Has Art Van ever met Donald Trump?  10-28-15
I will not leave you in suspense. The answer is yes. An astute reader sent me many pics of Art and Donald together at one of his many golf courses. The pics were sent about 10 years ago. Art played tennis, but I don't think he was much of a golfer. Art's Mistress Du Jour, Summer, was in attendance as well. They all looked very happy together, although Art and Mr. Trump stretched out their Izod shirts pretty well and both could have lost a few pounds. Besides being billionaires, they had a lot of other things in common as well. Both were very "high energy" people, although while I can't speak for Donald, Art was not opposed to a nap now and then. Both admired attractive women, and were pretty good at finding them. But the similarity I now find most interesting is the conversation "fillers" that they both use to preface what they are about to say next. With Trump it is "HUGE" or "Fantastic" or "Really, really." Trump also says "Believe Me" an awful lot. Both of them say "Honestly" frequently, but  Art had his own unique ones. 
For instance: When Art used to analyze his relationship with his 39 year old mistress, he would start out with "But Mark, at the end of the day, she wouldn't be going out with me if I was the plumber." I heard a LOT of "At the end of the day" conversation starters. For the record, it might be mid-day or even early morning when I heard it. Another of his favorites was "I am truly, truly convinced" or "I truly, truly appreciate" or the most oft uttered one just before he was about to brag about his jet or his yacht or his penthouse of "You know, I am truly, truly blessed because most people....." When he was about to ask me a favor that he did not expect me to be compensated for he started out with "Mark, my good friend..." I suspect a lot of contractors were addressed in that fashion when Art felt he was owed some free work on his mansion or one of his children's homes. "Maaark, buddy," meant I was to be told something in confidence. Art had an entire set of colloquialisms to describe another businessman he admired. In those cases the word "respect" came up a lot. So did the words "built" and "hustle." He also used the word "fine" a great deal for these individuals. He had still another set to describe somebody he deemed lazy, and they cannot all be printed here. To return to the Home Page, click here.