Have you read Art of the Deal? Trump set up a number of conditional agreements between investors and city officials. So he would go to, say, the city and say, “If I am able to bring in this investor and this much money, will you grant us the permits we need?” They would say yes. Then he would go to the investor and say, “If you put up this much money, I have an agreement that these permits will be granted.”

Much of his early success came from this. He basically went around New York making these conditional agreement to bring people together on projects and properties that were stalled out. He also focused on real estate that others had overlooked and abandoned that had once been seen as some of the best in New York. Trump figured if it had been the best before, it could be the best again, if someone had the vision. So he was able to purchase these buildings, turn them around, make them great again, and that was how he caught the attention of the bigger players in the city.

From there he started to leverage his brand and his personality and his relationship with the media and politicians. Where others would cower when politicians came after them, Trump would go to the press and expose what was happening behind the scenes to the people of New York. Because Trump wanted to do good for the city and the politicians were corrupt grifters, the people sided with Trump. This forced the polticians to back down and let him build.

The book is mostly about how people keep trying to stop him and how he uses whatever leverage he has to negotiate himself into a winning position.