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| Donald Trump and New York Tabloids Resume Their Elaborate Dance | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| As New York City newspaper assignments go, this was a delicate one. Fly to Florida. Walk into Donald J. Trump’s hospital room. Witness the birth of his second daughter. | As New York City newspaper assignments go, this was a delicate one. Fly to Florida. Walk into Donald J. Trump’s hospital room. Witness the birth of his second daughter. |
| Linda Stasi, a gossip columnist for The Daily News, did as she was told. “I called Donald, and he said, ‘You can’t come to the hospital!’” she recalled last week, 22 years later. “I said, I know, but I’m coming anyway.” | Linda Stasi, a gossip columnist for The Daily News, did as she was told. “I called Donald, and he said, ‘You can’t come to the hospital!’” she recalled last week, 22 years later. “I said, I know, but I’m coming anyway.” |
| “O.K.,” Mr. Trump replied. “Then come.” | “O.K.,” Mr. Trump replied. “Then come.” |
| Tiffany, Mr. Trump’s daughter, gave her first interview — in burps and gurgles — to Ms. Stasi a few hours after being born. “Who is this?” Ms. Stasi recalled the baby’s mother, Marla Maples, asking Mr. Trump. “Why is she here?” | Tiffany, Mr. Trump’s daughter, gave her first interview — in burps and gurgles — to Ms. Stasi a few hours after being born. “Who is this?” Ms. Stasi recalled the baby’s mother, Marla Maples, asking Mr. Trump. “Why is she here?” |
| As the presidential spotlight swings to New York for next week’s primary contest, Mr. Trump, the leading Republican candidate, is reuniting with the press corps he knows best, a boisterous tabloid culture that spawned and nurtured the outsize Trump personality now known the world over. | As the presidential spotlight swings to New York for next week’s primary contest, Mr. Trump, the leading Republican candidate, is reuniting with the press corps he knows best, a boisterous tabloid culture that spawned and nurtured the outsize Trump personality now known the world over. |
| It is also the ink-stained caldron in which Mr. Trump, over decades, honed the method of media management — cajoling, combating, at times dissembling — that he has unleashed, to potent effect, in this year’s national campaign. Some Americans have been caught off guard by Mr. Trump’s take-no-prisoners style, but New York’s media veterans detect the old Trump playbook at work. | It is also the ink-stained caldron in which Mr. Trump, over decades, honed the method of media management — cajoling, combating, at times dissembling — that he has unleashed, to potent effect, in this year’s national campaign. Some Americans have been caught off guard by Mr. Trump’s take-no-prisoners style, but New York’s media veterans detect the old Trump playbook at work. |
| “It was an early secret of his success that he embraced the media, that he recognized the tabloid circus was a natural arena for someone of his talents, or ego,” said George Rush, a former gossip writer for The New York Post and The Daily News. “What you’re seeing on the campaign trail is a style he perfected for years, in the course of doing battle in the press.” | “It was an early secret of his success that he embraced the media, that he recognized the tabloid circus was a natural arena for someone of his talents, or ego,” said George Rush, a former gossip writer for The New York Post and The Daily News. “What you’re seeing on the campaign trail is a style he perfected for years, in the course of doing battle in the press.” |
| Mr. Trump’s Republican opponents, Mr. Rush said, “may know more than him. They may have more experience, but they were not used to the mixed martial arts of Donald Trump.” | Mr. Trump’s Republican opponents, Mr. Rush said, “may know more than him. They may have more experience, but they were not used to the mixed martial arts of Donald Trump.” |
| These days in New York, the stakes — and the players — have changed. Tabloids have fallen on hard times, their circulation and influence on the wane. Mr. Trump can use the megaphone of social media without having to wheedle gossip writers first. | These days in New York, the stakes — and the players — have changed. Tabloids have fallen on hard times, their circulation and influence on the wane. Mr. Trump can use the megaphone of social media without having to wheedle gossip writers first. |
| But New York journalists are not ones to let a competitive hometown primary go to waste. | But New York journalists are not ones to let a competitive hometown primary go to waste. |
| Already, The Daily News has asserted itself in the national campaign, scoring viral hits with eye-popping front pages lampooning Mr. Trump as a clown and the Antichrist. Jim Rich, The Daily News’s editor in chief, says the hometown familiarity is a boon. | Already, The Daily News has asserted itself in the national campaign, scoring viral hits with eye-popping front pages lampooning Mr. Trump as a clown and the Antichrist. Jim Rich, The Daily News’s editor in chief, says the hometown familiarity is a boon. |
| “We’ve had that advantage throughout the whole campaign,” Mr. Rich said, adding that this perspective has helped “explain the behavior of not only him as an individual over these last six months, but the behavior of his campaign, which has been a little more difficult to figure out.” (Mr. Trump has taken notice of the tough coverage: He declined an invitation to speak with The Daily News’s editorial board, Mr. Rich said.) | “We’ve had that advantage throughout the whole campaign,” Mr. Rich said, adding that this perspective has helped “explain the behavior of not only him as an individual over these last six months, but the behavior of his campaign, which has been a little more difficult to figure out.” (Mr. Trump has taken notice of the tough coverage: He declined an invitation to speak with The Daily News’s editorial board, Mr. Rich said.) |
| The Post has been more subdued in its coverage of Mr. Trump, leading to rumors about the leanings of its influential Republican owner, Rupert Murdoch. The Post’s editor, Col Allan, was spotted wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap around the newsroom, prompting a gleeful item in The Daily News. | The Post has been more subdued in its coverage of Mr. Trump, leading to rumors about the leanings of its influential Republican owner, Rupert Murdoch. The Post’s editor, Col Allan, was spotted wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap around the newsroom, prompting a gleeful item in The Daily News. |
| A spokesman for The Post declined to comment about the paper’s coverage, but confirmed that Mr. Allan had donned the Trump cap, albeit briefly. “It was brought to the Post office by someone else, and he put it on for minutes,” said the spokesman, Steven Rubenstein. | A spokesman for The Post declined to comment about the paper’s coverage, but confirmed that Mr. Allan had donned the Trump cap, albeit briefly. “It was brought to the Post office by someone else, and he put it on for minutes,” said the spokesman, Steven Rubenstein. |
| Contacted for this article, Mr. Trump reverted to a familiar refrain: attacking the media. “The tabloids never stop, but one thing I will say with great certainty, they are far more honorable than the political press,” Mr. Trump said through a spokeswoman. | Contacted for this article, Mr. Trump reverted to a familiar refrain: attacking the media. “The tabloids never stop, but one thing I will say with great certainty, they are far more honorable than the political press,” Mr. Trump said through a spokeswoman. |
| Years before he would compete for the White House, Mr. Trump found a natural audience in his local papers, a precursor to his success in today’s Twitter era. At ease with titillation and provocation — and always armed with a good quote — Mr. Trump propelled himself to notoriety in the predigital days of the celebrity press, when arrivistes were dependent on gossip gatekeepers like Page Six to break through. | Years before he would compete for the White House, Mr. Trump found a natural audience in his local papers, a precursor to his success in today’s Twitter era. At ease with titillation and provocation — and always armed with a good quote — Mr. Trump propelled himself to notoriety in the predigital days of the celebrity press, when arrivistes were dependent on gossip gatekeepers like Page Six to break through. |
| “He was the original Paris Hilton,” said Paula Froelich, a former Post gossip writer, “without the sex tape.” | “He was the original Paris Hilton,” said Paula Froelich, a former Post gossip writer, “without the sex tape.” |
| As Mr. Trump prospered, so did the tabloids he fed. His energetic personal life made for good headlines — and many reporters recalled that the gossip he supplied about friends and ex-wives usually turned out to be true. “Trump almost single-handedly revived the fortunes of The New York Post and The Daily News in the 1980s,” recalled Tom Robbins, a journalist in New York for decades. | As Mr. Trump prospered, so did the tabloids he fed. His energetic personal life made for good headlines — and many reporters recalled that the gossip he supplied about friends and ex-wives usually turned out to be true. “Trump almost single-handedly revived the fortunes of The New York Post and The Daily News in the 1980s,” recalled Tom Robbins, a journalist in New York for decades. |
| It was a sort of parochial symbiosis, each needing the other in nearly equal measure to reach their audiences, with nothing more serious at stake than the truth about a divorce or an affair. | It was a sort of parochial symbiosis, each needing the other in nearly equal measure to reach their audiences, with nothing more serious at stake than the truth about a divorce or an affair. |
| But projected onto the national political stage, with the White House at stake, Mr. Trump’s maneuvering with the media has prompted bouts of hand-wringing from news media critics, who worry that accommodating and bountiful coverage of Mr. Trump has unfairly aided his presidential ambitions. | But projected onto the national political stage, with the White House at stake, Mr. Trump’s maneuvering with the media has prompted bouts of hand-wringing from news media critics, who worry that accommodating and bountiful coverage of Mr. Trump has unfairly aided his presidential ambitions. |
| Mr. Trump learned his rules of engagement early on. In a routine that has found echoes in this year’s presidential race, unflattering stories about Mr. Trump have frequently been met with staunch denials — even if multiple eyewitnesses claimed otherwise. Mr. Rush once had two on-the-record sources say that Mr. Trump, vacationing in Aspen, had skipped the ski-lift line by using one reserved for instructors. “Absolutely not,” Mr. Trump thundered into the phone, in an expletive-laced tirade. | Mr. Trump learned his rules of engagement early on. In a routine that has found echoes in this year’s presidential race, unflattering stories about Mr. Trump have frequently been met with staunch denials — even if multiple eyewitnesses claimed otherwise. Mr. Rush once had two on-the-record sources say that Mr. Trump, vacationing in Aspen, had skipped the ski-lift line by using one reserved for instructors. “Absolutely not,” Mr. Trump thundered into the phone, in an expletive-laced tirade. |
| Other times, he would call just to say hello. | Other times, he would call just to say hello. |
| “He would phone us at home sometimes, like on a Saturday,” Mr. Rush recalled, back when the presidential candidate was a city divorcé. “What do you think of this girl, or that girl? What number would you give her?” (By “number,” Mr. Rush clarified, Mr. Trump meant a sliding scale of attractiveness: 1 through 10.) | “He would phone us at home sometimes, like on a Saturday,” Mr. Rush recalled, back when the presidential candidate was a city divorcé. “What do you think of this girl, or that girl? What number would you give her?” (By “number,” Mr. Rush clarified, Mr. Trump meant a sliding scale of attractiveness: 1 through 10.) |
| Liz Smith, who chronicled Mr. Trump’s divorce from his first wife, Ivana, in The Daily News, said Mr. Trump was by turns charming and vicious. “He threatened to buy The Daily News in order to have the pleasure of firing me,” she recalled. “Then he invited me to his wedding with Marla.” | Liz Smith, who chronicled Mr. Trump’s divorce from his first wife, Ivana, in The Daily News, said Mr. Trump was by turns charming and vicious. “He threatened to buy The Daily News in order to have the pleasure of firing me,” she recalled. “Then he invited me to his wedding with Marla.” |
| In trying to influence a story, Mr. Trump’s techniques ran the gamut from pugilistic to flattering to downright bizarre. Sometimes, his approach used all three. | In trying to influence a story, Mr. Trump’s techniques ran the gamut from pugilistic to flattering to downright bizarre. Sometimes, his approach used all three. |
| Sue Carswell, a former writer for People magazine, had been wooing Mr. Trump for an interview in 1991 by mailing him gifts of pink Hermès ties. (“This is all back in the days when we had expense accounts,” she recalled.) When Mr. Trump claimed he’d had an affair with Carla Bruni — who denied it — Ms. Carswell found herself on the telephone with a Trump spokesman who introduced himself as John Miller, and who claimed that Madonna and Kim Basinger were eager to date the real estate developer. | Sue Carswell, a former writer for People magazine, had been wooing Mr. Trump for an interview in 1991 by mailing him gifts of pink Hermès ties. (“This is all back in the days when we had expense accounts,” she recalled.) When Mr. Trump claimed he’d had an affair with Carla Bruni — who denied it — Ms. Carswell found herself on the telephone with a Trump spokesman who introduced himself as John Miller, and who claimed that Madonna and Kim Basinger were eager to date the real estate developer. |
| It dawned on her that the spokesman sounded a lot like somebody else: Mr. Trump. Ms. Maples, a friend, confirmed that it was indeed her husband on the line, impersonating his own (fake) spokesman. As an apology of sorts, Mr. Trump and Ms. Maples later took Ms. Carswell out for a night on a town, in a stretch limousine. | It dawned on her that the spokesman sounded a lot like somebody else: Mr. Trump. Ms. Maples, a friend, confirmed that it was indeed her husband on the line, impersonating his own (fake) spokesman. As an apology of sorts, Mr. Trump and Ms. Maples later took Ms. Carswell out for a night on a town, in a stretch limousine. |
| Ms. Carswell did not remember where they ate, but she remembered what Mr. Trump wore: a pink Hermès tie. | Ms. Carswell did not remember where they ate, but she remembered what Mr. Trump wore: a pink Hermès tie. |