Trump comes to Rogers; no one fired
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
ROGERS - When a multi-billionaire talks about economic success, people listen. When it's Donald Trump, they laugh a lot, too.
"The Donald," whose value was estimated by Forbes at $ 3 billion, doled out comments aimed equally at his contemporaries and himself. He picked on an unlucky friend, New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez and his failed marriage to Marla Maples, all the while offering some of his keys to success.
"Success never changes," Trump said to a plethora of businessmen crowding tables at the front of a John Q. Hammons Center ballroom Thursday and to the handful of school teachers seated at the tables along the back. "You need certain qualities to be successful."
The first characteristic needed for success, Trump said, is desire.
"You have to love what you're doing," he said. He told of a friend who worked on Wall Street but loved construction, how that friend was miserable unless he was doing what he loved.
"You have to be able to withstand pressure," Trump said. "Everyone's gunning for you; they want what you have."
Trump's speech was the keynote address at a fundraising luncheon for Economics Arkansas, a group dedicated to promoting economic education throughout the state.
"Our children deserve to understand the world in which they are living and will soon be competing," said Jim Walton, CEO of Arvest Bank.
"To be effective participants in this economy, they need to understand it," Economics Arkansas executive director Sue Owens said of the state's students.
With area teachers in attendance, some of Trump's lessons may find their way into classrooms, such as "never ever quit or give up," or his declaration about the importance of luck: "No matter how good you are, I've seen people who are just luckier than others. "
Other lessons may need to be cleaned up before they reach the state's youth.
"Get even," Trump said. "If somebody screws you, screw them back 15 times more than they did you. "
The effect, he said, is to make you feel better - he got laughs for that one - and to deter others from trying to pull anything over on you themselves.
And one piece of advice will likely not be useful to the students until they are older, but it will be especially useful, Trump said, if they move to New York, where he lives.
"Always, when you get married, always have a prenuptial agreement," Trump said.
Owens was uncertain how much money had been raised through the event. A final tally should be completed by Monday or Tuesday.
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