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Archives for February 2018

NYU’s Mitchell Moss: Scorn from NYC’s Elites Fueled Donald Trump’s Presidential Ambitions

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Mitchell Moss, NYU’s Henry Hart Rice Professor of Urban Policy & Planning, Director of Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, Photo Courtesy of NYU

 

In an op-ed for Zocalo Public Square on February 6th, Mitchell Moss, the head of New York University’s Director of Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, writes that Donald Trump’s political ambitions were fueled by the resentment and disdain he received from elite New York social circles.

Moss claims that Trump, the son of a Queens real estate developer, was met with derision due to his harsh style and lack of credentials or business acumen as he began developing real estate properties in Manhattan. Moss writes, “His failure to make it into the upper echelon of New York’s business community is what drove him to run for president, and that, “Trump didn’t care about being right or smart or ethical, only about being known.”

This contempt on behalf of New York’s business and philanthropic communities, Moss claims, led Trump to seek attention in the city’s tabloid papers. According to Moss, New York papers “Loved to feature Trump, in stories about his three marriages and his calls for proof of President Obama’s birth. The front page of the New York Post is the equivalent of a daily billboard, which the local radio and television news programs treat as raw material for their evening programs. Trump was a master at getting the New York Post to cover his words, his wives, and his fights with Ed Koch and Barack Obama. He became famous as someone New Yorkers loved to ridicule.”

Now that Trump’s political ambitions have paid off, “News reports now have him marveling that New Yorkers who once wouldn’t give him the time of day—like the former Goldman Sachs chieftain Gary Cohn—now work for him.”

 

Jill Zuckman Named President of SKDKnickerbocker Public Affairs for DC

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Jill Zuckman, SKDKnickerbocker’s newest President of Public Affairs for DC

 

Public relations firm SKDKnickerbocker has named Jill Zuckman President of Washington, DC’s public affairs on Tuesday, February 6th. Jill moves to the new role from a previous stint as a Managing Director at the firm. Before joining SKDK, Jill served as Assistant to the Secretary and Director at the Department of Transportation under Ray LaHood, an Obama Appointee.

SKDK has also named five new managing directors to their ranks:

Greg Minoff, Director of the Content Studio and the head of the broad portfolio of creative advertising and digital services offered by SKDK

Cecelia Prewett, former Federal Trade Commission official who leads the firm’s Regulatory, Investigations and Litigation practice

Morgan Hook, former journalist and former chief communications officer for the State University of N.Y. and head of SKDK Albany

Stephen Krupin, former White House speechwriter for President Barack Obama and head of SKDK’s Executive Communications practice

Nell Callahan, former press secretary for Senator Jeanne Shaheen, head of the Woman’s Practice and Chief of Staff in the Washington, D.C., Public Affairs office

According to their website, SKDKnickerbocker “provides the full range of communications services, including public relations, digital communications, executive communications, litigation support, television advertising, direct mail and research.”