Plot

A young man took over his father's real-estate business in 1970s and '80s New York, and got the helping hand of an infamous closeted gay lawyer who helped him turn this young man into a notorious legend. Based on true events.

1970s New York: determined to emerge from his powerful father's shadow and make a name for himself in Manhattan real estate, aspiring mogul Donald Trump is in the earliest days of his career when he encounters the man who will become one of the most important figures in his life: political fixer Roy M. Cohn. Seeing promise in young Donald, the influential attorney--who secured espionage convictions against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and investigated suspected Communists alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy--teaches his new acolyte how to amass wealth and power through deception, intimidation, and media manipulation. The rest is history.

A young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), eager to make his name as a hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy M. Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump the world knows today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé: someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.—Briarcliff Entertainment

In 1973, a young Donald Trump, after pointing out various wealthy people to his date, meets Roy Cohn, a contentious lawyer known for prosecuting the Rosenbergs, at an exclusive New York City restaurant. Trump complains that the federal government is investigating his real-estate mogul father, Fred Trump, for discrimination against African-American tenants; Cohn offers to help.

After Cohn blackmails the lead prosecutor with photos of him with a cabana boy, the prosecutor settles the case for little, despite evidence of racial discrimination. Trump celebrates and falls further into Cohn's orbit, seeing him as a better mentor than his father. Cohn teaches Trump about dressing well and media relations, and offers his "three rules": always attack, never admit wrongdoing, and always claim victory, even if defeated. Trump attends a decadent Cohn party, where he walks in on Cohn, whose homosexuality is an open secret, having an orgy.

Trump wants to develop the derelict midtown Commodore Hotel, near Grand Central Terminal, into a Hyatt. Cohn, using blackmail audiotapes of officials, helps Trump get a $160 million tax abatement for the project, outraging advocates for the poor. Trump does not ask Fred, with whom he has a tense relationship, for permission to build.

Trump develops the luxurious Trump Tower, belittling Fred's smaller achievements, and the media begins to treat him as a successful mogul. Cohn criticizes unions and welfare queens, presenting himself as a guardian of the American spirit, while attacking rules, morals, and truth. During the Reagan era, Trump says America needs to be stronger instead of disrespected by foreign nations. Trump and Roger Stone approve of one of Reagan's slogans, "Let's Make America Great Again".

Against Cohn's advice, Trump proceeds with reckless real estate developments such as the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, causing losses. Fred is ashamed of his eldest son, Fred Jr., for becoming an airline pilot with TWA, considering it akin to being "a bus driver with wings". Fred Jr. spirals into alcoholism, losing his career while the Trump family distances themselves from his self-destruction, and he eventually dies, devastating the family. His mother, Mary Anne, is agonized by this, and by Donald's attempts to manipulate his father's dementia to gain control of his siblings' inheritance to pay off mounting debts.

Trump meets Czech model Ivana Zelnícková, gets her admitted to his club after she is turned away, pays for her expenses, then pursues her to Aspen, Colorado, where she models, to ask her on a date. They eventually wed. She becomes an influential figure in the success of The Trump Organization. However, Trump grows resentful of Ivana overshadowing his success and tells her he is no longer attracted to her (though not mentioning his various affairs); she complains of her breast enlargement he requested, and calls him fat. They fight, and he rapes her.[a] Now addicted to amphetamines to help control his weight, Donald is discouraged from using them by his doctor, with whom he discusses his obesity and baldness. Trump has contentious relations with the new mayor, Ed Koch.

While facing disbarment, Cohn develops AIDS but publicly denies it. His lover Russell also develops AIDS, and Cohn asks Trump to put Russell up at the Hyatt. Trump eventually throws Russell out, claiming that guests complained, and refuses to approach Cohn, who berates Trump on the street, calling him an ungrateful fraud. After Russell dies, Trump takes Cohn to Florida and celebrates his birthday. He gives Cohn Trump-branded diamond cuff links, but Ivana informs Cohn during dinner that the diamonds are zirconium knockoffs. When the cake arrives, Roy weeps and excuses himself from the table.

Cohn dies. Trump undergoes liposuction and scalp-reduction surgeries. He meets with the ghostwriter of his autobiography, The Art of the Deal, and recounts Cohn's three rules as his own. Trump muses about becoming President, talks about the genetic superiority of winners, and expatiates his greatness while looking at the New York skyline.