'm hearing they're not serious.
They're all serving at my pleasure like I'm emperor Tiberius.

Still there are some of those out there who'd choose to lock me in a pillory.
Hey, losey-losers hear the news: the worstest crook is Hillary.
She exposed us to the terrors of open-server email crimes.
But her greatest of all threats was being-born-a-female crime.
The continent of Mexico is unlawfully so alien
They're unlicensed to be humans and illegally mammalian.
I'll deal with their escaping rapists by bargaining so skillfully
They'll pay me for a wall, both fully and so willfully.

I am the double-plus most genius ever, I read that in a story in
Breitbart (the brightest Simpson), the supremest of historians.
I guess I could try and spell-chek, but that style is not o' me.
They say my grammar would improve if I got a brainiotomy.
And so I soldier on, forever predisential.
My words might make no sense, but still they are e-ssen-tial.
I suppose I could try harder but that would be laborious.
So forget that B.I.G., you see, I am the new Notorious.

Presidential Press release promoting the possibility of lasting "peach."

A brief guide on some of the in-jokes for those who do not follow presidential minutiae.

"Lasting peach" and "predisential" are among the recent typos from the White House.
The character Biff from Back to the Future was based on the 80s Donald Trump.
James Comey, ex-director of the FBI is 6 foot 8.
In a meeting with Presbyterian clergy, Trump asked whether Presbyterian is Christian. 

---------------------
 Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

Did The Apprentice Kill NBC?

He's plague, he's smallpox, he's typhoid. I don't want to follow his goddamn show. I want out of that 8 o'clock spot. I've got enough troubles without Howard Beale as a lead-in. You guys scheduled me up against "Tony Orlando and Dawn," NBC's got "Little House on the Prairie," ABC's got "The Bionic Woman". You've gotta do something. You've gotta do something about Howard Beale. [Maureen Warfield as Laureen Hobbes, the reality show terrorist in Network, Paddy Chayefsky, 1976]

Peter Finch as Howard Beale, Network, 1976.

Sometimes I get myself involved in stupid projects. Recently I mused—and it must have been musing because I certainly wasn't thinking—why not look at the ratings of the television show, The Apprentice, to see what they really were? Trump makes up numbers about everything else, why not the foundation of his recent popularity?

The undertaking proved to be brutal. The problem I ran into: there are so many episodes. And the puns used as episode titles, the awful puns, not just for The Apprentice, but for the competition and lead-ins. I may have permanent brain damage.

I put together an Excel file of the ratings, the share and the viewer statistics as reported at TV Tango for each episode of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice, for the competition in the time slot, and for the shows leading into The Apprentice and following. 

Along the way, I came to the conclusion that not only was The Apprentice often terrible in ratings, but that it may well have destroyed NBC. Perhaps this is why Trump wants to cut back on the EPA. The toxic waste sludge of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice should have been declared a Superfund site.

So, why do I say that The Apprentice killed NBC?  My evidence for this comes in four parts.

1. NBC took a steep and lasting nosedive beginning the year The Apprentice debuted.
2. Although it had the illusion of popularity at the beginning, The Apprentice was never popular. 
3. The Apprentice gobbled up the best time spots and was the low moment in ratings between those who filled the lead-in and those which came after.
4. Popular shows which were used as lead-ins and those which followed The Apprentice suffered.

Update on this post: The Curse of The Apprentice.

NBC, Before and After.

Once upon a time, NBC dominated Thursday nights with its generation-defining sitcoms. Starting in the mid-eighties with The Cosby Show, Family Ties and Cheers and continuing with Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends, NBC kicked ass with its ratings. Then in 2004, Friends came to end and the cowbird, The Apprentice, came to nest.

From the television years 1984-1985 to 2003-2004, NBC averaged 3.55 top ten TV shows on Thursday evening alone. Every year, for twenty years they had at least one.

NBC, Thursday nights. (Years on Thursday nights)
List of NBC Thursday night programs with multiple years in the top 10 Nielsen ratings, 1984-2004.

• Cheers: (1982-1993) 7 years, top 5. 1 year, #1.
• Family Ties: (1984-1987) 3 years, top 5.
• The Cosby Show: (1984-1992) 7 years, top 5. 5 years, #1.
• A Different World: (1987-1993) 4 years, top 5.
• Seinfeld: (1989-1998) 5 years, top 5, 2 years, #1.
• Frasier: (1993-2000) 4 years, top 10.
• ER: (1994-2009) First 10 years, top 10, 3 years #1.
• Friends: (1994-2004) All 10 years, top 10, 1 year #1.
• Veronica's Closet (1997-1999) 2 years, top 5.

Others had a single year in the top 10.

Beginning with the year 2004-2005 and through 2015-2016, NBC has never had a top ten TV show on Thursday, in fact, it has only had three top ten shows period: Sunday Night Football, The Voice and The Blacklist.

How did NBC fall so hard, so fast? The Apprentice debuted on a Thursday in 2004.


Top Ranked TV show, NBC. (Beginning with the year after the advent of The Apprentice, 2004)

• 2004-2005 ER #12
• 2005-2006 Deal or No Deal #15 (Monday)
• 2006-2007 Deal or No Deal #13 (Monday)
• 2007-2008 Sunday Night Football #10. Otherwise: Heroes, #22.
• 2008-2009 Sunday Night Football #8. Otherwise: ER #26 (tied with Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.)
• 2009-2010 Sunday Night Football #5. Otherwise: The Biggest Loser #30.
• 2010-2011: Sunday Night Football # 4. Otherwise: The Voice, #17.
• 2011-2012: Sunday Night Football #1. Otherwise: The Voice, #10.
• 2012-2013: Sunday Night Football #2. Otherwise: The Voice, #10.
• 2013-2014: Sunday Night Football #1. Otherwise: The Blacklist, #6; The Voice #8, The Voice, Tuesday #10.
• Four top 10 shows! Note: in 2013-2014, for the first time in ten years, there was not an incarnation of The Apprentice on TV.
• 2014-2015: Sunday Night Football #1. Otherwise: The Blacklist, #12. 
• 2015-2016: Sunday Night Football #2. Otherwise: The Voice, Monday, #9.

For the fall-half of the television year Sunday Night Football did well


Intermission: A Brief Note on Ratings.

Different sources give what are usually slightly different rankings to television shows. In part this is based on whether they are citing ratings, total viewers, viewers in specific categories, whether they include or exclude reruns, etc. I will mainly focus on total viewers.

Sunday Night Football, although a bona fide hit, was only in the fall season and provided no lead-in or support for other shows the same night.

The above rankings are for the year. Time-slot rankings, which I will discuss below, are how well a program does compared to its competition during the time in which it is scheduled. In general, this ranking will be between 1 and 4 (NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox) from 8 until 10 pm at which time Fox signs off and the ranking becomes 1 to 3. The minor networks such as CW never competed with the above four. On rare occasions, although more frequently recently, cable TV has competed. Sometimes The Apprentice was scheduled at a time in which it came in behind historically high-rated cable shows including the final season of The Sopranos and two seasons of The Walking Dead. On one occasion, The Celebrity Apprentice ranked 6th in a portion of its time slot. Most cable programs, even those widely talked about such as Mad Men, ranked below the network offerings.

The Apprentice Was Never That Popular - The Debut.


The Apprentice debuted at the tail end of NBC's dominance. It was given a primo debut spot, between Friends, the #4 show and ER the #6 show of the 2003-2004 season. Not only were both of these shows popular in 2004, both were on a ten-year run of consecutive years in the top ten. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present maintains a ranking of the most popular TV shows of all time. ER ranks #6 and Friends #14.


That spot in the Thursday line-up was golden. It could launch successful series and it could make forgettable series look successful. Do people even remember Boston Commons, The Single Guy, or Union Square (The #8-rated shows, of 1995, 1996, and 1997, respectively)? How about Fired Up, the 6th-rated show in 1997? All of these achieved a nova-burst moment of popularity because they were sandwiched in the NBC Thursday night line-up. They succeeded because of position, position, position. And this happened with The Apprentice in its first outing. It came in #5 in ratings for its first season, but as I describe below, it hardly ever won its time slot. And, in following seasons, in spite of throwing good shows in to prop it up, it dog-paddled along, barely peeking above the waterline.

The Apprentice was Fired Up and Boston Commons. It was a show propped up to look good in the ratings, but no more.

Let's look at how the debut episode of The Apprentice did.

The Apprentice debuted with a 90-minute episode. The # indicates ranking in time slot.

Seven million viewers tuned out when the episode of Friends finished and The Apprentice began. Fortunately for NBC, four million viewers returned when The Apprentice ended and ER started. The Apprentice did win the first thirty minutes of its time slot when its primary competition was in reruns. Even winning part of a time slot rarely occurred in its long history (more on that below)


A brief counter-argument in favor of the popularity of its first season. The Apprentice was supported by a lead-in of Friends on four more occasions during its first season and by a lead-in of Will & Grace nine times. Will & Grace was not the same powerhouse (ranked #11 in the year before The Apprentice) as Friends, and on two occasions, the lead-in program was in reruns. On three occasions the following show was in reruns and twice they were specials. Factoring in this, we get this overall picture of ratings for the first season. Lead-in, average number of viewers: 18.79 million; Following total: 17.83; The Apprentice: 20.3 million. Reruns are a two-edged sword. The Apprentice had a higher audience because it never ran reruns. On the other side of the blade, The Apprentice could never provide reruns to fill out the program schedule.

The Apprentice was never that popular: a global perspective.

During Trump's tenure there were 102 episodes of The Apprentice and 83 episodes of Celebrity Apprentice. These were spread out over 14 roughly four-month-long seasons. So, how often did The Apprentice and Celebrity win their complete time spots? On six occasions, four times in its first season.


The Apprentice winning its time slot.

• March 18, 2004. Reason: Main competitor pre-empted by NCAA Basketball.
• March 25, 2004. Reason: Main competitor pre-empted by NCAA Basketball.
• April 8, 2004. Reason: Main competitor in re-runs.
• April 15, 2004. Finale first season wins against all competitors. (no reruns, strong showing)
• March 17, 2005. Reason: Main competitor pre-empted by NCAA Basketball.
• March 27, 2006. Reason: Main competitor pre-empted by NCAA Basketball.

As for winning even a slice of its time slot, (e.g., 30 minutes) that occurred on seven more occasions. And that's it. Over 14 seasons The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice, even against its reruns and sometimes weak-ass competition, managed only 13 wins or partial wins out of 185 episodes and most of those came in the first season. The Apprentice scored so poorly, that even against two or three competitors, it managed to lose.

The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice compared to its lead-in, follow-up program and leader of the time slot.

The Apprentice continued on Thursday night for three more seasons through December of 2005. Its viewership declined from 16.1 million in its second season to 11 million in its fourth season. In its fourth season it averaged about 40% of the number of viewers of the program leading its time slot.

After having destroyed NBC on Thursday nights, in season five, The Apprentice moved to Mondays.

Mondays. 

Disaster struck. Not only could Jack Bauer not rescue Trump, he was part of the competition. The Apprentice regularly scored fourth place out of the four major network shows, falling below Two and Half Men, 24 (in its 5th season), and for half of its episodes, Supernanny.

The lead-in to The Apprentice, Deal or No Deal, was popular, #15 rated overall and the #1 show for the week of its finale which preceded The Apprentice finale. Deal or No Deal, was in fact, NBC's top-rated show and in a maniacal effort to prop up its overall lagging ratings, Deal or No Deal was extended to three episodes on three different weeknights. On Monday, unfortunately for NBC, the network lost a third of its Deal or No Deal viewers when The Apprentice came on. This season The Apprentice ended in June and its final competition were reruns. In spite of this, The Apprentice had fallen to 51st place.

Yada, yada, in its 7th season The Apprentice became Celebrity Apprentice and returned to Thursday nights where it revived its ratings up from pitiful to pitiable and finished the season ranked #48.

I wrote and then edited out a season-by-season description of its downfall realizing, really, who wants to go through 14 of these? One noteworthy moment came in September 2010, when the program returned in its tenth season to its non-celebrity format and came to roost on and crap in the now deceased ER's Thursday 10 p.m. time slot. That year The Apprentice finished ranked #113.

The Decline in Viewership of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice.

The Apprentice Killed NBC.

Okay, I've now shown how NBC's downfall concurred with the arrival of The Apprentice and how The Apprentice was never very popular. Now to demonstrate that The Apprentice killed NBC.

The death of NBC was more than coincidental. Over and over again, NBC sent in its most popular programs to prop up The Apprentice. The ratings of these programs took a nosedive or else the programs disappeared altogether.

First Year Sacrificial Lambs.

ER. Second highest rated show on NBC. One of the highest rated programs ever.
Role: Followed The Apprentice.
Ranking, year before the debut of The Apprentice: #4.
Ranking, year after: #12.

Will and Grace. Third highest rated show on NBC.
Role: Lead-in for The Apprentice. 
Ranking, year before the debut of The Apprentice: #11
Ranking, year after: #44

Friends. Top-rated NBC show, one of the highest rated programs ever.
Role: Lead-in for The Apprentice.
Ranking, year before the debut of The Apprentice: #2.
Year after: Program ended.

Wait! Surely you can't blame the scheduled finish of Friends on The Apprentice?

In 2002-2003, the salaries of the six major characters on Friends had ballooned to $1 million dollars. Per episode. That worked out to be $132 million dollars in salaries for just the principal characters. At the same time, producer Mark Burnett had rocked television with Survivor. Survivor had debuted in 2000 and proved that you didn't need star names (or salaries) to get killer ratings. In 2002-2003, the CBS program was the seventh highest rated show and, perhaps as significantly, it had come to roost on Thursday nights.

NBC recognized Burnett's revolution and decided to gamble on his latest creation, The Apprentice. Goodbye to $100-plus million salaries. NBC gave their baby what was possibly the cushiest time slot in television history after Friends and before ER. The Apprentice would spearhead their Friend-less future.

In spite of The Apprentice never being a great success after its first propped-up season, it continued on Thursday nights until ER was ranked #28 (and even then, the second best rated program on NBC). The best rated program on NBC? Deal or No Deal, which was sacrificed to prop up The Apprentice on its move to Mondays.

By the end of the decade, NBC had moved from having the top-rated scripted shows to reality shows, game shows and Sunday Night Football. For years, Sunday Night Football acted as NBC's only hit. To complete the symmetry of the devastation, The Apprentice moved to the Sundays after the football season ended.

Trump as Carnival Barker.

While performing this analysis, I realized one aspect of Donald Trump's character that I didn't quite get before. He is P.T. Barnum. He is a carnival shill. Even when The Apprentice was doing poorly, he was out there promoting the hell out of it. (I kind of admire this.) Of course, he didn't say the ratings stunk. He used euphemisms for stunk, like wonderful. From his tweets:

 Feb 22, 2012 12:35:31 PM @CelebApprentice is having wonderful ratings once again. @IvankaTrump & @DonaldJTrumpJr. I am very proud of this season.

The above tweet came shortly after Celebrity Apprentice debuted at third place in its time slot (second place for the final thirty minutes of its two hours). It finished the season ranked #73.

Trump made a lot of tweets about The Apprentice and ratings. He was also obsessed about the ratings of others.

Jan 26, 2012 02:54:17 PM @BarackObama's SOTU [State of the Union address] ratings were down 12% from 2011.


Being Trump, the claims of his ratings were often lies.

Nov 5, 2012 02:35:32 PM .@mcuban When Apprentice became the #1 show on tv you tried copying me with The Benefactor- a complete and total ratings disaster for @ABC.

The Apprentice was nothing like the #1 show on TV.

Feb 16, 2015 03:11:43 PM "@Bravolebrity1 LeezaGibbons @BrandiGlanville @kevinjonas @GeraldoRivera Ratings for #CelebrityApprentice have been at an all time high! #1"

For the February 16, 2015 episode Celebrity Apprentice was beaten by 2 Broke Girls, Mike & Molly, Stevie Wonder Special, The Bachelor, and Gotham. At 11:43 pm February 16, the time of the tweet, the ratings would not have been in.

Final Note: In the past year, with Donald Trump having headed off to work on other projects, NBC has been making a comeback and will likely end the year with several top ten hits.


Other Donald Trump posts:

•  Those Whom Donald Trump Called Racist
•  Looking for Apologies in Trump's Tweets
•  The Strange Case of Donald Trump and Mr. Hyde

--------------

 Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

Looking for Apologies in Trump's Tweets

(This is my last planned post about Trump's tweets.)

With Donald Trump using so many of his 30,000 plus tweets to insult people, I decided to look into how often he apologized. I searched his Twitter archive for the instances when he used a variant of apology, e.g., apology, apologies, apologize, etc.

Donald Trump's favorite insults.

Insult [# tweets]

• Crooked [283]
• Loser [243]
• Stupid [182]
• Dumb [147]
• Bad (TV or radio) ratings [92]
• Dummy [77]
• Moron [52]

So what does Trump have to say regarding apologies? Variations of the word appear in 108 tweets.

Three tweets were about his philosophy of apologizing.

• Never apologize for fake controversies.
• Fully believe in apologies but you have to be wrong.
• If someone knows they made a mistake and they apologize, forgive them and move on, but never trust them again.

Apologies of others.

About half of the "apology" tweets mention those who should, who should not and who did apologize.

23 posts state X should apologize. Apologize in general or apologize to someone specifically.
  e.g., CNN for their bias toward Hillary Clinton.
8 posts state X did apologize.
  e.g., Ted Cruz to Marco Rubio and Ben Carson for fraud and dirty tricks.
13 posts advising others to not apologize.
  e.g. General Petraeus - stop apologizing.
4 complaints that Obama apologizing.
  e.g. How many times has Obama apologized for our country on foreign soil?!
 
Trump and Apologies.


Although Trump does not apologize, about half of the tweets are about people who should or who did apologize to him, declarations that he would not apologize or passing along apologies from his staff. 

28 posts state X should apologize to Trump.
  e.g. [CNN's] Chuck Todd should apologize for attacking Trump and Jack Welch when they said Obama cooked job report.
12 posts state X did apologize to Trump.
  e.g. Vicente Fox, President of Mexico.
5 posts stating Trump will not apologize.
  e.g. Still waiting for the apology on the birth certificate thing. You must be kidding joker!
2 My staff screwed up. (These were not phrased as Trump apologizing for his staff. They were his staff apologizing.)
  e.g. Young intern who accidentally retweeted.

Sorry. 

Trump used the word "sorry" in 68 tweets. Did any of these represent apologies from him?

This is harder to sort out. Trump most often wields the word sorry with sarcasm. I highlighted sorry because it is easy to miss it among the general venom. These three tweets are directed at his obsessions (in order): Rosie O'Donnell, Danny Zukor, and Mark Cuban.

• Dec 8, 2014 9:53:59 PM Sorry, @Rosie is a mentally sick woman, a bully, a dummy and, above all, a loser. Other than that she is just wonderful!
• Jun 12, 2013 9:46:43 PM Just tried watching Modern Family - written by a moron, really boring. Writer has the mind of a very dumb and backward child. Sorry Danny!
• Mar 19, 2013 2:08:25 PM Sorry folks, but Donald Trump is far richer and much better looking than dopey @mcuban!

In some instances, he is sorry that others have gotten it wrong, in these two examples, about his intelligence and athleticism:

• May 8, 2013 9:37:06 PM Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault
• Apr 3, 2013 8:51:59 AM I played football and baseball, sorry, but said to be the best bball player in N.Y. State-ask coach Ted Dobias-said best he ever coached.

Trump did make 13 apologies using the word "sorry" on thirteen occasions. Two were related to Twitter and eleven were related to not appearing somewhere.

• Dec 11, 2012 1:10:51 PM Some dope tweeted my message to my friend Bill Belichick incorrectly--they called him Bob. Sorry Bill! @Patriots
• May 17, 2014 2:02:45 AM Sorry, for all of the millions of people who long to hear my brilliant words of wisdom on Fox & Friends on Monday A.M., no go - in Dubai.

--------------

Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

Those Whom Donald Trump Called Racist

Someday there may be a source in which all of Donald Trump's speeches and media appearances can be researched. Until then, we have his Twitter archive.

Since joining Twitter on May 4, 2009, up through the end of 2016, Donald Trump has posted over 34,000 times [source] or 12.1 tweets per day. Some of these are photo-only, however, over 31,000 of these tweets are available for text searching at TrumpTwitterArchive. This is a sufficient amount of material to find out what he has to say about many topics.

Since I have been exploring issues of race, I looked to see what Trump has said about it. Fifty of Trump's tweets include the words "racist" or "racists."

• 24 were directed towards individuals whom Trump called racist.
• 13 were directed at groups or entities which Trump called racist.
• 2 mentioned people being called racist, but did not seem to agree with the accusation.
• 6 referred to people calling Trump racist which overlapped with:
• 3 referenced apologies from persons who called Trump racist.
• 3 said a person was not racist.

So, whom did Trump call racist?

• 19 tweets directed at 4 black men.
• 4 tweets directed at 3 Jewish men.
• 1 tweet directed at a white woman.

A gallery of those Trump declared racist.

From right to left: Bryant Gumbel, Touré Neblett, Barack Obama, Tavis Smiley

Bryant Gumbel. (6x [six tweets calling him racist])

TV Personality. His television career beginning in 1971, he is currently host of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, in its 22nd season on HBO. He has won 4 Emmys. Graduated Bates College with a degree in Russian history.

Trump made 12 tweets altogether regarding Bryant Gumbel. Six called him racist.

Along with calling Gumbel a racist, Trump called him: dumb, really dumb (x2), and I mean dumb, dumbest, dope, arrogant dope, really jealous, condescending no talent jerk, no talent, long and deep record of failure.

Touré Neblett. (10x)

Writer, journalist, TV Commentator. In the 90s, he contributed to national magazines such as the Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and Time. He began his television career in the 2000s and from 2012 to 2015 was co-featured in MSNBCs commetary show, The Cycle.

Trump made 17 tweets altogether regarding Touré. Ten included the term racist.

Along with calling Touré a racist, Trump called him: dumb, very dumb, dumb racist moron, dummy, simpleton, stupid, bad speller, angry, doesn't have a clue about money.

Barack Obama (2x).

Former U.S. Senator, Illinois. Two terms U.S. President. Nobel Prize Winner. Graduated Harvard Law School, 1991.

Trump has made over 2400 tweets regarding Barack Obama.

One tweet questioned whether Obama was a racist. Four hours later, a second tweet stated he was a racist.

Trump often referred to Obama's policies and decisions as stupid. On two occasions he called Obama stupid and once a dope. On six more occasions, he asked whether Obama was stupid, most aggressively in this form:  "How totally stupid is this guy?"

Tavis Smiley (1x).

Talk Show Host, Commentator.

Beginning in the 1990s Smiley has been a radio commentator. He graduated Indiana University in 2003 with a degree in Public Affairs.

Only one tweet referred to Tavis Smiley, calling him a hater and racist.

The Other Four.

Trump has also called these four other individuals racists: Jon Stewart, Anthony Weiner, Danny Zuker, and Elizabeth Warren.

Jon Stewart (2x).

Talk Show Host, Comedian. Headed The Daily Show from 1999 to 2015. During his tenure, The Daily Show won 22 Primetime Emmys. Graduated from College of William & Mary in 1984.

Trump made two tweets questioning whether Stewart was racist, both of which linked to a YouTube video where Trump hosted evidence of Stewart's alleged racism.

Trump has made 33 tweets regarding Jon Stewart. Most often he refers to Stewart as overrated, but also has called him: dummy, dopey, a joke, not smart, a pussy, phoney [sic], asshole, loud and obnoxious and a very little man.

Anthony Weiner (1x).

Six term Congressman, representing New York's 9th Congressional District. Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences from The College of William & Mary. During his tenure, Weiner became involved in a "sexting" scandal and resigned.

Trump delivered a dig at Weiner's Twitter alias, "Carlos Danger," declaring him a racist. A ready target for ridicule, Trump directed 80 tweets at Weiner, calling him, among other things, a pervert in 25 tweets.

Danny Zuker (1x).

Television writer and producer since the late 80s. Best known for "Modern Family." He has won five Primetime Emmys.

Trump has had a long-standing feud with Zuker. In 77 tweets, along with calling Zuker's remarks racist, he has called Zuker a loser (12x), stupid (4x), and dummy (3x).

Elizabeth Warren (1x).

U.S. Senator. She received a law degree from Rutgers University in 1976.

Along with referring to Warren as a racist, he directed 25 tweets her way, calling her goofy in 23 cases and Pocahontas on 8 occasions.

 

Left to right: Jon Stewart, Anthony Weiner, Danny Zuker, Elizabeth Warren

Calling Trump Racist.

Trump made several tweets about others calling him racist, including three cases where he stated apologies were made by those he said called him racist.

From Trump's Twitter account, these are those who called him racist.

• David Letterman.
• Donny Deutsch.
• Al Sharpton.
• Joe Scarborough.
• Mitt Romney.
• Maryland Democrat flyer.

Those whom he said apologized:

• Donny Deutsch.
• Al Sharpton.
• David Letterman.

This is an excerpt of David Letterman's apology. [Full text below]

Letterman: This is my apology, yes. So I'm saying it's possible that I was wrong that he's [Trump is] not a racist because we don't want to think that of anyone. But he's just a dope, how about that? [Kisses hand and places hand over heart.] From the heart.

Oct 10, 2012 9:28:35 AM .@DavidLetterman @Late_Show fully apologized last night for calling me a racist. Thank you David--we are again friends.

"I'd called him out and said he's too smart to be a racist. Well, I was wrong." David Letterman interview at the New Yorker festival, October 6, 2016.

Not a Racist.

On three occasions, Trump has gone out of his way to declare one person "not a racist:" Donald Trump.

Donald Trump. Heir to the Fred Trump real estate fortune. President. Bachelor's in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. No Emmys.

Jun 11, 2016 7:18:19 AM Mitt Romney had his chance to beat a failed president but he choked like a dog. Now he calls me racist-but I am least racist person there is.

Full text of David Letterman apology, October 9, 2012. [YouTube]

Letterman: I have been struggling with something and I talked to close friends on my staff. That's right I have friends. Um, you know, Donald Trump. Remember when Donald Trump used to be on the show? And it was fabulous. Donald Trump would come out and we would make fun of him and he'd laugh. And we could say things about his hair and about being a slumlord and about how he evicted old ladies and we'd laugh. Donald would have quips and I would have quips and he'd always be in this dopey-looking tie and I'd say, "What is that Donald a tie or your tongue?"

Well, um, one thing leads to another and Donald starts, as he is wont to do, starts shooting his mouth off, and he was saying things about President Obama and I said on the air about I think Donald if you are saying these things I think that means you might be a racist. If you keep on saying these things, are you in fact a racist? Is Donald Trump a racist? I flat out called him a racist. Well, he didn't think that was funny.

And so he said, "I'm never coming back on this show unless you apologize to me and tell people you are sorry you called me a racist. And so I've been thinking about this and thinking about this and ruminating about this and ruminating about this and so, you know, I always want to believe the best in people. I don't want to believe that in 2012 a guy in his position could be a racist. We don't need that. That goes away. We don't need that. There's no room for that anywhere. So, I am, um, thinking, well maybe it's that he's not just a racist. Maybe it's just... well, I don't mean in addition to being a racist. Oh, believe me, he's a racist but he's so much more. Ha, ha. That's not.

Listen, good thing, good thing I'm not in Congress because right away I'd be on Rachel making a deal with Chicago. [Uncertain meaning, but Rachel Maddow was the guest that night.]

So maybe it's that he's not a racist, maybe he's just a guy who pulls out who says stupid things to get people's attention. I can live with that. We have that in common.

Paul Shaffer: Okay. Yeah. So we'll go with that [uncertain: as the aspersion] So the bottom line is that he doesn't do the show anymore.

Letterman: But I'm saying, I'm saying I would like him to be on the show. Because it's an element that we miss, especially now with the [2012] campaign nearing its fruition to have the dopey [pokey?] Donald Trump here, you know, waah-waah, waah-waah, waah-waah, waah-waah, waah-waah [makes hand gestures suggesting Trump's hair is flapping].

Paul Shaffer: So this is your way of saying to him.

Letterman: This is my apology, yes. So I'm saying it's possible that I was wrong that he's not a racist because we don't want to think that of anyone. But he's just a dope, how about that? [Kisses hand and places hand over heart.] From the heart. That would be great if he comes back on.

-----

 Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

The Strange Case of Donald Trump and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Donald Trump and Mr. Hyde

MR. UTTERSON the lawyer had gummy lips which pursed and smacked when rapt in deep and worried thought. His gray eyebrows shifted as he cogitated, moths ready to take flight. He walked along Madison Avenue weaving through the evening crowd in the company of his cousin, Richard Enfield. Soot begrimed the streets and buildings as though a dam had burst on all the smoke stoppered away since the creation of the EPA, the haze of an ancient fog having returned to choke the city.

"Donald Trump has always seemed such a pleasant buffoon," the lawyer said. "What does this Mr. Hyde hold over him to make him thus Twitter in the night?"

"I know not," Enfield said, his smile was broad but strained. "I have on Trump's word that Trump is an honourable man, forthright and never to set his tongue to a lie. Studious of the Bible. He has declared his true favourite among passages is, 'An eye for an eye.' [1]"

"Aye," Utterson said, wagging his head, "that is Trump and true. He has proclaimed many a deviled phrase. 'Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. [2]' He has declared, 'You can't be too greedy. [3]'"

"Yes, quite. You have quoted from The Art of the Deal, which Trump has sworn second in his heart only to the Bible [4]. But then, perhaps it is not the Christian Bible he studies.[5]"

They chuckled.

"Still, I believe him a good man," Utterson said.

"He is a child of Christ," Enfield asseverated. "In truth, his late grandmother was born of the name Elisabeth Christ, may her soul find peace. [6]"

Elizabeth Trump, nee Elisabeth Christ, Oct. 10, 1880 - June 6, 1966. RIP.

Utterson grunted. He recognized that Enfield, even with his seemingly benign words, steered the conversation in a direction more sinister than he would like.

They stopped at the brink of a fountain. An old woman tossed crumbs to a pigeon. A feral cat leapt upon the bird and, with a horrid, rapacious rake of its claws, tore open its neck. Utterson shuddered and Enfield looked away in disgust.

"I saw this Mr. Hyde just this week past," Utterson said. "On Park Avenue. There was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature -- something seizing, surprising, and revolting [7]. A smallish man, half that of the stout Trump. He stalked among a crowd who parted for his passage and then ducked into a doorway leading to the lower chambers of Trump Tower. He smacked the doorkeeper with his cane as he passed inside."

"Surely, the malfeasant was bounced forthwith," Enfield said.

"Nay. The doorkeeper apologized for being struck. It seemed this Hyde was welcomed as a favored guest."

"Hmmpf." Enfield sniffled as he glanced about. "Still 't'is to be expected. Trump recalled that as a child in the second grade, he gave his teacher a black eye because he thought the man dumb [8]. What a prodigy! And he praised his own son for being vicious and violent. [9]

"Such praise of craven brutishness," Utterson said. "The pieces fit and surely they bespeak of the impish influence of Mr. Hyde, an agent of chaos if one ever has existed. How but through Hyde's actions could you explain so great an entrepreneur losing near a billion in one year on a casino? [10]"

"And yet the deduction appeared on Trump's taxes, not on Hyde's," Enright countered, "passing the burden on to all who do pay. A thousand men like that and we begin to explain the mass of deficit. Think of how much he will deduct once he bankrupts America!"

A greyness settled over Utterson's heart. He knew Enright was hardly a Tory, and yet it seemed clear that in this discourse and by saying the opposite of what he meant, his cousin took a wicked glee in casting a spell of persuasion.

"Trump is a pleasant buffoon," Utterson muttered, as though the words could stave back a heaviness he felt sapping his very corpuscles. "It must be the work of Mr. Hyde. I cannot reconcile this great entrepreneur with so crass a man."

"No, Trump is not crass," Enfield said. "It surely must be the constellation of haters who cling to his name." He whispered their name, "The white supremacists. [11]"

"White supremacists?" Utterson scoffed. "Trump would never associate with such a toxic brand of ignorance."

Trump passing along a message from WhiteGenocide (one of several)

Trump passing along a statistic from a phony institute claiming 81% of whites are killed by blacks.

"No," Enfield agreed, a hiss in his voice, "not Trump."

A homeless woman sat behind a sign, Destroyed by Trump. Utterson snorted. He then asked himself whether he laughed at such a pathetic figure or at her claim? Ashamed of himself, he dropped a coin in her cup.

"Trump only destroys the best," Enfield said. This left Utterson confused. Was his cousin dismissing this woman's statement? Surely he was not saying this woman was the best?

"Trump," Enfield continued, "or I betake it was that other, that foul fiend who prowls the night, assaults women and ogles naked youth. There was the time he humiliated Miss Universe."

"Miss Universe? That name rings of a true potency." And, in Utterson's mind, a touch of the unreal. He searched his memory as to whether Miss Universe was among the list of Marvel characters.

"There was Alicia Machado, Miss Universe 1996," Enfield said. "Trump lied and said she made pornographic movies. And then called upon people to watch the films. [12]"

"Ah, that was but a Twitter in the night," Utterson said. "Thus pointing again to Hyde. And Trump himself said no such comment ever existed. [13]"

Trump passes along advice to watch a sex tape (which never existed) to humiliate Alicia Machado. Claimed Hillary Clinton helped Machado get her citizenship. Trump claimed he never asked to check out a sex tape

"Perhaps." Enfield frowned, more of a squishing of the lips. "But what of that other incident. Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Universe 2004. That video where he called her to stand before a crowd and sexually humiliated her and declared he planned to lie to people and say she was dumb. [14]. Or that other pageant where he assaulted Temple Taggert [15]. Or those times he went backstage unannounced to ogle the women and underage contestants [16]. He declared it within his rights, 'I'm the owner of the pageant... You know, they're standing there with no clothes. [17]' Trump has professed that he had sex with three women at once, noting their weight, something very important to him, totaled 375 pounds. [18] But, ha! 'T'were not for his riches, the man would be a 70-year-old virgin."

Enfield was now a dog with a bone and he would not let go. "The man who, with Trump, co-wrote The Art of the Deal, who examined Trump as close as anybody, declared that if wrote the book today he would title it, 'The Sociopath.' I quote the author in saying 'Lying is second nature to him.' [19]"

"Stop!" Utterson vociferated. "Enough! I don't want to know. You have settled your mind on these matters and are but toying with me. If Trump be a liar, I need hear it from his own lips."

"Utterson, my dear cousin, there is the story of the two doors. One is guarded by a dragon who always speaks the truth, the other by a dragon who always lies. Would you trust the lying dragon to tell you which was honest?"

The pair stopped in their tracks. He and Enfield stood at the corner of 5th and 57th, outside of Trump's Tower. There, not far away, Donald Trump, the man himself, strode down the sidewalk. He ducked into a side door, a heavy metal portal which, upon his passage, failed to snap shut against its bolts.

Enfield must have read Utterson's mind, for he said, "I warn you, for the sake of your sanity and all that you deem holy. Do not follow."

But the temptation consumed the lawyer. Leaving Enfield behind with a bare whisper of "Godspeed," he slid his fingers into the door crack. So solid and of such heft, he feared it would jerk closed, lopping off his digits. He drew it open.

He hoped to happen upon a security guard, someone who would thrust him back in to the street, thereby halting this fearful obsession. No such fortune.

Laid out before him, a long tunnel. Plump bundles of wiring clung to the ceiling like a string of cocoons. A steam-pipe gurgled and sizzled, a pin-point leak. The boiling water condensed against the ceiling and a steady drip dove into the echo of emptiness.

At the end of the hall, an open doorway baited him with its light, its bright gaping maw seemingly inhaling the length of darkness. Utterson's mind told him, no, but his feet, no longer heeding his will, answered the summons, his footfalls tattooing a relentless path onward.

He entered a vast and yet strangely claustrophobic room where he encountered a raging furnace.  The walls were awash in trembling yellows and reds. Nearby, draped over the arm of a battered E-Z-boy chair, there rested the scarecrow face of Donald Trump, the eye sockets empty, the orange hair spray-hardened into a swath of straw.

"If he only had a. . ."

Utterson sunk his finger through the eyes. It was a Latex mask.

A clacking sound. Sitting in front of a desk, tap-tapping away at a keyboard, was the small and twisted, ape-like creature, Hyde. The horrendous brute gazed at the screen with jaundiced frenzied eyes, stabbing the keyboard with thick yellowed nails as he Twittered. He still wore Trump's blue serge jacket, his stick-like appendages now wholly swallowed, his tiny frame lost as though set beneath a fallen circus tent.

This can't be, Utterson thought. It does not ring true: surely the law of conservation of mass. And yet, he considered, he hadn't accounted for the presence of dark matter.

The beast looked up at him, and in that instant, Utterson knew for certain. There never was a Trump, only Mr. Hyde.


Martin Hill Ortiz

Notes and Footnotes.

Perhaps I should have titled the piece, Doctor Trump and Mr. Hyde. In 1988, Trump received an honorary doctorate from LeHigh University, the year after they granted one to Bill Cosby.
http://thebrownandwhite.com/2016/02/08/rescinding-trumps-honorary-degree/

Many of the links include audio and visual files in which Trump expresses his character.

[1] Trump's favorite Bible verse had a long and strained history.

Round one, August 2015.
When asked what his favorite verse was, he said, "I wouldn't want to get into it. Because to me, that's very personal. The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics." He declined to choose between the Old or New Testament, "Probably equal. I think it's just incredible." Link includes audio and visual. [August 2015]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10qbt0LHmvE&feature=youtu.be

His second attempt, September 2015.
When Trump was asked for a favorite verse, he invented one, saying it was from Proverbs: "Never bend to envy." No such verse exists.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/donald.trump.finally.reveals.his.favourite.bible.verse.which.is.never.bend.to.envy.but.theres.a.problem.it.doesnt.exist/65011.htm

"Never bend to envy?" What does Trump even mean by this? Maintain good posture while envying? Did Trump believe many people groveled while envying him and he was disgusted by them?

"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief." Proverbs 24:1-2.

His third attempt at a favorite verse, September 2016.

"Is there a favorite Bible verse or Bible story that has informed your thinking or your character through life, sir?" asked host Bob Lonsberry on WHAM 1180 AM.

Trump: "Well, I think many. I mean, when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And some people, look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that." [link to audio]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/donald-trumps-favorite-bible-teaching-is-eye-for-an-eye?utm_term=.krzz3qaBW#.fn7Q1Al2j

[2] Screw people back ten times as hard. From the Jennifer Hawkins video, discussed more fully below.

Fuller quote: "Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. I really believe that." [Video and Audio at link].

http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/10/28/13459750/trump-video-miss-universe-grab-kiss-jennifer-hawkins

[3] "The point is you can't be too greedy." The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz. Random House. (1987).

[4] Trump declared the Bible his favorite book, beating out second place, Trump's own Art of the Deal.

Trump stated this on several occasions. One example here, as reported on a Christian news site.
http://www.charismanews.com/politics/primaries/51543-donald-trump-just-revealed-his-favorite-book-want-to-guess

Before his presidential run, Trump stated that his favorite book was Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking.

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/40-favourite-books-of-famous-people#gallery-35

[5] Not the Christian Bible. Many of Trump's sayings are reflected in Anton LaVey's The Satanic bible.

Trump's favorite verse: Eye for an eye.
Note: This is one of the few sayings that Jesus specifically refuted.
And similar Trump quote:  Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. I really believe that.
Satanic bible: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth -aye, four-fold, a hundred-fold!

Trump: You can't be too greedy.
Satanic bible: A Satanist knows there is nothing wrong with being greedy.

Trump, as cited below brags of his orgies and praises violence.
From the Satanic bible:
Satanism is a blatantly selfish, brutal religion.
And,
The seven deadly sins of the Christian Church are: greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust, and sloth. Satanism advocates indulging in each of these "sins" as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.

I will not link to the text of the Satanic bible. It is available at archive.org, a safe site.

[6] From the genealogy site:
Elizabeth Christ. Oct. 10, 1880 - Jun. 6, 1966

Spouse:
  Friedrich Trump (1869-1918)
Mother of:
  Frederick Christ Trump (1905-1999)
  Father of Donald John Trump (1946- )
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105719858

[7] I had to include, if only briefly, some of Stevenson's sharp prose. From: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Longmans, Green & Co., 1886.

[8] Gave teacher black eye in the second grade.
From: The Art of the Deal. Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz. Random House. (1987). 
"In the second grade I actually gave a teacher a black eye — I punched my music teacher because I didn't think he knew anything about music..."

[9] Praising his son's violent character.
From: Donald Trump gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. USA Today, 1/16/2007.
Speaking of his son, Barron. "He's strong, he's smart, he's tough, he's vicious, he's violent — all of the ingredients you need to be an entrepreneur."
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-01-16-trump_x.htm

[10] The casino bankruptcy and the tax deduction.
From: Donald Trump Got a Tax Break For Stiffing Contractors. October 8, 2016, Fortune Magazine.
http://fortune.com/2016/10/08/donald-trump-taxes-contractors/

[11] White supremacy notes.
Trump sending along a racist tweet from #whitegenocide.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/23/donald-trump/trump-tweet-blacks-white-homicide-victims/

Trump sending along a racist tweet that says 81% of homicides where white people are the victim are committed by blacks. (The actual number is about 16%) The tweet, which made the rounds of white supremacy sites, cites a non-existent crime statistics research group.

More of the connection of Donald Trump, his social network, other tweets and white supremacy is discussed here.
http://fortune.com/donald-trump-white-supremacist-genocide/

[12, 13] The tweet advising America to watch a (non-existent) sex tape of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and then denying he ever said it. [for the latter, video in the link]

From:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/09/donald-trump/trump-early-morning-sex-tape-tweet/

Text of tweet:
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?

From the second debate:
Anderson Cooper: In the days after the first debate, you sent out a series of tweets from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., including one that told people to check out a sex tape.
Trump: No, it wasn’t saying, 'check out a sex tape.' It was just 'take a look at the person she built up to be this wonderful girl scout, who was no girl scout.'

[14] Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Australia, for Miss Universe.

One of the most disturbing videos that was uncovered was that of Trump humiliating Jennifer Hawkins, former Miss Universe in front of a crowd of thousands, including stating his plan to lie about her intelligence, making orgasm jokes at her expense, and forcing a kiss of her.

From: A newly surfaced video shows Donald Trump grabbing and kissing a former Miss Universe onstage. He sexually humiliates her in front of thousands. Vox.com, October 28, 2016.

http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/10/28/13459750/trump-video-miss-universe-grab-kiss-jennifer-hawkins

Excerpts:
Trump, after explaining how he believed Hawkins had refused to introduce him, brings Jennifer Hawkins up on stage and then describes how he planned to exact his revenge.

"Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. I really believe that."

"I was actually going to get up and tell you that Jennifer is a beautiful girl on the outside, but she’s not very bright. That wouldn’t have been true, but I would have said it anyway."

"And you know what? She came tonight, she came — came, she came, she came. See, so they have the same filthy minds in Australia."

[15] Temple Taggert, 2007 Miss Utah complained that Trump forced a kiss.

From: Miss USA Contestant Details Unwanted Encounters With Trump. nbcnews.com
Excerpt:

Taggert: "I remember feeling kind of embarrassed, like wanting to turn and wipe my mouth, like, 'What just happened?'"

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/miss-usa-contestant-details-encounters-trump-n665521

[16] Backstage and ogling contestants.

From: Teen Beauty Queens Say Trump Walked In On Them Changing. "Don’t worry, ladies, I've seen it all before."

https://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltaggart/teen-beauty-queens-say-trump-walked-in-on-them-changing?utm_term=.kp4o9vMa6#.ot2nb24E0

Excerpt: Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing. [the story notes a fifth woman had come forward]

and, at the 2000 Miss USA Beauty Pageant:

 "We Were All Naked" When Donald Trump Walked Through Beauty Queen Dressing Room.  Trump: "I sort of get away with things like that."

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/we-were-all-naked-when-donald-trump-walked-in?utm_term=.bbVV48yPJ#.febQNb1pn

Tasha Dixon, Miss Arizona, describes the same event in the 2001 Miss America Pageant.
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/12/donald-trump-beauty-pageant-contestants-naked-lavandera-dnt-erin.cnn

Other examples not mentioned.

[17] The right to go backstage when the beauty queen contestants were undressed.

From: Trump on Howard Stern. [radio show, audio files available at link] http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/trump-on-howard-stern/

Excerpts:

Trump speaking. "Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that before a show, I'll go backstage and everyone's getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it," Trump said. "You know, I'm inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good."

"You know, the dresses. 'Is everyone okay?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody okay?'

But it's okay: "All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected." How to Get Rich. Donald Trump, Meredith McGiver. Ballantine Books. (2004)

[18] Trump having sex with three women at once, weighing 375 pounds between them.

From the same link as above: Trump on Howard Stern. [radio show, audio files available at link]
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/trump-on-howard-stern/

Context:
After asking Trump about whether he ever had sex with a 300 pound woman— to which Trump replies, no—Artie Lang asked Trump if he ever had a threesome total 300 pounds.

Excerpt:

Trump: "I wouldn't say 300, I would say could be about 375. I figure 125 a piece as opposed to 100."

A different instance when he was asked about having threesomes in general [same link].

"Haven't we all," Trump added about men having threesomes, "are we babies?"

[19] Trump, The Sociopath.

From: Donald Trump's Ghost Writer Tells All. July 25, 2016, The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

Excerpts and further quotes:

If he were writing "The Art of the Deal" today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, "The Sociopath."

"Lying is second nature to him," Schwartz said. "More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true."

"I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization." Tony Schwartz, co-author.

 ---

Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
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