"The Art of the Deal"

[Rastapopoulos]

Good article about Trump's (regretful) ghostwriter:

Schwartz had ghostwritten Trump’s 1987 breakthrough memoir, earning a joint byline on the cover, half of the book’s five-hundred-thousand-dollar advance, and half of the royalties. The book was a phenomenal success, spending forty-eight weeks on the Times best-seller list, thirteen of them at No. 1. More than a million copies have been bought, generating several million dollars in royalties. The book expanded Trump’s renown far beyond New York City, making him an emblem of the successful tycoon. Edward Kosner, the former editor and publisher of New York, where Schwartz worked as a writer at the time, says, “Tony created Trump. He’s Dr. Frankenstein.”

Starting in late 1985, Schwartz spent eighteen months with Trump—camping out in his office, joining him on his helicopter, tagging along at meetings, and spending weekends with him at his Manhattan apartment and his Florida estate. During that period, Schwartz felt, he had got to know him better than almost anyone else outside the Trump family. Until Schwartz posted the tweet, though, he had not spoken publicly about Trump for decades. It had never been his ambition to be a ghostwriter, and he had been glad to move on. But, as he watched a replay of the new candidate holding forth for forty-five minutes, he noticed something strange: over the decades, Trump appeared to have convinced himself that he had written the book. Schwartz recalls thinking, “If he could lie about that on Day One—when it was so easily refuted—he is likely to lie about anything.”

In the subsequent months, as Trump defied predictions by establishing himself as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, Schwartz’s desire to set the record straight grew. He had long since left journalism to launch the Energy Project, a consulting firm that promises to improve employees’ productivity by helping them boost their “physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual” morale. It was a successful company, with clients such as Facebook, and Schwartz’s colleagues urged him to avoid the political fray. But the prospect of President Trump terrified him. It wasn’t because of Trump’s ideology—Schwartz doubted that he had one. The problem was Trump’s personality, which he considered pathologically impulsive and self-centered.

“I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”

If he were writing “The Art of the Deal” today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, “The Sociopath.”

“Trump has been written about a thousand ways from Sunday, but this fundamental aspect of who he is doesn’t seem to be fully understood,” Schwartz told me. “It’s implicit in a lot of what people write, but it’s never explicit—or, at least, I haven’t seen it. And that is that it’s impossible to keep him focussed on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes, and even then . . . ” Schwartz trailed off, shaking his head in amazement. He regards Trump’s inability to concentrate as alarming in a Presidential candidate. “If he had to be briefed on a crisis in the Situation Room, it’s impossible to imagine him paying attention over a long period of time,” he said.

This year, Schwartz has heard some argue that there must be a more thoughtful and nuanced version of Donald Trump that he is keeping in reserve for after the campaign. “There isn’t,” Schwartz insists. “There is no private Trump.” This is not a matter of hindsight. While working on “The Art of the Deal,” Schwartz kept a journal in which he expressed his amazement at Trump’s personality, writing that Trump seemed driven entirely by a need for public attention. “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.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

How about just one new Trump thread a day.

 

[BlazerWookee]

"The New Yorker," lol...

 

[e_blazer]

How about just one new Trump thread a day.

I'm sure that this is all cathartic. Just his way of working through the multiple stages of grief.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I see this in Mags' future:

Not long after the discussion of the party bills, Trump approached Schwartz about writing a sequel, for which Trump had been offered a seven-figure advance. This time, however, he offered Schwartz only a third of the profits. He pointed out that, because the advance was much bigger, the payout would be, too. But Schwartz said no. Feeling deeply alienated, he instead wrote a book called “What Really Matters,” about the search for meaning in life. After working with Trump, Schwartz writes, he felt a “gnawing emptiness” and became a “seeker,” longing to “be connected to something timeless and essential, more real.”

Also this:

If Trump is elected President, he warned, “the millions of people who voted for him and believe that he represents their interests will learn what anyone who deals closely with him already knows—that he couldn’t care less about them.”

 

[Rastapopoulos]

How about just one new Trump thread a day.

ARE YOU TRYING TO SQUASH MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS!!??

Besides, this thread doesn't even have Trump in the title!

 

[Rastapopoulos]

"The New Yorker," lol...

—which, by the way, is a failing magazine that no one reads—

 

[SlyPokerDog]

ARE YOU TRYING TO SQUASH MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS!!??

Besides, this thread doesn't even have Trump in the title!

 

[Nikolokolus]

But Schwartz said no. Feeling deeply alienated, he instead wrote a book called “What Really Matters,” about the search for meaning in life. After working with Trump, Schwartz writes, he felt a “gnawing emptiness” and became a “seeker,” longing to “be connected to something timeless and essential, more real.”

So what you're really saying is that working with DT leads to self-actualization.

:MARIS61:

 

[Denny Crane]

The funny thing is that all along I felt he was a clown and that he really had no idea what to do if elected. And maybe he didn't really care if he did get elected.

He's looking anything but incompetent so far. And in retrospect, you don't spend tens of $millions of your own money if you don't want to get elected.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

you don't spend tens of $millions of your own money i

You do if you think you can make tens of $billions for yourself after you're elected.

 

[Denny Crane]

You do if you think you can make tens of $billions for yourself after you're elected.

So you agree he wanted to get elected.

 

[riverman]

The art of the deal.....I'll shoot for the biggest job on the planet to sell my brand and then end up with O'Reilly's tv show.....which is what I wanted all along.....oh fuck....I GOT ELECTED!!!!

 

[SlyPokerDog]

So you agree he wanted to get elected.

I agree that he wants more money.

Even if he didn't get elected Mags was still going to give all of his family Donald clothing and Ivanka jewelry. Now he doesn't have to go to Walmart to buy it.

 

[Denny Crane]

I agree that he wants more money.

Even if he didn't get elected Mags was still going to give all of his family Donald clothing and Ivanka jewelry. Now he doesn't have to go to Walmart to buy it.

Maybe he feels like he has enough. That's how it's looking.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Maybe he feels like he has enough. That's how it's looking.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Maybe he feels like he has enough. That's how it's looking.

Why would you say "That is how it's looking?" We don't know how it looks yet, because we don't know if he's going to use his office to enrich his businesses, his kids or his friends. All we know at this point is that he's got a lot of overseas business ventures (mostly branding) and construction deals often require a lot of permitting and greased palms.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Why would you say "That is how it's looking?" We don't know how it looks yet, because we don't know if he's going to use his office to enrich his businesses, his kids or his friends. All we know at this point is that he's got a lot of overseas business ventures (mostly branding) and construction deals often require a lot of permitting and greased palms.

Next you're going to claim that Santa Claus isn't real.

 

[magnifier661]

JUST IN

President Elect Trump waves at cameras, symbolizing his hatred of Asians.

 

[Denny Crane]

Why would you say "That is how it's looking?" We don't know how it looks yet, because we don't know if he's going to use his office to enrich his businesses, his kids or his friends. All we know at this point is that he's got a lot of overseas business ventures (mostly branding) and construction deals often require a lot of permitting and greased palms.

He sold all his stocks. He says he's giving his companies to his kids. Carrier, Boeing, andSoftBank aren't deals to make himself rich.

But SPD says something else that's pure speculation.

 

[riverman]

He sold all his stocks. He says he's giving his companies to his kids. Carrier, Boeing, andSoftBank aren't deals to make himself rich.

But SPD says something else that's pure speculation.

To a lot of folks....making your kids richer and cutting their taxes in half might be of some benefit to Dad

 

[SlyPokerDog]

But SPD says something else that's pure speculation.

https://www.google.com/#q=trump+hotel+taiwan

 

[Denny Crane]

https://www.google.com/#q=trump hotel taiwan

Circumstantial non-evidence.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

JUST IN

President Elect Trump waves at cameras, symbolizing his hatred of Asians.

And people without arms.

 

[riverman]

And people without arms.

and the blind

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I'm sure that this is all cathartic. Just his way of working through the multiple stages of grief.

Actually, it IS therapeutic. These are what they call "intrusive thoughts" and I find that if I extrude them, I feel a LOT calmer. I was just writing them in my own blood on poorly-dried animal hides, but my therapist says this is (probably) healthier.

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Actually, it IS therapeutic. These are what they call "intrusive thoughts" and I find that if I extrude them, I feel a LOT calmer. I was just writing them in my own blood on poorly-dried animal hides, but my therapist says this is (probably) healthier.

Extrude your head from it's hiding place, that will really help out in the end if you know what I mean.

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

This would be so fun if not for the ignore feature.

 

[MarAzul]

You do if you think you can make tens of $billions for yourself after you're elected.

He very well could do it. Many others too. Sound great to me, perhaps some will want a expensive sailing yacht.

 

[riverman]

Sound great to me, perhaps some will want a expensive sailing yacht

That's very generous of you! I'll take one as long as you're offering!