Had I not allowed banks to manipulate us into those personal guarantees, those entities could have survived through Chapter 11 restructuring.
Someone who makes a statement like this in a public venue has zero credibility. Nobody manipulated you, dude. You signed the papers yourself, so you are responsible for your actions.
Dopey comment. He’s saying I should have negotiated better and gotten things non-recourse so those entities could have used Chapter 11. Because he gave a personal guarantee on 100% it wasn’t an option.
I think doing business of any kind can be fraught with unforseen pitfalls. the banks have (effectively) infinite pockets and (effectively) infinitely good memory and experience. OTOH, we humans all start from zero, which makes the human experience in contrast to the corporate experience a learning experience. I would imagine that coming up the speed of the banks from a standing start could be challenging for you, me, and anyone (including Trump). IIRC some founding fathers, including presidents (eg Jefferson) either died penniless, or came close to it. Yet few would dispute that they accomplished a lot for the good of most if not all.
In pioneer days, people would not infrequently go bankrupt, then they would simply start over (perhaps moving to another state and/or changing careers), and amass an even larger fortune. This could happen multiple times. Often the better persons would then honor their debts. It was a pioneer spirit. It was a part of existence in those days. For better or otherwise, Trump seems to have part of that pioneer spirit in him.