25-Year-Old Donald Trump Documentary Resurfaces, Free to Watch Online
by Andrew Husband
Have you ever heard of the Donald Trump documentary? No, not You’ve Been Trumped (2011), which detailed the businessman’s attempt to build a golf resort in Scotland. I’m talking about Donald Trump: What’s the Deal? I certainly hadn’t, and there’s a very important reason why.
As the film’s new website explains, the documentary saw two screenings and was never again shown or broadcast anywhere else:
The film was commissioned in 1988 by Leonard Stern as the first of a series on celebrity businessmen and finished in 1991. Back then, the only way for a film to be seen was on television or in the theater. Donald threatened to sue any broadcaster or distributor that took on the film. In effect, it was suppressed.
Trump threatened to sue Leonard Stern and his associates when he first learned of the film’s existence, and the ensuing ordeal garnered a great deal of media coverage. Even New York Magazine covered the battle in Edwin Diamond’s article, “Trump vs. Stern: The Unmaking of a Documentary.” Since then, there hasn’t been even the slightest hint of a whisper about the film.
Now that the mogul is hoping to attain the 2016 GOP presidential nomination and, eventually, the White House, the filmmakers felt it necessary to release Donald Trump: What’s the Deal? for free on the Internet. So they did. In fact, you can watch the entire thing right here, free of charge.
If you want a taste of what you’re getting into, then check out the trailer below: