Trump Wannabees

In the avalanche of media stories about the real estate bubble, a commentator will occasionally reference an amateur investor as a “wannabe Donald Trump”. What is interesting to me is that there is a perception on Main Street that the Donald is some kind of brilliant businessman, and therefore being called a mini-Trump is complimentary.

Although Trump is certainly wealthy and successful, I believe that the perception that he is a brilliant and trusted businessman is more prevalent on Main Street than on Wall Street. In fact, from my experience on Wall Street, I would say that many analysts, traders and bankers take Trump’s advice, philosophy and outlook, about as seriously as any other ego driven celebrity, which is not very. To Wall Street he is an important and wealthy developer and investor, however, there are hundreds of more important developers and investors in the United States than Donald Trump, but who are not as publicity crazed and therefore command more respect.

Trump is essentially a bit player on Wall Street, and too some people, a joke. When the local paper calls an amateur real estate investor in Beach Haven, or San Bernardino a mini-Trump, or Trump Wannabe, myself and many on Wall Street do not view the comparison between Trump and the amateur as a compliment for the amateur.


Here is a decent rant by Mark Cuban about the Donald.