UPDATE 07.20.16 (at bottom)
©2016 jbjd
Finally, The Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz comes back to life to proclaim, when it comes to Donald J. Trump; take it from me, what you see is all that you will ever get.
Last December, in a column entitled DONALD J. TRUMP PROVES HE IS NOT ONLY STUPID, HE’S A LOUSY NEGOTIATOR; I detailed the many ways, Trump’s real-life performance repeatedly fails to live up to his hype. The piece ended with this lamentation:
For the first time, I would take a look at the best selling The Art of the Deal; and contrast Trump’s tips for success in a high-stakes confrontation; against his abysmal performance on the stage. In this way, I could reinforce even to his truest believers that just because he wrote a book on the subject doesn’t mean, he is any good at political negotiations; and further, given that the primary ‘skill’ he claims for the job of President is his superior negotiating ability then, this means he is incompetent to do the job.
Only, notwithstanding Trump’s name appears in HUUUGE letters above the title of the book, I discovered that just like Bill Ayers wrote Barack Obama’s inspirational Dreams from my Father; someone else wrote Donald Trump’s ‘negotiating bible,’ too.
For months thereafter; wherever appropriate, I included this fact that, Trump did not write The Art of the Deal, in comments I posted throughout the blogosphere. However, at the time, I pejoratively described the book’s real author, Tony Schwartz, as a motivational guru of sorts, which characterization happened to be consistent with my opinion that anyone who participated in Trump’s fraud was equally a conman.
But having just read Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All in The New Yorker, I publicly proclaim, when it comes to Tony Schwartz, I have changed my mind. In fact; the work which Schwartz began after the book came out, which I had previously assumed was his attempt to capitalize on the prior association with Trump was, on the contrary, an act of profound contrition resulting from that collaboration.
For example, here is the intro to Jane Mayer’s piece:
“The Art of the Deal” made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and regrets it.
Then, there’s this.
…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.”
If you are one of those voters who believes Trump’s ability to run the Executive branch of our federal government can be extrapolated from the anecdotes contained in The Art of the Deal, you are not alone. As Trump touted when he announced his Presidential run; he claims to feel the same way.
Trump, facing a crowd that had gathered in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue, laid out his qualifications, saying, “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ”
But, even assuming, arguendo, the sentiment Trump expressed is both heartfelt, and true; Trump is not that candidate.
If that was so, Schwartz thought, then he, not Trump, should be running. Schwartz dashed off a tweet: “Many thanks Donald Trump for suggesting I run for President, based on the fact that I wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ”
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.”
If only his creation would retreat to the Arctic tundra never to be heard from again…
UPDATE 07.20.16: On July 18, the Trump Organization issued a “Cease and Desist” letter to Mr. Schwartz, demanding he stop claiming he wrote The Art of the Deal – his name appears on the cover, overshadowed by Trump’s – and return all royalties paid – these are split between the two men, fifty/fifty – retroactively. Schwartz insists he is undeterred in setting the record straight about Trump; indeed, he points to Trump’s reaction as further evidence, he was right to come forward to expose, the emperor he helped to create, has no clothes.
If this modus operandi doesn’t convince Trump sycophants this man is temperamentally unfit to be President then, they lack not only good sense but also imagination as to the damage he can inflict on his ‘enemies,’ both real and perceived, with the power of the Oval Office bankrolling his tantrums.
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************
My mind is a terrible thing to waste.
jbjd 