I picked up the urge to watch this video of Trump at the wall from Dan Bongino’s podcast. I’m glad I did watch the whole thing. All through Trump’s 2015/16 campaign, and especially before his nomination, I watched his arena act. It was always a fantastic combination of great story telling and borderline stand up comedy. This was Trump before the teleprompter spoiled him. Later he developed the ability to wander off script a bit more but the teleprompter was still a disaster.
This is Trump holding an impromptu show and tell for the sceptical press. He brings in the experts around him, he praises the workers, he never takes credit for other people’s hard work. We don’t see it here but I’d love to know if he handed out $100 tips to the construction workers that day as we know he does with all the staff at hotels and other places he stops.
When he’s speaking about building, he knows his stuff. He understands how concrete and steel combine, different concrete formulations, densities and how they have to be poured. He fundamentally knows this business. He wanted to talk about the high tech systems, he was gently persuaded not to go into details. He might have been the guy at the top of his companies, but it is blindingly obvious he spent a whole lot of time on construction sites actually talking to and watching what craftsmen and labourers did at his companies.
This is the Trump that won the heartlands of America. This is what he needs to do more of.