Page 141 - Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success

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T R UM P: N E V E R G I V E U P

like a challenge. I used the house as a private residence until
1995, but my first thought when I saw it was that it would make
a fantastic private club. Along with this great idea came another
huge obstacle: zoning and local ordinances would never permit
this. It would never happen. It had to remain as a private house,
or the property would be subdivided. This was a horrific
thought, but that was reality.
I was living very happily with my family at Mar-a-Lago,
even though it is far too big as a house. There were parts of it I
had never seen. There were bomb shelters, for example, and
many wings were left vacant.

THE LOW POINT

Then, in the 1990s I ran into a financial crisis—to the tune of
billions of dollars. You can imagine my thoughts—great time to
own a money pit! But I can tell you, I didn’t actually find it a
great weight. I had so much else to worry about that even with
its problems Mar-a-Lago felt like a minor weight to me. I
remember being in a room full of bankers, trying to work out a
very complex situation, and they were friends who were truly
trying to be helpful. Trying to be light-hearted in a dire situa-
tion, I said to them, “well, since it’s Friday, think I’ll go down
to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend on my 727.” They didn’t think
that was very funny and I knew immediately I’d made a big mis-
take. So I quickly told them I was going to subdivide Mar-a-
Lago, and call it the Mansions at Mar-a-Lago, and promised
them it would be a huge moneymaker. That worked! I saw their
anger disappear immediately.
However, now I was stuck with doing something about what
I’d just promised. The thought of subdividing Mar-a-Lago was

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