....The Confidence Man, directed by Fisher Stevens (Bright Lights), is the final episode of the Alex Gibney-created docuseries Dirty Money. It contends that Trump the tycoon is really a myth created by the infamous self-promoter, his visibility spread wide with continued mentions in articles, TV commercials and network interviews.
But Trump declined to partake in this project. In a statement from the series’ producers, “the producers reached out to The White House last summer, as recommended by the SVP of the Trump Organization, inviting President Trump to participate and allow him to tell his own story for the episode. The White House never responded to their request.”
The New York gossip columnist AJ Benza recalls that Trump gave him dirt on the Manhattan nightlife scene in exchange for labeling him a billionaire.
“He wanted to be paid back in a particular way, regardless of what you mentioned,” says Benza in the film. “He never really cared as long as you said the word ‘billionaire.’ “
The reality, the film contends, is that by the early 1990s, The Trump Organization was facing over $3 billion of debt and its three Atlantic City casinos went bankrupt; in the following years leading to The Apprentice, Trump “was a man in trouble.”
“We wanted to show people that Donald Trump is not a good businessman when it comes to building a company and managing a company,” Stevens tells PEOPLE, “and I wanted to say how how scary it is that he is running the country because he doesn’t do due diligence on any of his deals.”....
