On the cover of the April 4–17 issue of New York Magazine, national affairs editor Gabriel Sherman talks to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the most unorthodox campaign in political history. “I’m a closer,” Trump tells Sherman. “I want to close. I have to beat the leftovers. Okay? These are leftovers.” Trump, whose campaign employs a core team of about a dozen people (his campaign lists 94 people on the payroll nationwide, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing [Hillary Clinton has 765]), is without pollsters, media coaches, or speechwriters. “I’m the strategist,” he tells Sherman.
In order to convey the idea that Trump is truly running his own show, New York Magazine photo editor Marvin Orellana says the cover concept was, “What if we had Trump puppeteering himself?” To do this, the photo team called back the same body double used for New York’s previous Trump cover (on the September 21, 2015, issue). Editor-in-chief Adam Moss wanted the puppet to be “a real body,” Orellana says, “so we ended up photographing the body double in different puppet positions as well as puppet-master positions. We then did all this photo research for the heads.”
Editor’s Note: This post was updated to reflect that the Trump campaign has 94 people on its payroll, including state and local level employees, according to the latest FEC filing.