He's smarter than Mayor Koch, of whom Mr. Trump writes: ''Koch has achieved something quite miraculous. He's presided over an administration that is both pervasively corrupt and totally incompetent.'' He's smarter than the tenants of 100 Central Park South, who, by beating Mr. Trump in his attempt to have them evicted, forced him to make even more money out of Trump Parc than he would have had he succeeded in his original plans.
Well, maybe ''smarter'' isn't quite the word. He writes: ''More than anything else, I think deal-making is an ability you're born with. It's in the genes. I don't say that egotistically. It's not about being brilliant. It does take a certain intelligence, but mostly it's about instincts.'' Whatever it is, Mr. Trump has what it takes, and he's the first to say so.
In short, ''Trump'' is a display of the author's not inconsiderable ego. And he's got a lot to be egotistical about, particularly in the elemental terms he keeps track of such things. He's makes more money: ''. . . much more than I'll ever need,'' he writes. He builds higher buildings - the highest one in the world, if he can ever get approval for his development on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Most impressively, he does these things with elegant simplicity. Mr. Trump's best-laid plans rarely gang agley, or so it would seem from the way he describes them here. In the opening chapter, ''Dealing: A Week in the Life,'' he recounts a typical week in his business routine. Monday consists of a dozen or so telephone conversations, two meetings, one deposition in a lawsuit and a request to his secretary for a can of tomato juice for lunch. Life at the top is uncluttered.
In later chapters, he describes his major deals - the West Side train yards he bought from Penn Central, the building of the Grand Hyatt Hotel on East 42d Street, Trump Tower, Trump Parc, his Atlantic City properties, his involvement in the United States Football League and his rescue of the Wollman Rink in Central Park. Mr. Trump makes it all sound so simple. Think big. Be persistent. Maximize your options. Have fun.