Who Are Donald Trump's Closest Friends?

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Town & Country

Trump’s public persona is brash and relentlessly social. He likes large crowds - the largest crowds - and even after the election, he's organized campaign-style rallies to get time with his adoring fans. But a closer look at Trump's patterns and relationships reveal a man who seeks privacy. The president might be big on glad-handing and back-slapping, but once the party's over, he goes back to his own bed.

“In the White House at 6 p.m., he’s happy to be alone in the private quarters eating a burger and watching TV news,” says a Republican lobbyist who represents some of Trump’s corporate insiders.

Is President Trump a loner? Do we have another introvert in the White House? “You might be on to something,” says Arnie Kozak, a psychologist and the author of The Awakened Introvert. “He’s clearly over-stimulated by all the exposure and seeking some introvert-like withdrawal.”

Granted, it's a stretch to imagine that a serial tweeting president who picks public fights with actresses, congressmen, or anyone he imagines has crossed him might be secretly craving seclusion and contemplation. “He clearly craves attention,” says Kozak, “but even with that there seems to be a need to withdraw at least to a non-peopled form of solitude.”

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The places Trump used to retreat to were his eponymous New York tower or Mar-a-Lago; now it's the White House and Mar-a-Lago. But the people around him haven't changed much. He obviously relies on his children for advice and affection. But beyond family, loyal staff, and cabinet secretaries, who does Trump turn to when he needs to vent or seek guidance?

Thomas Barrack

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Photo credit: Getty

The grandson of Lebanese Christian immigrants, Barrack built a fortune from nothing and now manages $60 billion in assets with Colony Capital fund, much of it for Arab investors. Along the way he bailed out Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch and bought Miramax studios with Rob Lowe. He befriended Trump while negotiating the Plaza Hotel deal in the 1980s and cemented their friendship though the decades, so much so that Trump asked Barrack to run his inauguration. “Donald’s wealthy acquaintances come and go,” says a builder who’s done deals with Trump, “but Tom was always there.”

Trust is the gold standard for Trump, and he trusted First Friend Barrack to oversee his Inauguration and also to introduce him the final night at July’s GOP convention. Barrack roused and inspired the crowd, as Trump had hoped, but he also described his longtime buddy as having the “discipline of an animal in the jungle,” a line only a true friend would have the stones to say.

Keith Schiller

Photo credit: Gallery Stock
Photo credit: Gallery Stock

Trump’s security chief for the past 16 years, Schiller started as Trump’s bodyguard in 1999, after a decade with the NYPD. Trump made him director of Oval Office operations. He remains by Trump’s side day and night, at times pushing aside reporters and protestors. Schiller might be the only guy close to the president who isn’t worth eight figures. Ivanka trusted him to ensure Jared would return safely from his brazen trip to Iraq.

Steve Feinberg

Like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Feinberg took the Trump plunge during the campaign, when The Donald was still considered a clownish long shot. Feinberg made his fortune buying long shots. He used his private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, to scoop up both Chrysler and GMC in 12 months, held them and sold them. Trump trusts Feinberg so deeply that he assigned him to review the intelligence agencies that thus far have bedeviled the new president.

Rudy Giuliani

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Photo credit: Getty

Trump rewards loyalty, and Rudy has been steadfast from the gate. Who defends the president’s every nonsensical Tweet? Rudy. Who stands up to Chuck Todd on Meet The Press to blunt criticism of his New York buddy? Rudy. Trump has repaid the loyalty by giving Giuliani purview over everything cyber, which brings him into the White House or Trump Tower whenever he wishes.

Richard LeFrak

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Photo credit: Getty

Trump and LeFrak go way back, so far back they made their first fortunes in the same terrain: apartment buildings in the outskirts of Manhattan. They share a love of beauty contests. LeFrak has been a Trump guest at Mar-a-Lago for more than a decade. No wonder the president asked his longtime buddy to chair his infrastructure operation, along with Steve Roth.

Howard Lorber

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Photo credit: Getty

Lorber and Trump's friendship goes back 30 years in the New York real estate game. They both have places in Florida. They both like burgers - Lorber told an industry group last year his first stop after buying a Rolls-Royce was McDonald’s drive-thru. But Lorber considers himself to be a man of the people who believes super wealth doesn’t stand in the way of relating to the masses. “Maybe if you’re born with it, it does,” he told The Real Deal, the Manhattan real estate publication, with a dig at his buddy. “If you’ve had to work for it like most of these guys, it helps you understand." When the New York Times asked Trump for a list of his buddies, Lorber was one of two. (LeFrak was the other.)

Christopher Ruddy

Photo credit: Courtesy of Christopher Ruddy
Photo credit: Courtesy of Christopher Ruddy

Trump craves positive stories in the news media; but the news outlets don’t always deliver. Before Breitbart, before Bannon, there was Newsmax and Christopher Ruddy. Newsmax leaned to the right before it was even slightly cool. Ruddy's Newsmax Media always gave Trump a favorable forum. Based in West Palm Beach, Newsmax is close by Mar-a-Lago, where Ruddy became a frequent guest. Still is.

Linda McMahon

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Photo credit: Getty

Sixteen years before Donald Trump debuted on The Apprentice, he jump-started his entertainment career at WWE’s Wrestlemania IV. In 1988 pro wrestling magnates Linda and Vince McMahon were holding their tournament at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. They challenged Trump in the “Battle of the Billionaires,” which he won and got to shave Vince’s hair in the ring. Since then Linda has become one of Trump's closest female friends. The McMahons together donated $5 million to the Trump Foundation between 2007 and 2009; the Center for Responsive Politics reported that Linda herself contributed $6 million to Trump’s presidential campaign. “Once he’s your friend,” she told AP last September, “he is loyal to the end.” Loyalty might have factored into President Trump naming Linda McMahon head of the Small Business Administration.

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Harry Jaffe has been a journalist in Washington, D.C., for three decades. His work has appeared in Washingtonian, The Washington Post, Politico, L.A. Times, Yahoo News, NBC4.com, and Men’s Health. He wrote a book about the politics of gun law with Gabby Giffords and authored Why Bernie Sanders Matters, the only unauthorized biography of the Vermont senator.

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