Despite the fact that he writes for Newsmax, which recently published a call for an anti-Obama coup, I generally enjoy reading Ronald Kessler's stuff. I've also chatted with him a couple times and found him to be a nice guy.
That said, I'm perplexed by the extent to which Kessler's new column on Donald Trump, "The Real Story on Donald Trump", replicates his 2008 offering "Behind the Scenes with Donald Trump," despite being billed as the product of "the first interview [Anthony] 'Tony' P. Senecal"--Trump's butler-- "has given since retiring last year."
Plenty of writers (myself included) rework their thoughts from piece to piece, especially as they move from format to format (blog to article, article to book) or if they've written a book on a certain topic and return to it later. And since Trump starred in Kessler's 1999 book on Palm Beach, The Season, some overlap between these two columns would be understandable. But the degree to which Kessler's 2010 Trump piece replicates his 2008 version is really striking.
Here, for starters, is Kessler setting the stage in 2010:
A 55,695-square-foot Mediterranean-style complex, Mar-a-Lago [Trump's Palm Beach resort] is a Shangri-La that Marjorie Merriweather Post built in 1927. It has 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, a ballroom, a spa, a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, a party pavilion, and a private tunnel leading to Trump’s beach on the Atlantic Ocean.
Almost every celebrity, from Jay Leno and Regis Philbin to Barbara Walters and Tom Brokaw, have been to Mar-a-Lago. Oprah Winfrey threw a three-day party there for Maya Angelou’s 80th birthday.
Senecal once worked for the doyenne he still respectfully refers to as Mrs. Post. Later, he served as mayor of Martinsburg, W.Va. He came to national attention when The Washington Post ran a front-page feature story about changes in West Virginia with a photo of Senecal, sitting with his cat, Morris, on the shoeshine stand of his tobacco shop.
Now here's Kessler in 2008:
A 55,695-square-foot Mediterranean-style complex, Mar-a-Lago has 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, a ballroom, a spa, a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, and a private tunnel leading to Donald’s beach on the Atlantic Ocean....
Almost every celebrity, from Jay Leno and Regis Philbin to Barbara Walters and Tom Brokaw, has been to Mar-a-Lago. Recently, Oprah Winfrey threw a three-day birthday party there for Maya Angelou, who was turning 80.
Senecal once worked for the doyenne he still respectfully refers to as Mrs. Post. Later, he was mayor of Martinsburg, W.Va. He came to national attention when the Washington Post ran a front page feature story about changes in West Virginia with a photo of Senecal, sitting with his cat Morris on the shoeshine stand of his tobacco shop.
More potent parallelism: first, Kessler relating a heartwarming Trump-Senecal interaction in 2010:
After Trump bought Mar-a-Lago on South Ocean Boulevard, the head of security hired Senecal. He then became an underbutler. In 1993, Trump decided to turn the home into a club, and he wanted Senecal to be the concierge.
“I was serving him breakfast,” Senecal recalls. “He said, ‘So you’re going to be the concierge. What do you think about that?’”
“Well, I don’t like it,” Senecal said.
“Well, what do you want to be?” Trump asked.
“I thought as long as I was able, I would be your butler,” Senecal replied.
“Mr. Trump stood up and hit me in the arm and said, ‘And the butler’s what you’re going to be,’” says Senecal, 78.
And the same anecdote, vintage 2008:
After Trump bought Mar-a-Lago on South Ocean Boulevard, the head of security hired Senecal. He then became an underbutler.
In 1993, Trump decided to turn the home into a club. He wanted Senecal to be the concierge.
“I was serving him breakfast,” Senecal tells Newsmax. “He said, ‘So you’re going to be the concierge. What do you think about that?’”
“Well, I don’t like it,” Senecal said.
“Well, what do you want to be?” Trump asked.
“I thought as long as I was able, I would be your butler,” Senecal replied.
“Mr. Trump stood up and hit me in the arm and said, ‘And the butler’s what you’re going to be,’” Senecal, 76, recalls.
And so it goes. In both 2008 and 2010, Kessler talks about Senecal's big ego; describes being picked up by Trump's Maybach upon his arrival in Palm Beach; marvels at Mar-a-Lago's lavish Sunday brunch; notes the Donald's love of steak (no vegetables, says Senecal, both times); and relates Trump's sleep habits (just 3-4 hours a night) and voracious newspaper consumption.
Here's one final example, involving Trump's patriotism and how that patriotism pitted him aginst the town of Palm Beach. Kessler in 2010:
Trump usually has a running feud with the town of Palm Beach, where anyone with less than $100 million is considered poor. The most recent dust-up revolved around an American flag Trump erected at Mar-a-Lago. Flying from a 70-foot pole, the flag’s overall dimensions were 15 times larger than the town’s restrictive regulations allow. Landmarks Commissioner William Hanley called the flag a “major affront to the town.”
The town responded to the indignity with a daily fine of $1,250. Trump sued for $25 million, claiming his First Amendment rights were being violated.
Trump and the town eventually settled. The town agreed to let him keep the flag if he moved it to a less conspicuous location. Instead of paying the fine that then totaled $120,000, Trump agreed to donate $100,000 to veterans’ charities.
Senecal says he “hears” that the ground under the flag was raised, increasing the overall height of the flag. He attributes the episode to Trump’s patriotism.
“You know Donald Trump was born on Flag Day, and I swear it’s in his blood,” Senecal says. “He really is red, white, and blue.”
And in 2008:
Usually Trump has a running feud with the town of Palm Beach, where anyone with less than $100 million is considered poor. The latest scandal revolved around an American flag Trump erected at Mar-a-Lago. Flying from a 70-foot pole, the flag’s overall dimensions are 15 times larger than the town’s restrictive regulations allow. Landmarks Commissioner William Hanley called the flag a “major affront to the town.”
The town responded to the indignity with a daily fine of $1,250. Trump sued for $25 million, claiming his First Amendment rights were being violated.
While Senecal rarely speaks to the press, when the Palm Beach Post inquired about the flag during the controversy, he said, “I think you can see it halfway from Cuba.” To me, Senecal explained, “Mr. Trump was born on Flag Day. He is a red, white, and blue American.”
Trump and the town eventually settled. The town agreed to let Donald keep the flag if he moved it to a less conspicuous location. Instead of paying the fine that then totaled $120,000, Trump agreed to donate $100,000 to veterans’ charities.
Eagle-eyed readers may note that the 2010 bit about the ground being raised under the flag is new--and when I spoke with Kessler a few minutes ago, he cited that detail to show he'd broken new ground. Also new, said Kessler: quotes in which Senecal marvels at how saucily he spoke to Trump ("Geez, the things that I've said to him over the years!..") and anticipates the upcoming International Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago ("[T]hat's really a tremendous event..."). Initially, Kessler also said that Senecal's no-comment on Trump's coiffure--"I don't know a thing about his hair"--was new; later he acknowedlged that it isn't.
"The new Newsmax story," Kessler told me in a subsequent email, "is based on a new interview along with background
taken from my book, which I cited--all standard journalistic practice
and therefore no story."
I'm not sure I agree. For starters, Kessler didn't just pull from his book; he pulled (liberally) from a previous column in which he'd pulled from his book. What's more, by putting both new quotes and old quotes in the present tense, he made it extremely difficult for readers--who weren't informed that this column was a rewrite of 2008's--to differentiate between fresh and stale content.
Kessler and others may be comfortable with this M.O. But in an age when old stories are a click away--and heavily recycled fare is easy for readers to spot--they can't expect not to get called on it.
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