Trump: How to Get Rich

Sometimes You Still Have to Screw Them

For many years I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back. I once made the mistake of saying that in front of a group of twenty priests who were in a larger audience of two thousand people. I took some heat for that. One of them said, My son, we thought you were a much nicer person.

I responded, Father, I have great respect for you. You’ll get to heaven. I probably won’t, but to be honest, as long as we’re on the earth, I really have to live by my principles.

When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can. Like it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye.

Be paranoid. I know this observation doesn’t make any of us sound very good, but let’s face the fact that it’s possible that even your best friend wants to steal your spouse and your money. As I say every week in The Apprentice, it’s a jungle out there. We’re worse than lions—at least they do it for food. We do it for the thrill of the hunt.

Recently, I’ve become a bit more mellow about retribution and paranoia. Although I still believe both are necessary, I now realize that vengeance can waste a lot of time better spent on new developments and deals, and even on building a better personal life. If you can easily dismiss a negative from your life, it’s better to do so. Seeing creeps as a form of corruption that you’re better off without is a great time-saving device.

Still, sometimes you’ve just got to screw them back.

For example, a while ago I agreed to invest a small amount in a new restaurant venture. I did this with the full expectation that I was throwing this money down the drain, because most of these clubs are not successful. I liked the two young guys who approached me to invest and figured I’d give them a break—plus a good friend of mine had asked me to help them.

When the restaurant opened, it was a smash hit. Crowds of people lined up to get in. Money was pouring in. It was incredible.

About a year later, I realized that I hadn’t received a single dollar from the owners—no repayment of my initial investment and certainly no profit. I called two of the guys who got me into the deal and said, Fellas, come on, I know success when I see it. You ought to pay back your investors.

One of them said, Oh, we’re working so hard, and the money just isn’t coming in fast enough.

My response: Bullshit! I don’t believe it. From my perspective, they seemed to be living like kings.

Eventually, I received my first equity distribution from them, for a fraction of my investment. I was furious and sent an angry letter to the managing partner, in which I asked for a public investigation of their records.

I’m an instinctive businessman and I hate being screwed. I can’t prove they did anything wrong without spending more money to investigate them than my investment is worth, but my hunch is that investors like me should have been repaid six times their initial investment by now.

Now whenever I see the guys I tried to help, they wave to me and I just turn my back. The sad thing for them is that had I felt that they treated me (and their other investors) fairly, I probably would have backed them for millions on their next deal.

Maybe I’ll sue them anyway, just to prove my point. Business can be tough, but you’ve got to stay true to your principles.