Screenshot Barbara Res
Barbara Res was the Trump Organization’s head of construction in the 1980s, and became one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers. Her relationship with Trump, and her experiences working underneath him will be discussed throughout the A&E documentary series The Trump Dynasty. Learn more about Res and her career below.
Res was working for a general contractor, HOH Construction, when she met Trump in 1978. The businessman was working on fixing up the Hyatt Hotel, and was interested in bringing Res on as his representative. “When Donald interviewed me for the job of being his representative on Trump Tower, we talked at length about the project and what it was going to be like,” she told Frontline. “There was nothing but his word, and his word was that it was going to be the most incredible project ever.”
Barbara Res Worked As Vice President of the Trump Organization & Personal Advisor to Donald Trump
“In his description to me of my role, he said that I would be his representative and act sort of like a Donna Trump,” Res added. “I would be in charge of everything that would normally come to him… Donald told me that he thought that men were better than women at this, especially in this field. But he said a good woman is better than 10 good men.” Res would work on the construction of the Hyatt Hotel and the Trump Tower, and eventually served as the vice president, senior vice president and executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
But by 1987, she said that working under Trump had changed. “I saw a different person. He was more full of himself than he had been,” she explained. “But he was still somewhat down-to-earth. He was more surrounded by fluffier people or, you know, people that were more obsequious… Over the years, I think Donald became a little bit more of a celebrity and more of a famous person, and started believing his own press. He became more difficult to disagree with.”
Res Said That Trump’s Attitude Began to Shift the More Famous He Became
Res chronicled this difficult period, along with the rest of her career, in the memoir All Alone on the 68th Floor: How One Woman Changed the Face of Construction. “He got very angry,” she recalled. “His face would get red, and his lips would get white, and he would yell and scream… He used to have very strong women who he listened to, and gave a lot of authority to, but I doubt if that’s the case now. He never used to speak about women like he does now.” Res stepped down from the Trump Organization in 1996.
Res also said that she doesn’t feel Trump should have been elected president. “I’ve worked for a lot of developers, and the biggest developers in the world. I don’t think any of them should be president,” she revealed. “I don’t think that he has the experience and the knowledge of the law, the knowledge of politics to be president.”