Donald Trump's ghostwriter tells all

Politics & Elections
1

This is really quite a remarkable article. A large part of Trump’s reputation as a spectacularly successful tycoon and certainly the early genesis of it comes from The Art of the Deal, a book that turns out to be a collection of half-truths, obfuscations and outright fabrications with the general goal of glorifying Trump and his alleged accomplishments. And Trump didn’t even write it, it was written for his approval by a ghostwriter named Tony Schwartz who needed the money, and who now deeply regrets having “put lipstick on a pig” and “created a Frankenstein”. Trump is of course now railing at Schartz’s “lack of loyalty” because “I made you rich”.

Also revealing is that Schwartz had great difficulty getting any meaningful information out of Trump or even being able to get his attention for more than minutes at a time. Almost ready to abandon the project, Schwartz finally hit on the idea of just following Trump around and observing him, even monitoring his phone conversations. Trump loved the idea much as he loves any kind of attention, but it turns out that those who hold out hope of a “real” Trump under the veneer of the shallow attention-seeking blowhard are going to discover that that is the real Trump.

The article is by Jane Mayer, the author of Dark Money about the Koch brothers.

2

I’m sure I’ve told this story, but I will again.

My best friend lives in California. Seven years ago he and his wife were looking for a larger house, and as it happens his in-laws were looking to sell their house and move to a smaller home they had bought up in Napa. So he bought the house from them, but the deal was, given the fact that it was their friggin’ parents, remarkably hard to conclude. This was 2009, though, after the real estate bubble had burst, so he just figured they were having trouble accepting the house wasn’t worth a bazillion dollars anymore.

They had a home inspection done and the inspector’s report read “Sheeeeeeeee-it”*. Many, many things had to be fixed, but oh well, they were getting the house for a good price and whaddya gonna do. After they moved in they found many more things than they thought had to be fixed, had to be fixed. The house was 30 years old and nothing had ever been worked on. So he started calling around to local contractors of repute.

None would accept the work.

My buddy couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. He’d call some well-regarded contractor, describe the work, but once he said what the address was they’d be like “uh, I have to go wash my hair” and wouldn’t call back? What the hell was going on?

He ended up having to do a lot of in-person visits, and what he found out was that the house had developed a reputation of being a place you never ever ever want to work, and not because it was infested with poltergeists; it was because of my buddy’s father in law. He had developed a reputation of being absolutely impossible to deal with. Roofing, patio fix, sealing the driveway, anything; all had been burned by him. Which was surprising because my buddy’s FIL is actually a pretty nice guy, at least apparently if you aren’t doing business with him. Characteristics of his deal making:

  • Starting off with absolutely preposterous counter proposals to quotes
  • Suddenly decided mid-job he didn’t want to pay as much, or
  • Deciding mid job that he wanted to pay the same for a hugely inflated new scope of work
  • Interfering with the work and nitpicking
  • Claiming he was being treated unfairly

Remind you of anyone?

So my bud went to his FIL and said, jeez, what the hell? And you guessed it; his FIL had read Trump’s “The Art of the Deal,” as well as other Trump books, and followed Trump’s strategies religiously. And could never get his house fixed. But he was SURE it had saved him some money that one time 18 years ago or something.

3

I read that article. I hope the ghost writer feels the guilt for the rest of his life.

4

From the article:
Schwartz told me that he has decided to pledge all royalties from sales of “The Art of the Deal” in 2016 to pointedly chosen charities: the National Immigration Law Center, Human Rights Watch, the Center for the Victims of Torture, the National Immigration Forum, and the Tahirih Justice Center. He doesn’t feel that the gesture absolves him. “I’ll carry this until the end of my life,” he said. “There’s no righting it. But I like the idea that, the more copies that ‘The Art of the Deal’ sells, the more money I can donate to the people whose rights Trump seeks to abridge.”

5

I harbor the dread that he did, indeed, learn something from Trump: say “Give me some money, and I’ll give it to charity!”.

6

Fearing the thought of talent squandered in whoring, I read a bit of the book just now. He will not be missed.

7

Now knowing some of the background, I’d be curious to skim the book, but I fear that I’d feel contaminated. If I wanted to experience The Donald praising himself as the greatest being to ever walk the earth, there’s going to be a week of it on TV.

8

I started a thread on this topic, somehow missing this one entirely. It was properly locked up, but I wouldn’t want folks to miss my precious words. I quote myself. I add emphasis to key points.

Schwartz is no longer a writer. He runs a consulting firm called The Energy Project. Going public is not in his financial interest. But he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t.

Excerpt from Schwartz’s diary:

      [INDENT][INDENT]  . “All he is is ‘stomp, stomp, stomp’—recognition from outside, bigger, more, a whole series of things that go nowhere in particular,” he observed, on October 21, 1986. But, as he noted in the journal a few days later, “the book will be far more successful if Trump is a sympathetic character—even weirdly sympathetic—than if he is just hateful or, worse yet, a one-dimensional blowhard.”[/INDENT][/INDENT]

[/quote]
Apologies to the board for my muck-up and special thanks to my ghostwriter.

9

Spirited work, puts others in the shade.

10

I’m glad you quoted yourself – I thought that was a well written and succinct summary of the most important points.

11

It’s a banner week for incisive, mea-culpa-themed Trump coverage. Check out this Buzzfeed piece, from the guy whose article dismissing Trump’s willingness to run partially inspired his decision to do it.

12

I came here to post that link. Scary essay, isn’t it?

I recently read Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here”, published in 1935, and it’s fiction. This essay isn’t.

Another thing trump’s known for: Remember a couple years ago when he said those Ebola-stricken missionaries should have been left in Africa to die? Even a hardcore atheist would disagree with that. :mad:

13

There was an interview with Jon Stewart recently in which Stewart described Trump as a “man-baby” which is a wonderfully appropriate term. If you had to sum him up in a single (hyphenated) word that one is perfect. Everything that’s scarily wrong about him ultimately stems from having the maturity and mental age of a child, including the fact that a small child has no moral scruples because he cannot yet tell right from wrong.

14

He has Affluenza? Didn’t we put that other rich little shit on probation for that kind of thing?

15

You should read the article. He actually mentions that when Trump tried to rip him off, he used the “Trumpian” tactic against the man himself, promising to pay the money he owed (or Trump claimed he owed) to charity.

But he seems pretty contrite about his role in the rise of Trump, and names pretty specific charities, so I imagine he’s telling the truth.

He pretty clearly feels bad about it. Though honestly I think he’s kinda hard on himself. At the time Trump was just a fairly shameless self-promoter. Most of the victims of his cons were other well to do investors. I can’t really blame the ghost-writer for not foreseeing Trump running a successful Presidential campaign on a wannabe-fascist platform.

16

He’s like a rich version of Eric Cartman.

17

Without the warmth and charm.

18

I read the article today. I wish everything thinking of supporting Trump would read it.

19

I sent a link to the article to my rabidly republican sister along with a note that said something like “read and learn.” Her reply to me: “The other one is worse.” The other one being Hilary; I failed at fighting ignorance.

20

I think the key words here are “rabidly Republican”. You didn’t fail – it’s just not possible to get through to them. You might ask her why she thinks prominent respected Republicans are revolted by Trump and refuse to support him and why so many of them are missing from the convention, replaced by dipshit wrestling announcers and reality show airheads. I fear for your country, I truly do. I was just reading a selection of some of Trump’s quotes, just a tiny selection and most of which we’ve already heard, but try reading these and then thinking: “they’re coming from the presumptive nominee for President of the United States”:

A day after the Brexit result, Trump arrived in Scotland to promote one of his golf courses but missed the mark with this tweet. Scotland voted to remain in the European Union but apparently nobody told Trump.

*Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!
5:21 AM - 24 Jun 2016 *

Trump has often referred to Hillary Clinton’s likely vice-presidential pick as “Goofy Elizabeth Warren.” He has repeatedly called the Massachusetts senator “Pocahontas” over a comment Warren made that she was told she had 1/32 Cherokee ancestry.

*Pocahontas is at it again! Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice.
8:07 AM - 10 Jun 2016 *

*Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!
8:35 AM - 28 Mar 2014 *

In his book “Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life”, Trump reminisced about former romantic partners. “Oftentimes when I was sleeping with one of the top women in the world, I would say to myself, thinking about me as a boy from Queens, 'Can you believe what I am getting?”’

During a conservative forum in Iowa last July, Trump dismissed Senator John McCain’s reputation as a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam. “I like people who weren’t captured, OK?”

(Trump avoided serving in the Vietnam War using four student deferments.)

*@SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the primaries. Graduated last in his class at Annapolis–dummy!
4:39 PM - 16 Jul 2015 *