There are, it seems, many Americans who believe Donald Trump could (and should) be the next President of the United States. There are also a group of Democrats who want Trump to stay as the Republican frontrunner because — well, I mean, he’d never make it to the White House, right?

I admit to a morbid fascination with the man’s brazen attempt to ascend to the presidency. Not because I think it’s fun, or entertaining, but because it’s a study in megalomania. I don’t think he cares much for politics at all, just a kind of fame and desire for self-enrichment over service. (Of course, that doesn’t necessarily make him that much different from the rest of the contenders.) As such I am intrigued, but his existence basically offends me.

But thanks to Harry McCracken on Twitter, I think I found the only Trump piece I’ll ever need to read: “Trumping the Town” a profile by Marie Brenner in New York magazine that tells you almost everything you need to know about Trump. And, here’s the thing: It’s 35 years old.

Some call him a visionary. Others call him a megalomaniac. If pressed, he will talk about the killing he’s made in gold, in the neighborhood of $30 million, a close friend says. (“My best deals aren’t even real estate,” he says.) If pressed, and not too hard, he says, “The Trump Tower will be the greatest building in New York. There will never be another skyscraper like it. Because of me they’ve changed the midtown zoning, and it’s kind of sad really, because there is nothing I can do that will be greater after this.” Maybe, Trump says, he will try something different — running a network, a broadcasting empire, property in Atlantic City, an East Hampton subdivision — these are his plans. His Achilles’ Heel could be his desperation for recognition.

The seeds of everything, right there.

Trumping the Town

By Marie Brenner, New York