Thanks to a leaked copy of his 1995 tax return, the basic story fact that Donald Trump built a mini empire of Atlantic City casinos that crashed and burned in the early 1990s is now well-known. What happened over the course of his decade at the helm of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts is that he ran the company into the ground, immiserating shareholders while walking away with enormous bags of cash for himself.
A more illuminating aspect of Trump the businessperson was his stint as chair of a public traded company - a scenario in which he was supposed to be the steward of not just his own interests but those of the company’s shareholders. But as the operator of mostly privately owned companies, Trump has primarily been in it just to enrich himself. He has no prior experience in politics or government service, pointing instead to his career in business. Donald Trump wants to run the American government.
