说起唐纳德·特朗普在商界的偶像，可能会让人吃惊。很少有人得闻其名，他也素来行事低调。二战时他曾是勇猛的飞行员。在交易领域，他的风格与后来登上总统之位的特朗普截然相反——极为自律，在压力下还能保持谦逊文雅。

科克·科克里安是一位白手起家的亿万富翁，主要从事酒店开发。他从加州起步，当时身无分文，还是八年级辍学生，后来却变成好莱坞电影巨头，拉斯维加斯赌场大亨，跻身全美最富有的人之一。他总是低调做慈善，也是美国最慷慨的大佬之一。

在很多方面科克里安跟特朗普行事风格不一，然而特朗普对他一直非常景仰。科克里安快90岁时，《纽约时报》一位专栏作家称他为“交易之神”，特朗普也叫他“国王”，还公开宣称：“我特别喜欢这人。”

两位亿万富翁的发家史有明显的相似之处，但更有趣的或许是，两人实现了相似的现代美国梦，途径却如此不同。

2015年，98岁高龄的科克里安去世时，拉斯维加斯大道上大部分主要的酒店和赌场都在他名下。但没有一家冠以他的名字。虽然他一手改造了美国赌博圣地，但没有一处能看到他的大名，不管是路牌，公园还是私人停车位。

然而拉斯维加斯的天际线里，64层的特朗普国际酒店楼顶能看到巨大的金色字母，拼着特朗普的名字“T-R-U-M-P”。

科克里安向来寡言少语，也不与媒体接触。他拒绝大多数采访，按照自己的规则生活，以免泄露有关个人生活或商业利益的信息。科克里安遵守的头号戒条就是：言多必失。第二条是：不要谈论自己。

进入政界之前，特朗普就出了名地爱吹嘘自己。就任全国头号推特用户之前，他就经常自己当公关，直接向媒体发布各种私人和商务信息。1989年他还差点挤进《福布斯》富豪榜，但很快被发现虚报净值——杂志编辑审核时发现实际上“差了几个零”。

One of Donald Trump’s idols in the business world may come as a surprise. He was little known, and liked it that way. He was a daring pilot during World War II. And on the playing fields of deal-making, he was the future president’s polar opposite—the very embodiment of self-discipline, humility and grace under pressure.

Kirk Kerkorian, self-made billionaire and fellow hotel developer, started out as a penniless eighth-grade dropout from California before becoming a Hollywood movie mogul, a Las Vegas casino magnate, and one of America’s richest men. His largely unheralded charitable giving also made him one of the country’s most generous tycoons.

In many ways, he was the un-Donald, yet Trump regarded Kerkorian as business royalty. When a New York Times columnist was calling Kerkorian—then in his late 80s—“the god of all deal makers,” Trump was likewise calling him “the King” and publicly declared: “I love that guy.”

The stories of the two fellow billionaires have obvious parallels, but perhaps more interesting than that, is how vastly they diverged in their approaches to achieving remarkably similar versions of the modern American dream.

By the time Kerkorian died at age 98 in 2015, he owned most of the major hotels and casinos on The Strip. But his name was on none of them. And though he transformed the American gambling mecca, Kerkorian’s name never appeared on a street sign, a park site or so much as a private parking spot.

The Las Vegas skyline does, however, have the giant gold letters T-R-U-M-P atop the 64-story Trump International Hotel.

The reticent Kerkorian avoided media engagement. He declined most interviews and lived by his own rule against divulging anything about his personal or business interests. The first Kirk commandment was: don’t talk too much. His second was: never talk about yourself.

Trump was notorious for self-promotion well before entering politics. Even before becoming the nation’s Tweeter-in-Chief, he sometimes posed as his own public relations guy to pass along all kinds of personal and business information to the press. In 1989 he even talked his way onto a Forbes list of billionaires, only to be summarily dumped for inflating his net worth—found to be “in hailing distance of zero” upon review by magazine editors.

虽然商界竞争激烈，但科克里安从不招人怨恨。哪怕经历过激烈的谈判，科克里安的竞争对手常常能变成朋友。贴身助手表示，他从不说别人的坏话。相比之下，特朗普对落选福布斯榜单的反应也非常典型，他咒骂说，已故的杂志发行人马尔科姆·福布斯“躺在坟墓里还要报复我。”

科克里安刻意避免攀附名人，也不愿卷进政治活动。但他对特朗普轻松掌控观众的能力还是颇为欣赏，甚至有些羡慕。科克里安生性腼腆，父辈是大字不识的美国移民，几乎完全不会公开演讲。“真希望我能像特朗普一样说话，”他曾告诉朋友。

但如果科克里安能活到2016年，亲眼看看特朗普如何参加总统竞选，估计还是会惊讶。战争时代科克里安是英雄飞行员，后来是大胆的赌徒，他曾一把骰子赌上100万美元，也曾不只一次用身家下注拉斯维加斯的发展前景。他喜欢大赌，不管结果是输是赢，对他来说，竞选总统争当白宫主人肯定算得上一次值得称道的豪赌。

话说回来，科克里安是有可能称赞特朗普竞选总统，但对特朗普推特治国估计也得皱眉。（财富中文网）

作者威廉·C·伦佩尔是《赌徒传奇：身无分文的肄业生科克·科克里安如何成为资本史上最伟大的交易大师》。

译者：冯丰

审稿：夏林

Though fiercely competitive, Kerkorian carried no grudges. Even after intense negotiations, Kerkorian’s business competitors often ended up as social friends. His closest associates said he never had a bad thing to say about anyone. Trump’s response to his Forbes list demotion was also typically Trumpian—accusing deceased magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes of “finally getting back at me from the grave.”

Kerkorian studiously avoided both the trappings of celebrity and any involvement in political activism. But he also admired, perhaps even envied, Trump for his easy command of audiences. The naturally shy son of illiterate Armenian immigrants was almost paralytic about public speaking. “I wish I could talk like Trump,” he told friends.

And, had Kerkorian lived to see it, he almost certainly would have been impressed with the audacity of Trump’s 2016 presidential bid. For Kerkorian, a heroic wartime aviator and seemingly fearless gambler—who once risked a million dollars on a single roll of the dice, who wagered his fortune more than once on major Las Vegas developments, and who favored big bets, win or lose—seeking the White House would definitely have qualified as a praise-worthy whale of a big bet.

But although Kerkorian may have lauded Trump’s campaign, his tweeting—probably not so much.

William C. Rempel is the author of THE GAMBLER: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History.