Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter: “He Has No Attention Span.” And That’s Just For Starters

Jim Burroway

July 18th, 2016

Tony Schwartz was Donald Trump’s ghostwriter for The Art of the Deal. Before then, Schwartz had been a serious journalist, but this ghostwriting gig ended all that. “I knew I was selling out. Literally, the term was invented to describe what I did,” he told the New Yorker. The Art of the Deal made Trump’s reputation, and Schwartz, to his horror, feels responsible for what’s happening today.

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.”

You really have to read this piece, and you have to do it before you decide who to vote for or whether you should even vote in November. There’s simply too much at stake to sit on the sidelines this time around:

Schwartz thought that “The Art of the Deal would be an easy project. … But the discussion was soon hobbled by what Schwartz regards as one of Trump’s most essential characteristics: “He has no attention span.”

…“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.

…Schwartz believes that Trump’s short attention span has left him with “a stunning level of superficial knowledge and plain ignorance.” He said, “That’s why he so prefers TV as his first news source—information comes in easily digestible sound bites.” He added, “I seriously doubt that Trump has ever read a book straight through in his adult life.” During the eighteen months that he observed Trump, Schwartz said, he never saw a book on Trump’s desk, or elsewhere in his office, or in his apartment.

Trump’s short attention span meant that Schwartz was never able to interview Trump, which is a pretty big hindrance for any author who’s supposed to ghostwrite his biography. So Schwartz came up with another idea, he’d follow Trump around, listen in on phone calls, and take copious notes. Then he’d call his business associates to get more background material:

But their accounts often directly conflicted with Trump’s. “Lying is second nature to him,” Schwartz said. “More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.” Often, Schwartz said, the lies that Trump told him were about money—“how much he had paid for something, or what a building he owned was worth, or how much one of his casinos was earning when it was actually on its way to bankruptcy.”

…Schwartz says of Trump, “He lied strategically. He had a complete lack of conscience about it.” Since most people are “constrained by the truth,” Trump’s indifference to it “gave him a strange advantage.”

When challenged about the facts, Schwartz says, Trump would often double down, repeat himself, and grow belligerent. …Whenever “the thin veneer of Trump’s vanity is challenged,” Schwartz says, he overreacts—not an ideal quality in a head of state.

Familiar pattern, isn’t it. It’s an incredible piece. I have to stop quoting from it. You have to start reading.

Lucrece

July 18th, 2016

Yeah, a narcissistic, greedy millionaire would clearly find it in his best financial interest to start World War 3 and disrupt the very trades that benefit him. Totally happening if he gets his hands on nuclear codes.

Trump is a self-serving asshole who has rather lucrative businesses in the Middle East where his very partners exploit migrants into slave labor. Do people really think he would nuke away his own business relations?

Where do these progressive imbeciles draw their scare campaigns from?

Clearly this jackass took the money for ghost writing. If he regrets it so much, maybe he should start by giving the money back. Somehow I doubt his remorse will run that deep.

Priya Lynn

July 19th, 2016

I wouldn’t be so sure about that Lucrece. Trump has said he has more money than he could ever use or need and that he works because it makes him feel good about himself. If it made him feel better about himself to nuke the middle east than it does to work he wouldn’t be concerned about the money he’d lose doing so.

SharonB

July 19th, 2016

Truly astounding. A Satanic Chauncey Gardiner.

Jaquar Owner

July 23rd, 2016

There seams to be two possibilities. The ghostwriter is either 1) telling the truth or 2) not telling the truth.

1) Telling the truth is somewhat hard to believe since no one else has come forward with similar views about Mr. Trump being a “sociopath”. It is the Democratic Party that has been spinning this narrative about Mr. Trump. Trumps family, friends, employees, or business associates certainly would be jumping onto this bandwagon if it were true (look what happened to Bill Cosby. The reason I believe much of the hearsay reported about Bill and Hillary Clinton is because multiple source report the same thing. Even after they have denied the hearsay from others, more and more facts seems to come out making it true in my mind.

2) Not telling the truth is a possibility if the ghostwriter was bought by a Democratic Super Pac or other. The ghostwriter has been quiet since 1987 while he was collecting large royalties and was trying to get more business with Mr. Trump. He was clearly looking to further enrich himself. It is possible that a Super Pac formulated the idea to damage Mr. Trump’s image when the ghostwriter first tweeted that “he not Trump had written the book”. The tweet was a natural response of any ghostwriter when they see their words being bragged about by the author. I myself have had the very same reaction in a similar situation.

Priya Lynn

July 24th, 2016

LOL Jaguar owner, you’ve really got the blinders on to think no one else has come forward with similar views about Trump being a sociopath. A lot of people, myself included, have said Trump’s rise reminds them of Hitler.

Libria

July 24th, 2016

” 1) Telling the truth is somewhat hard to believe since no one else has come forward with similar views about Mr. Trump being a “sociopath”.”

Im not a doctor, so I dont know, but… Priya is right. This is not a new idea and many people are worried about his mental health.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=donald+trump+mental+illness

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=donald+trump+sociopath

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=donald+trump+psychopath

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