WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� In the January 2004 pilot of 鈥淭he Apprentice,” said something he would never admit today.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 always so easy,鈥� he intones via voice-over, noting that by the late 1980s, 鈥淚 was seriously in trouble” and “billions of dollars in debt.鈥�
It is one of the few times Trump has ever publicly acknowledged failure. Even then, he was reading a script meant to promote against-the-odds credentials for viewers, previewing the that propelled his political career a decade later.
鈥淚 fought back,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淎nd I won. Big league.鈥�
Trump never loses. At least in his telling.
He declared victory within days of the starting, and repeated it constantly, even as Tehran struck U.S. and allied targets and choked off the , spreading economic pain around the globe.
With a , Trump says the United States has .
The president is extolling a change in rule after Iran鈥檚 supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed. But he was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is seen as more hard-line. Trump says Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, but Tehran has stockpiles of enriched uranium. The strait is reopening 鈥� under Iranian military control.
When The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote that Trump had claimed a premature win in Iran, the president responded in a social media post Thursday, 鈥淎ctually, it is a Victory.”
On Saturday he posted that news outlets 鈥渓ove saying that Iran is 鈥榳inning鈥� when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING, and LOSING BIG!鈥� Asked later in the day about the state of , Trump responded, 鈥淩egardless what happens, we win.”
Claiming the winner’s mantle has been part of Trump’s psyche since he was a young man and a New York real estate developer. It has persisted on matters great and small.
The golf tournaments at his clubs, where he is the perennial champion. The adverse court rulings where he insists things went his way. The deals he announces that are never consummated.
鈥淗e has this fictional narrative in his head” and is “like a screenwriter,鈥� said David Cay Johnston, author of 鈥淭he Making of Donald Trump.鈥� 鈥淲hen you need to change the narrative, you just change it. 鈥�
No example is as stark as Trump鈥檚 rejection of his loss to Democrat Joe Biden , an outcome affirmed in 60-plus court cases and by his own attorney general. Yet Trump has that his supporters believe him. He knows the power of repetition and volume.
This is the world of Trump 鈥� pitchman and president, shaper of his story and others’, sloganeering his way through his second term. One baseball cap he wears and hawks encapsulates the approach in five words: 鈥淭RUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING.鈥�
鈥淚t’s much easier to lead when you’re successful and you’re winning,” Trump told a recent Saudi investment conference in Florida, where he also noted, 鈥淚 always like to hang around losers, actually, because it makes me feel better.”
鈥淧eople follow you if you win,鈥� Trump added.
White Houses for decades have tried to cast bad news as good in hopes of softening unfavorable assessments of politics, policy and even war. But Trump has made always winning a core of his presidency.
The Supreme Court ? Trump vows to so his import taxes can be 鈥渦sed in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty.鈥� If promised investments in the U.S. that he’s promoted , he just says they did while sometimes inflating their fictitious value.
His Department of Justice stops appealing court rulings blocking executive orders meant to punish big law firms, then it because non-appeals might look like admitting defeat.
This form of alternative programming has become a governing principle 鈥� and a Trump family value.
One of the president’s sons, Eric, said his father 鈥渉as never needed to project a 鈥榳inning image.'”
鈥淗e IS the definition of a winner,鈥� the younger Trump said in a statement, “based on what he has built and accomplished.鈥�
鈥楾hat was the messaging strategy鈥�
Sarah Matthews, a former first-term Trump White House deputy press secretary who resigned when a on Jan. 6, 2021, said the president’s 鈥渆go won鈥檛 allow him to acknowledge defeat鈥� and that 鈥渞eality just kind of bends鈥� to it.
鈥淭hat was the messaging strategy,鈥� Matthews said. 鈥淚t was, 鈥楬ow can we redefine this loss as a victory?鈥�”
She said she regrets it now, but back then, there was “always a way to find an excuse to justify that loss and defend his position.鈥�
More recently, Trump’s second-term White House marked his first year back in office by listing 鈥�365 wins鈥� over the same number of days. Those included some repetitive and exaggerated claims and also touted stock markets, and that are mostly no longer true since the Iran war began.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump 鈥減roudly projects the unmatched greatness of our country consistently in his public comments.鈥�
John Bolton was one of Trump鈥檚 first-term national security advisers and an early supporter of the U.S. and Israel striking Iran. But he said that Trump’s declaration of victory over Iran was always 鈥渂aked in the cake鈥� regardless of the actual outcome.
鈥淭he world for him is divided into winners and losers,” Bolton said. “And he鈥檚 always a winner.鈥�
Presenting setbacks as wins isn’t new
In 1973, Trump and his father, alleging racial discrimination in renting apartments their company built in Brooklyn and Queens, two New York City boroughs. Urging the Trumps to countersue was , the notorious lawyer who aggressively promoted Sen. Joseph McCarthy鈥檚 anti-communist 鈥渞ed scare鈥� hearings of the 1950s.
The case was settled after both sides signed an agreement two years later prohibiting the Trumps from 鈥渄iscriminating against any person.鈥� The future Republican president said it was a victory, noting there had been no admission of guilt 鈥� despite the Justice Department calling the settlement 鈥渙ne of the most far-reaching ever negotiated.鈥�
Trump first met Cohn in 1973 at Manhattan鈥檚 exclusive Le Club, and Cohn is credited with imparting key rules, including never admitting you are wrong or admitting defeat and attacking anyone who attacks you.
Cohn 鈥渢aught Donald, you never concede as much as a comma,” Johnston said.
鈥淲hatever position you鈥檝e taken, that鈥檚 the position, and anybody who challenges you, they鈥檙e wrong. They鈥檙e disgusting. They鈥檙e incompetent. They鈥檙e idiotic,” Johnston said. “If they鈥檙e law enforcement, they鈥檙e corrupt.”
Bankruptcies didn’t dent Trump’s image
Through the years, Trump consistently lost money, launching failed lines of namesake products that included steaks, bottled water, vodka, a magazine, an airline, a home mortgage concern and online classes. His Trump Plaza Hotel filed for bankruptcy, his New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League folded and the Tour de Trump cycling race never became the U.S. answer to the Tour de France.
Barbara Res, who worked for Trump at his company for nearly two decades, remembers him being fond of pitting top executives against one another to ensure he remained the most powerful voice, even as losses mounted.
For today’s Trump, she said, 鈥淣othing is wrong to him, if it helps him.鈥�
鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 always like that. He understood the difference before,鈥� said Res, author of 鈥淭ower of Lies: What My Eighteen Years of Working With Donald Trump Reveals About Him.” “I can鈥檛 say why he changed. It could be because he has so much power. Or because he never really believed it.鈥�
None of that tarnished Trump’s self-projected image as rich and famous, which was supercharged by the TV hit 鈥淭he Apprentice.鈥�
But Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of television and popular culture, said that success was built on earlier factors, including the appealing hubris built into the title of Trump’s 1987 book, 鈥淭he Art of the Deal,鈥� his aggressive courting of media attention and his obsession with naming things after himself.
That helped Trump become the 鈥渟tock character of billionaire,” landed him on the likes of 鈥淭he Jeffersons,鈥� 鈥淭he Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,鈥� 鈥淭he Nanny,鈥� and in 鈥淗ome Alone 2,鈥� Thompson said.
鈥淲hen you need someone to quickly and efficiently represent 鈥楢merican Rich Guy,鈥� Trump has kind of cast himself in that position,” Thompson said, 鈥渁nd everybody goes along with it.鈥�
Trump did not acknowledge his staggering losses. After his three casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, filed for bankruptcy, he in 2016 that Atlantic City had been “a great period for me.鈥�
Starting in 2007, meanwhile, he became a mainstay with WWE executive , whose wife, Linda, is now Trump鈥檚 education secretary. The future president relished raucous, made-for-TV events where the wrestler he was backing always won.
Trump also began addressing crowds, honing the 鈥渟ketch and the rhythm鈥� that would later become his strength as a politician, Thompson said: 鈥淭he rallies are born in wrestling,鈥� he said.
鈥淲inning is an attitude, not a collection of facts,” Thompson said. “Winning is, in this case, always defined by the person doing the winning.鈥�
鈥榊ou make your own reality鈥�
Trump carried that can’t-lose view into his political career.
After he lost the 2016 Republican Iowa caucus, he posted that the winner, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 鈥渋llegally stole it.鈥� Trump claimed to have won the popular vote against Democrat Hillary Clinton that November, 鈥渋f you deduct millions of people who voted illegally.鈥� In addition to his false claims that the 2020 race was stolen, he alleged widespread wrongdoing in the 2024 election, despite capturing all key swing states.
Russell Muirhead, a Dartmouth College professor who has written about Trump鈥檚 chaotic governing style, said the president has been at the practice long enough 鈥渢o live in a world where you make your own reality鈥� and there is no real world “outside your own mind.鈥�
Even the way means racking up wins 鈥� at least at .
Trump says he has won 38 times at golf clubs he owns. That includes a 2018 tournament in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he did not play but beat the winner in a subsequent match, one where he missed the first round and another during which he posted a final-round 67 鈥� a score even some professional golfers would envy.
Matthews said that when she worked for him at the White House, she could not recall Trump ever admitting being wrong, even in private.
鈥淲hen it鈥檚 obvious that it looks like a loss on paper, you have to kind of spin this somehow into a victory,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 what Trump would want.鈥�
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Will Weissert has covered politics for The Associated Press since 2011 and the White House since 2022.
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