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Comment by programminggeek | Hacker News Reader

Donald Trump is both a powerful builder and very charismatic. He builds buildings and has loads of charisma.

The dichotomy between Trump and Hillary is false in this case on dimensions other than simply having charisma.

Trump had more charisma than Hillary as well as the 16 or whatever ridiculous number of GOP candidates there were at one point.

Bernie Sanders was the only candidate in this cycle with a similar level of charisma and Democrats did the thing that the GOP did the previous 2 elections - and it cost them.

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Trump is many things, and charismatic may be one of them, although personally I don't see it, but "a powerful builder" is not one of them.

Trump doesn't build buildings - he licenses his name to buildings other people build. He doesn't even own most of the properties that bear his name. The only thing he can feasibly claim to have built is his own celebrity, and prior to his recent status, his celebrity might generously be described as b-list - he was a reality show star who was once a professional wrestling celebrity heel and sometimes guest starred as himself on various tv shows.

The distinction is important, I believe, because to me, "builder" implies someone with a passion and a deep understanding of the art of whatever they make their living at. I don't see a passion about architecture or design from Trump, nor do I get a sense that he understands how they work, or that he cares.

Most of the mega developers do not own all of what they build or buy into. The richest real estate billionaires of the last 50 years, most of them develop large projects in investment groups. You're presenting a hollow argument against Trump, judging by the investment style of his billionaire real estate peers.

>The richest real estate billionaires of the last 50 years, most of them develop large projects in investment groups.

They don't deserve to be considered "builders" either. Certainly not "builders of buildings."

So by this thinking, no "business" co founder is a builder, because they don't build software.

What one builds is important, when describing the core competencies of a person.

Describing Trump as someone who builds his buildings gives him credit for a depth of insight and an active hand in the process of architecture, and the gp comment that appears to liken him to Steve Jobs further implies that Trump has an equivalent level of talent and genius in his field. I see no evidence that he is to real estate what Steve Jobs was to Apple computers.

Donald Trump is a builder of fortunes, of his own celebrity and business relationships. As such, I would judge him on the quality of the network he surrounds himself with, because his core competency appears to be choosing people to build things for him.

And I wouldn't necessarily claim that any business co-founder is a builder. Otherwise, I might as well say I build rockets if I invest enough money into SpaceX.

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