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Trump: An American Dream: Season 1 - TV Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes



Trump: An American Dream: Season 1Genre: Documentary, Biography
Air Date: Nov 9, 2017


Andrew S
Your star rating5.0 stars4.5 stars4.0 stars3.5 stars3.0 stars2.5 stars2.0 stars1.5 stars1.0 stars0.5 starsJun 15, 2025


Typical Leftie political hit piece! They attempt to make Trump out to be an arrogant monster. Yes, he was a shrewd businessman. He would not have gotten anywhere in life if he wasn't, but in typical Netflix fashion, they conveniently skipped over the fact that he is one of the most amazing, accomplished, and charitable human beings that ever lived. If my wife and I were not getting Netflix for free, we would have cancelled after watching this!Content collapsed.Show More
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David E
Your star rating5.0 stars4.5 stars4.0 stars3.5 stars3.0 stars2.5 stars2.0 stars1.5 stars1.0 stars0.5 starsMay 8, 2025


I rated it 5 Stars only as a definite must-see. I rate it 4 Stars based on the fact that it is very fascinating for those on both the left and the right. I rate it 3 Stars max for objectivity. I suspect it is less objective than that, but since I don't know for sure, it would be inappropriate to rate less. Regardless, we already knew that Trump is a true narcissist, and even if this documentary was completely objective, it would not be completely surprising. I am glad they terminated the season before the period of his presidency, because it would likely have been much less objective after that. It would be really nice, and VERY, VERY fascinating if there was an OBJECTIVE season 2: The Narcissist President”. There were things in this documentary that we have always heard about, but which I never really knew if there was anything to it. This definitely helps put it into perspective. What is interesting, is that Trump is quite a bit different now in some ways. He is still a 100% narcissist, but now he genuinely wants to serve – in addition to craving the limelight LOL. Like many of us, he is tired of the idiocy and duplicity of our government (all parties). He is best president in at least 100 years, if not 2, “in doing what he says he'll do” and especially in “doing the hard things” that even Reagan did not or could not do. So I'll continue to support Trump, all the while continuing to cringe whenever he speaks, for which reason I don’t often watch his speeches. However, I love to watch his interviews and briefings when he often calls out the lying media and their fake news. I had been waiting 20 years for someone to do that and oh, how I just absolutely love that!!Content expanded.Show Less
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Entertainment
Netflix's New Trump Documentary Reveals Mob Connections That Helped Build an Empire
By Anthony Schneck

Published on April 5, 2018 at 5:34 PM
Donald Trump, Mayor Ed Koch, and Roy Cohn at the Trump Tower opening party | Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images


It has become virtually impossible to produce any revelatory information about President Donald Trump, though it may appear otherwise as scandal upon scandal hit his turbulent foray into politics. Even salacious, tabloid-friendly stories like the Stormy Daniels affair don't tell us much about a man known throughout his adult life to keep company with models, a man who clearly requires the approval of others as a measure of self-worth.

The problem isn't that there's no Trump-related issue worthy of a deep dive, but rather that much of the Trump-related stories, satires, criticisms, and documentaries that have come out in less than two years of his presidency attempt more or less explicitly to make a didactic point: Look at what an awful person you elected. It's the point Netflix and Channel 4's recent collaboration, Trump: An American Dream, wants to make, and, frankly, it's not all that interesting. To paraphrase the late, great Dennis Green, he is who we thought he was. We let him off the hook.

After watching around four hours of An American Dream, a viewer will learn that Donald Trump is 

• a narcissist; 
• a womanizer; 
• a brand-building powerhouse; 
• a master of reinvention; 
• a con man; 
• a product of the freewheeling, deregulated '80s; 
• a moving political target with no core beliefs except in himself; 
• a petty person who keeps only his family close, and attacks anyone who dares offend him; 
• a distractible man who prefers soundbites to nuanced thought; 
• an opportunist with no discretion, someone willing to seize on a race-baiting conspiracy theory to catapult himself into a viable presidential candidate. 

None of this comes as earth-shattering news, and it's too bad, because the series raises issues that, with the right treatment, could reveal more surprising truths about the machinations of power capable of creating a major player in the real estate world of 1980s Manhattan. But through the obvious rough, there are a few interesting nuggets.





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The most intriguing figure in the early Trump orbit was lawyer Roy Cohn, a notorious personality in American politics throughout the post-war years until his death from AIDS-related illness in 1986. 

According to Wayne Barrett, the late Village Voice journalist among the first of Donald Trump's public enemies, Trump met Cohn at a club when Donald was 27, and the well-connected lawyer quickly became a fixer, sounding board, and mentor for the young, ambitious Trump, who wanted the city to grant him millions of dollars in tax abatements to renovate the Commodore Hotel. 

The renovation of the Commodore into the Grand Hyatt would grant Trump access to the elite, gilded Manhattan upper crust to which he aspired, and would eventually allow him to construct Trump Tower and secure his status as a brand-name American businessman.

Cohn made his reputation helping secure the death penalty for accused Soviet spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (one of his proudest moments, according to his autobiography), which won him a job as counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy, the infamous politician who shot to national fame during the Communist witch hunts of the 1950s, spawning the eponymous term McCarthyism. Unencumbered by the backlash that effectively ended McCarthy's career, Cohn returned to New York, where he forged a path as the kind of morality-free, dogged powerbroker Trump needed to guide and protect him through the minefield of New York City politics.

Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair feature on the Trump-Cohn connection is far more interesting, and takes far less of your time, than watching even the first (and most compelling) installment of An American Dream. 

Cohn knew everybody from newscasters to politicians to mob bosses, and could pull strings for anyone he deemed worthy, including Trump, whom he at one point called his best friend. Having helped Trump secure the rights to the Commodore/Grand Hyatt, Cohn also advised him on the construction of the first property Trump built from the ground up: Trump Tower.




Netflix


What initially seems to be a quirk of Trump Tower's construction -- its all-concrete frame, unique in skyscrapers, but cheaper and faster to build -- becomes the subject of a tantalizing, but almost immediately dropped, thread in An American Dream. Cohn famously defended more than a few mafiosos, and at the time of Trump Tower's construction in 1980, organized crime syndicates controlled the concrete industry; if you wanted to pour concrete, you had to do business with the mob. Cohn was in an ideal position to collect checks from both Trump and his mafia clients if he brokered a deal to build out of concrete the most prominent new skyscraper in New York City. Did Roy Cohn hook up Trump with the mafia?

Perhaps! Like so many of the complex connections, deals, and accusations of misdeeds on which Trump: An American Dream spends time, the question receives no more than a cursory inquiry. This consistent treatment of Trump's history makes An American Dream inessential viewing except for the masochists who need constant reminders that the commander in chief has a decades-long history of incompetence and hucksterism.

One of the lasting impressions An American Dream makes, however, is that even if the insinuations were true, and Donald Trump leveraged mob connections to rise to fame in New York City, it probably wouldn't matter all that much. 

The series connects Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan to the same phrase uttered by Ronald Reagan, but Trump resembles Reagan in a more relevant way: Nothing sticks. Instead of Teflon Ron, the 21st century has Teflon Don, and despite the media coverage, the exposés, the former friends and business partners speaking out, Donald Trump can wield his position of extreme power to deflect all comers. Roy Cohn certainly showed him how to do it, though at an extreme cost. Cohn died disbarred and penniless, leaving a trail of enemies, ruined lives, and a rotten legacy in his wake.

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Netflix's Trump: An American Dream Shows the President Has Always Been Like This
Spanning four decades, this miniseries presents four decades worth of Trumpian bluster.
By April 7, 2018



Jeffrey Asher
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You probably don’t think you need more Trump in your life. The president’s words and face are omnipresent, from the early morning Twitter rants to the late-night talk shows. But if you can stomach a little more, the new documentary miniseries Trump: An American Dream is a fascinating look at how Trump became who he is today. (It’s also on Netflix.)

Trump is composed of four episodes. 

The first looks at his rise (with a leg up from his wealthy dad) in real estate in the ‘70s, 

the second on his casino-fueled stardom in the ‘80s,

 the third on his fall into tabloid fodder and near financial ruin in the ‘90s, and

 the last on political ambitions and reality show stardom of the last two decades.

 In every decade, Trump is the same as he ever was. From his earliest days, he’s full of bluster and seemingly singularly obsessed with wealth, power, and self-promotion. Everything he does is “going to be great for everybody” and “going to be a tremendous success.” If someone questions that, they’re villains to be attacked, bullied, or sued. “The news gets away with murder,” Trump spits out when his disastrous Taj Mahal casino venture was nearing bankruptcy. When the journalist asks gently about the finances, Trump pulls off his mic and walks away. “But we talked about this yesterday on the phone,” the reporter says meekly.


Trump’s penchant for hyperbole and falsehoods is on full display too. Journalist David Cay Johnston describes quizzing Trump on the casino business with questions peppered with obvious flashoods. He expected Trump to correct his errors. Instead, Johnston says, “Trump takes my falsehoods and incorporates them into his answer. That’s what con artists do.”


Trump: An American Dream, which was originally created by 72 Films for the UK’s Channel 4, is not an investigate expose on Donald’s alleged crimes, nor a shocking look at the chaos of his administration (as much as those might be warranted). 

Instead, the documentary is a more neutral—well, as neutral as possible—look on Trump’s public persona and career path leading up to his presidential run. It’s composed of well-selected archival footage combined with a series of interviews with friends, business partners, and enemies from Trump’s life: campaign adviser Roger Stone, Apprentice winner Randal Pinkett, family friend Nikki Haskell, and a whole host of journalists and TV personalities who have covered him over the decades. (One interesting trick the documentary pulls is filming these figures watching the archival footage, to expressions of horror and delight.)


That isn’t to say the documentary is without surprises. Many viewers might not be aware that Trump worked closely with Roy Cohn, the lawyer for NYC’s mafia families, or know about the dramatic confrontation between his first wife Ivana and his second wife (then mistress) Marla Maples on the ski slopes of Aspen.

But the most interesting parts of the documentary are the insights Trump’s values, or lack thereof. One commenter says that at his father’s funeral, Trump “used it as an occasion to speak about his own business successes. How he wasn’t down. How he was gonna come back.” The documentary suggests Trump might have been inspired to run by pro-wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s successful campaign for governor of Minnesota. Ventura’s campaign manager, Dean Barkley, describes how Trump flew to Minnesota to ask them how they got as much publicity as they did. “He wasn’t interested in particular issues,” Barkley says. “He wasn’t. He was just interested in becoming president.”




Lincoln Michel is the author of Upright Beasts. You can find him online at lincolnmichel.com and @thelincoln. ... Read More



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LifestyleArts
'Trump: An American Dream' Plays Like A Supervillain Origin Story
ByDani Di Placido,

Senior Contributor. Dani Di Placido covers film, television, and internet culture.

Follow AuthorApr 12, 2018, 08:30am EDTApr 12, 2018, 08:30am EDT
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This article is more than 7 years old.



How Trump became Trump. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

I was fully expecting to finish Netflix’s new documentary series ‘Trump: An American Dream,’ and walk away with a more positive outlook on the 45th President of America. I wanted to see the man beneath the caricature, to understand the reasoning behind the fervent admiration of his supporters.


Documentaries tend to humanize their subjects, even if they are painted in an unflattering light, and this series paints a grim picture indeed. Whether this is down to implicit bias on behalf of the filmmakers is open to debate, but one fact is clear - Trump wasn’t always like this. And by “this,” I mean a caricature of an aggressive businessman, the glittery, gold-plated showman who promises the moon and delivers Uranus.

There was a point where Trump seemed genuine. The first episode of the series depicts the first decade of Trump’s public life, his initial rise to fame. The interviews with young Trump are extraordinary - the man is practically unrecognizable, apart from the iconic, unflattering hairstyle.

Before knowing fame, Trump comes across as quietly intelligent, and strategic. He chooses his words carefully, and answers the questions directed at him clearly. There’s a certain “sobriety” that seems to have been lost in his rapid ascent to stardom, before he became permanently intoxicated by fame.

Young Trump is strangely likable. He’s clearly an extraordinarily ambitious man, but he doesn’t care to seek the spotlight. The details of his first marriage, to Ivana Marie Zelnícková, illuminates how much the man has changed over the decades; the wedding ceremony is (comparatively) humble in scale, and Ivana herself is a charismatic workaholic, a career woman, an equal. Trump deliberately chose a life partner that would work beside him and challenge him.

During the construction of Trump Tower, Trump hires a female project manager, Barbara Res, who isn’t afraid to directly confront him (much to his father’s irritation). Res tells anecdotes of an opinionated, yet deeply amicable Trump who views confrontational cooperation as an essential part of the creative process.

After the iconic tower is built, proudly displaying Trump’s name, his personality appears to change. Trump seems to understand that the illusion of wealth is far more important than the reality, but the moment his fiery ego is sparked by fame, he appears to succumb to his own delusion.

From there, the story darkens; loyal contractors suddenly go unpaid, and uncredited. Trump stops answering difficult questions, and verbally attacks those who dare ask them. That strange, repetitive speech pattern begins to emerge, as Trump learns to speak without saying anything. Possible links to the criminal underworld are highlighted; Trump’s lawyer at the time, the exceedingly sinister Roy Cohn, also represented powerful members of the mob.

From New York real estate, Trump moves into casinos, and appears to become corrupted beyond redemption. His words and actions become increasingly, and intentionally, unpleasant. The connection between him and Ivana shatters; a particularly repulsive statement regarding Ivana makes it clear that his desire for a “power couple” partnership has disappeared, and he repeatedly pursues youthful arm candy.

Barbara Res is brought back, and she describes Trump as being completely different from the man who hired her; he’s no longer interested in being challenged, and his collaborative side appears to have died.

The series tells a fascinating, rather tragic story, and really puts his extraordinary presidential victory into context. Trump has always sold himself as an exaggerated figure of brash masculinity, an all-consuming id, a bejeweled king who can achieve any ambition through sheer force of will. And he certainly manages to accomplish an awful lot, leaving burnt bridges and slain enemies in his wake, seemingly without consequence. Slings, arrows, and self-inflicted wounds that would cripple any other individual only seem to strengthen him.

From the day he built that tower, it’s evident that Trump also succeeded in building a loyal following, one that has only accumulated over the decades. His followers embrace his self-made mythology, and everything his detractors find so distasteful seems to attract them. Trump’s lifestyle is openly decadent, proudly immoral, inherently deceitful, but oddly … honest.

And for decades, Roger Stone was watching Trump, encouraging him to enter the political arena. Stone understood that trust in traditional institutions was only eroding, while the power of pop culture grew. Stone may be a strange and unlikable character, but his intuition is frighteningly accurate - he could see the president in Trump long before anyone else could.

The final episode of the series reinforces what most of us already know about the 2016 election, but highlights the groundwork that Trump has been laying over the years (intentionally or not). The presidency was always part of Trump’s sales pitch, stated as his ultimate goal, the biggest win imaginable.

And like every other outrageous, attention-seeking statement, the goal became an element of Trump’s persona, until eventually, it became reality. After the credits rolled, I was struck by the sheer willpower that carved a path all the way to the presidency.

What Trump accomplished was deeply, undeniably impressive, and it’s frightening to see how he got there. His philosophy values winning, even to a self-destructive degree, and he has attracted an immensely loyal following by embracing his worst instincts.

But it isn’t simply about winning - it’s about being entertaining. It’s about playing up to the crowd, stealing the spotlight by whatever means necessary, usually by being rude, crude, and controversial. The consumer’s eye is drawn to the most obnoxious display in the storefront, even if they don’t necessarily want to look at it.

The tactic appears to have warped him into the angry figure he is today, and propelled him to the White House, where his impact is sure to linger long after his presidency ends. If we don’t want Trumpism to continue after Trump, we’re going to have to learn to look away.

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