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Go Home Egomaniacal Jerk Endorses Fellow Egomaniacal Jerk

JONATHAN CHAIT DECEMBER 1, 2010

Egomaniacal Jerk Endorses Fellow Egomaniacal Jerk

BY JONATHAN CHAIT

Mike Leach is a football coach who was fired by Texas Tech because he punished a player for reporting a concussion by forcing him to stand in a dark equipment shed. Naturally, Donald Trump wants to get him another coaching job:

Donald Trump sent a letter to University of Miami president Donna Shalala this week, suggesting the Hurricanes hire the former Texas Tech coach to lead their football program.

Trump wrote the note on a copy of The Palm Beach Post's Sunday sports section, scrawling it over the newspaper's story announcing Randy Shannon's firing.

University officials confirmed the authenticity of the note Wednesday.

"You made a big mistake when you did not take my advice and hire Mike Leach of Texas Tech ... and you can now get him for the right price," Trump wrote to Shalala.

I'm not sure what explains this, other than some natural affinity that horrible people have for each other.

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4 comments

Trump/Leach in 2012.

- liberal reformer

December 1, 2010 at 12:14pm

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A blog headline with two references to "egomaniacal jerk" but no mention of either Newt Gingrich or Glenn Beck in the post??

- wildboy

December 1, 2010 at 12:48pm

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Donald Trump reminds me of the line from "If I were a Wealthy Man" from the musical Fiddler on the Roof: And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong. When you're rich, they think you really know!

- Nusholtz

December 1, 2010 at 1:45pm

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From what I remember, in 2008 (the year Texas Tech had a really good season with Michael Crabtree) Mike Leach made a surprise visit to Donald Trump's offices in New York. The two became BFF's with Donald Trump even recording an intro to a Texas Tech game aired on TV later in the season. At the time, I just figured Donald Trump was trying to further ingratiate himself into popular culture by befriending (at the time) the new star coach at upstart Texas Tech and when Mike Leach fell out of favor, I thought Trump would abandon him. I'm actually surprised Trump is still promoting him.

- jomill16

December 1, 2010 at 2:50pm

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