# What did you think of Donald Trump a decade ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370 "2018-10-03T15:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/81 "2018-10-06T15:07:14Z")
Rapacious capitalist, full of himself…quasi-celeb due to media hype. ---
**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/82 "2018-10-06T15:33:13Z")
I would have agreed with John Mulaney’s assessment: “Donald Trump is almost like what a hobo imagines a rich man to be.” ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/83 "2018-10-06T17:53:28Z")
I’ve certainly known about him for longer than a decade, but almost from the first I’ve seen him as a narcissistic asshole. Shortly after that I found out that he’s also a thief. My opinion of him hasn’t improved. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/84 "2018-10-06T17:58:38Z")
For at least a decade, maybe two, I have thought of Trump as a self important, know nothing blowhard. My impression of him has gotten worse since he got ‘involved’ in politics. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/85 "2018-10-06T18:22:01Z")
A vain con man, fairly good at manipulating the public-relations game, probably not nearly as wealthy as he wanted everyone to think he was, no actual taste at all, and a misogynist. ---
**Author:** ![Brawndo\_with\_Electrolytes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Brawndo\_with\_Electrolytes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brawndo_with_Electrolytes)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/86 "2018-10-06T21:38:12Z")
“Trump… you mean DONALD Trump? From the 80s?” That’s literally what I thought of him 10 years ago. Interestingly that’s also what I thought when I heard he was running for prez in 2016. Obviously he has vastly overstayed his welcome, and so have other things from the 80s, such as “Don’t Stop Believin’.” ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/87 "2018-10-07T03:35:30Z")
I didn’t like him then, either. I had a subscription to The New Yorker and Spy magazine in the early 90s. I learned that Trump was a fake, greedy publicity hound, back then. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/88 "2018-10-07T03:37:57Z")
Maybe if he’d actually given to charity, instead of pretending to, he might have gotten some respect from the New York elite. But he was and is far too greedy (and cash-strapped) to be an actual, generous philanthropist. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/89 "2018-10-07T06:53:58Z")
I saw him as the Liberace of the real-estate industry. Bling, bluster and bullshit. But at least Liberace could play the piano! Never watched The Apprentice so can’t comment on his appearances there. But I imagine they were chockers with bling, bluster and BS too, ammirite? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/90 "2018-10-07T07:02:49Z")
I thought he was a buffoon. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/91 "2018-10-07T18:53:51Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > “Short fingered vulgarian” I was another Spy reader. I miss that magazine. Me, too. _Spy_ also always referred to CBS mogul Laurence Tisch on first reference as a “churlish dwarf billionaire.” I confess I watched _The Apprentice_ for the first season or two, and thought Trump was just an arrogant, self-promoting blowhard real estate tycoon with bad hair. Entertaining, but never in a million years did I think he could be elected President. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/92 "2018-10-08T23:26:24Z")
From the very first time I saw him, he made my skin crawl. I thought he was sleezy, slimy and disgusting. I still do. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/93 "2018-10-08T23:33:38Z")
Heck, even the ghost written “The Art of the Deal” made him seem like a fragile, scared bully and he didn’t even write it. ---
**Author:** ![Catsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c0e974/32.png) [@Catsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catsie)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370/94 "2018-10-09T10:54:26Z")
If I thought of him at all, it was as some superrich New York guy adored by the paparazzi. Bit of an attention ho. When he started making President noises I was, Right, Donald; sit down and shut up. I made a big fool of myself in another forum by predicting that, if Trump even looked like he was getting close to the nomination, he’d get a visit from some political PTBs who would explain to him that he needed to leave the stage NOW, or else bad things would happen. The part where I made a fool of myself was where I figured the political PTBs had a greater love of country – a _much_ greater love of country – than to let a preposterous fool like Trump anywhere near the White House. Boy, was I wrong. I had entirely misread the degree to which the PTBs put party over country. I don’t do that anymore. Nov 9 I woke up and saw the headline, and still didn’t believe it. I was in something like shock for days. How could we have done such an indescribable thing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-think-of-donald-trump-a-decade-ago/822370.md?page=4)