Many of your peers — mainly the business junkies — read The Art Of The Deal (AOD) soon after it hit the street in the late 80’s. Thankfully, you waited 30 years. Luckily, Santa happened to give you a copy. Lucky because you have the perspective of Donald’s first year sloshing through the Potomac Swamp. As it happened, it wasn’t his first Swamp. Like most people, you expected the AOD to give you a series of deal-making lessons — the do’s, the dont’s, the rules — something like a self-help manual. True, there is some of that. But what Trump really gave us way back then was a loose, laid back, early autobiography, posing almost as a diary of deals. But forget the deals. Forget the Trump strategies, tactics, failures and successes. The book, in actuality, is a prophetic magnifying glass into Donald, the person — more revealing than the millions of printed and spoken words by self appointed analysts during his presidential run. In reality, in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, on the streets of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, Donald Trump was rehearsing to win the Presidency — and rehearsing in fact to be President. He didn’t know it. Didn’t think about it. Didn’t have that ambition. What he did have was the self admitted drive to do spectacular things, make his fortune and have fun doing it — the very capitalistic attitude that made America great. The envy merchants, then and now, belittle his accomplishments. Why? Well, Daddy Fred gave him his first job, gave him a million cool in a trust fund, co-signed deals in the early days and kept the safety net handy for the brash, young whippersnapper. However, unlike most “silver spooners” who frolic their days away, Donald feasted on learning his Pop’s business from the ground up. With single focus, he took pragmatic knowledge and unbounded zeal across the river to the most treacherous business jungle on the planet — Manhattan. Overnight, Donald learned that this concrete jungle had predators lurking around every corner. He quickly confirmed that nothing gets done without the cooperation of City Planning bureaucrats, Parks Department bureaucrats, Board of Estimate bureaucrats, EPA bureaucrats, trade unions and Big Media. And when an incompetent, corrupt Mayor presides over a corrupt city administration, doing big business proved a giant migraine. As Donald waded through the New York Swamp, he simultaneously had to approach lending institutions, architects, designers, contractors and the myriad of other private sector firms required to develop upscale projects. He employed the best people, many of whom were women and he personally handled all negotiations down to fine detail. He used the media; he fought the media; he used politicians and fought politicians. He took big risks; he worked and worked and won and lost. What riled him most as a businessman in the Big Apple was seeing the apple turn rotten through the incompetence, corruption and waste of governmental institutions. Just after he published AOD, 30 years ago, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Donald and asked if he would consider running for President. He demurred but suggested if things got bad enough, he might change his mind. Successive Bush/Obama presidencies were the last straw. Now the pundits are busily adding up the score of Trump’s first year. He couldn’t care less what they think. He knows one thing.  Swamp #2 is still sucking the life out of a Nation divided. He still has work to do. Like always.