A Quiz: Citizen Trump Edition

Name the business tycoon with presidential aspirations who:​

• Turned inherited money into an even greater and more vastly hyped fortune.
• Teetered towards bankruptcy on several occasions but was bailed out by a parent.
• Turned the family surname into a nationally recognized brand, though not one always of the highest quality. 
• Left his wife for a Broadway starlet.
• Had an intense dislike of Mexico that bordered upon paranoia, which he incorporated into his platform.
• Railed against the political machines of both the Republican and Democratic parties, and sought "to convince voters that their government, as constituted, was incapable of meeting their needs and he alone was capable of rescuing it from the stranglehold of trust-controlled and corrupted politicians.”
• Was despised by the leader of the Republic Party who noted "his extraordinary popularity among the ‘have-nots’” and wrote of him, “He preaches the gospel of envy, hatred and unrest. His actions so far go to show that he is entirely willing to sanction any mob violence if he thinks that for the moment votes are to be gained by so doing … He cares nothing for the nation, nor for any citizen in it … He is the most potent single influence for evil we have in our life.” [emphasis added]

HINT: The title of the post offers both a dead giveaway and a false lead.

The answer is after the JUMP.

The "most potent single influence for evil we have in our life" was press baron William Randolph Hearst. Hearst was an outspoken populist in the early 1900s. He was briefly a member of the House of Representatives and sought the Oval Office, but the nearest he came was consideration as vice president in 1906. In spite of his failure, many of his positions came to pass, such as the eight-hour workday and a crackdown on the railroad trusts that served as handmaiden to the Gilded Age. The Republican leader who despised him was President Theodore Roosevelt. After leaving politics, Hearst became enamored with Broadway dancer Marion Davies for whom he separated from his wife. The Orson Welles film Citizen Kane was roughly based upon the life of William Randolph Hearst (referenced in the title to this post).

William Randolph Hearst, Age 31, by Orrin Peck

Hat Tip: The Chief, The Life of William Randolph Hearst by David Nasaw

The portrait of William Randolph Hearst by Orrin Peck still hangs at Hearst's magnificent coastal retreat in San Simeon.