This is how Trump became president

Looking back on 40 years of MT

Jan 8, 2020 at 1:00 am

On Oct. 16, 1980, armed with just $5,000 and a dream, original founders Ron Williams and Laura Markhan published the first issue of Metro Times. As we count down to our 40th birthday, we'll be revisiting our archives. (And yes, there will be a party. Stay tuned.)

20 years ago in Metro Times: The closer you look, the more signs you can find of the inevitability of a President Donald Trump. From Timothy Dugdale's "Reckless Eyeballing" TV column in 2000: "Whether you consider him a vulgarian, a kook, a shameless egotist or all three, there's something undeniably likable about Trump. Whenever I'm checking out the Sunday chat shows on the telly and I come across the telltale blow-dried comb-over and smug smile, I'll stop and give a listen," he wrote. "Donald Trump is not some pimple-faced dweeb in Silicon Valley, home alone on a Saturday night fondling his Superman lunch box collection and wondering how many millions more or less he'll be worth when the NASDAQ opens on Monday ... You could spend two weeks tooling around New York, in the back of a stretch limo with a supermodel or two, visiting all of his properties and holdings before heading down to Atlantic City and doing the same there." Yikes.

What was happening: Mechanik, Wolf Eyes, Phantom Wedding Band, Ether, God & Devil, Whirlwind Heat, and DJ Funko at the Gold Dollar (RIP); memorial for Lili Karkwowski at Lili 21 (now the Painted Lady Lounge).

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