Donald Trump and my friend Alan

Back in the old days when we travellers used internet cafes, I found a need to use such service in a quiet tree lined avenue in the old French Quarter of Shanghai.

A tall and large Caucasian man was the only other customer. Although he was a man of mature years, I noted his long grey hair was tied neatly in a ponytail. I wondered privately, was he a famous writer, or a mathematics professor from some reputable college or was he in fact one of the organisers from the musical event at Woodstock a few years earlier. He certainly had a physical presence that often goes with people of size.

We finished our tasks at about the same time. Alan and I shared our stories.

As I got to know him and we became friends it was apparent that Alan was a gifted teacher and an even more gifted artist. I attended several of his exhibitions in Shanghai.

He had spent most of his career as a sculpter and artist in and around New York. He could not remember if he had attended Woodstock, which is fairly normal I have been told.

Eventually we came to the subject of why we were in China. For Alan it was a rebirth, a new beginning. He had had a personally devastating experience at the height of his career in New York. Commissioned to do many months on a large sculptural piece in the foyer of a new hotel, he completed the work to be told he would not be paid. The owner of that Hotel was Donald Trump. Furthermore his career was in tatters when told by Trump “ You can sue and I will make sure you never work in New York again.”

Alan did not have to tell me who Trump was. Although I had never been to the mainland of USA, I had been living in Auckland, New Zealand, 1992. A very precocious and well dressed younger Trump jetted in, riding his own aeroplane. His plan was to turn the fine old Central Railway Station of Auckland into a casino. His scheme had a lot of merit. Until the casino licensing authority sent a man to USA to check Trump out. This researcher returned to report that this same man Trump destroyed everything he could get ownership of. The casino licensing authority of New Zealand issued a one sentence ruling “ Mr Trump’s plan is declined on the basis that Mr Trump himself is not a good fit to have a casino license in New Zealand.”

We were lucky in that our officials had foresight and wisdom. My friend Alan was not so lucky.