Based upon his contributions to vile Democrats, people had reasons NOT to trust Trump back then.
Oh good grief, how many times have we been over that old claim? Trump, like most other ultra-wealthy businessmen, donated to those politicians who he knew had authority over his development projects, and in NYC those happen to be democrats. Years ago my dad was a commodities broker, and he handled the commodity accounts of a certain prominent billionaire in Colorado (he passed away a number of years ago, and his son runs the empire today). Longtime Coloradoans may know who I’m talking about when I say that the family is originally from Russell, Kansas. Anyway, he always donated to both political parties because he wanted to be treated favorably by whichever party won. But in reality, he was a solid conservative Republican. That’s just how the game is played at that level, and Trump was doing nothing any differently.