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Donald Trump’s entire career has been about creating and projecting an image of himself that suits his needs. That has never been truer than during his current presidential bid. But what lies behind the image? Is Trump the genius and unremitting success he would have us believe? Is he the master of knowing how to pull all things off, how to win big while intimidating the bad guys and be loved by everyone else?

Long ago — a quarter century ago — when Trump was already making noises about wanting to be president, some filmmakers set out to discover what the man was made of. They learned a lot — an astonishing amount. And they made a documentary. Trump, always aggressive, threatened to sue, and the film never saw the light of day.

Now, though, we’ve obtained this documentary and, in the public interest, are showing it. From today until the first votes are cast in Iowa, we will stream “chapters” of it here.

The film has a gritty tabloid quality to it–and is, by definition, a period piece. However, on the larger issues of Trump’s character and manner of operating, it is more relevant than ever. We dare you to watch this and say that, like Trump, you already “knew it all.”

This is Part 1 of 12.

Part 1 is available here.

Part 2 is available here.

Part 3 is available here.

Part 4 is available here.

Part 5 is available here.

Part 6 is available here.

Part 7 is available here.

Part 8 is available here.

Part 9 is available here.

Part 10 is available here.

Part 11 is available here.

Part 12 is available here.

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Related front page panorama photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from Donald Trump in the 1980’s (Trump The Movie) and Donald Trump in 2015 (Marc Nozell / Flickr – CC BY 2.0)

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