Everyone knows President Trump fancies himself as a great negotiator.

So let me tell you a quick story about the first time I met the guy in person. I was working on a column called “Deals” for The New York Times, probably in 1988. I needed to get it done quickly, so I called Trump and asked for an interview.

I wanted to document how he put deals together. (I’m guessing this gave him the inspiration for a book he would later do titled “The Art of the Deal.”)

When I went to Trump’s office, he was haranguing someone on the phone over a parking garage that was being built for the Trump Taj Mahal that would open in 1990.

Trump was acting real tough with whoever was on the other end of the call. He kept motioning to me that it would only be another minute. After about five, he finished the call and turned his attention back to me.

I didn’t put it in that column that I was suspicious that there was no one on the other end of that call.

I always wondered whether Trump was just playacting for my benefit. I must say that phone call, a prop or not, did make the column better.

Was that the day Trump the actor was born?