This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 17 episode of “Alex Wagner Tonight.”

In 2021, the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City was demolished, leaving only a cloud of dust and a pile of rubble. If you know anything about the story of Trump and his casino businesses, you probably know that the story does not end well.

But then there’s this story, which is probably less familiar:

In 1982, Forbes magazine published its first list of the 400 Richest Americans. Trump made that list, claiming he was worth $100 million — despite the fact that, at the time, he was really only worth about $5 million. And he was also hemorrhaging cash.

But Trump had a plan. That year, he got a license from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to operate a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And he found an investor to help him finance the project. Holiday Inn — which owned the casino chain Harrah’s —would give Trump $50 million in cash to build the casino and then Trump and Harrah’s would split the profits. Trump just had to prove one thing before his investors would fork over the cash. 

Here is how New York Times investigative reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner tell the story in their new book, “Lucky Loser:”

Donald was on the verge of a great deal, one that would also get him out of a bind … Before leaving, [the CEO of Holiday Inn] told Donald that his board of directors would want to see with their own eyes that construction was underway … evidence that this young builder could make this happen.

But, as Craig and Buettner write, there was a small problem with that request:

Donald kept the truth to himself. He did not have things underway … because he did not have the money … [So] he directed his construction supervisor to hire every piece of earth-moving machinery he could find … The day the Holiday Inn board visited [the site], dozens of bulldozers and backhoes pointlessly pushed mounds of earth around the 2.6-acre site … in an elaborate ruse … with no purpose other than to fool [Trump’s] new business partner.

Afterward, Trump reportedly introduced himself to one of the Holiday Inn executives with a line he would never forget: “I think I’m probably the most successful person my age in the United States.”

That was how Trump started the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino: he bluffed his way into it. Trump created the myth of himself as a successful businessman and sold it to the public so he could then sell it to his business partners. And for a long time, that myth worked. Today, a lot of the country still believes that myth — and Trump is still cashing in on it.

This week, Trump may try to pull off one of his biggest schemes yet, which is saying a lot — at this point, it’s hard to keep track of all of Trump’s cash gambits. On Monday, just 50 days before the election, he launched his own cryptocurrency platform. And before that, there were the gold Trump sneakers, the Trump–endorsed Bible, the NFT Trump trading cards.

But this Thursday could stand to be Trump’s biggest payday ever.

That’s the day that Trump will finally be able to sell his stock in Trump Media, the parent company of his website Truth Social. If Trump plays his cards right in that sale, he could net around $2 billion. Not because the company is doing well, but because Trump has convinced so many people that he is a successful businessman and so many of those people have invested in the company. However, the reality is, Truth Social stock has been going down consistently since the company launched. 

On Friday, Trump told reporters that he will not be selling his stock in Trump Media, which is traded under the ticker symbol “DJT” (Trump’s initials), saying he “loves it.” But there is a huge incentive for Trump to say he won’t sell, even if that’s not the truth. Trump is beholden by rules that stipulate he is only allowed to start selling his shares on Thursday if Trump Media stock remains above $12 a share. On Wednesday, they were trading for just over $15.

By the end of the week, we’ll find out if this is yet another Trump con job — and whether the myth-making of Donald Trump continues.