The day after Donald Trump threw himself a lavish party to celebrate the publication of The Art of the Deal, he called Tony Schwartz, the man who ghostwrote the book, and told him that since he got half of the proceeds he had to pay for half of the party.
That is but one of the scintillating details in this must-read New Yorker piece about Tony, Trump, and the book they wrote together. Well, they kind of wrote it together: Trump apparently didn't have enough of an attention span to provide any useful information, and so Tony just followed him around for a few months and eavesdropped on his phone calls.
And so how does the man who may know Donald Trump better than anyone else on Earth feel about his candidacy? "There is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization," he says.
There are far too many delicious details in the piece to even list, but one highlight is Trump's outright refusal to participate in any interview for longer than a few minutes. His attention span is apparently comparable to that of freshwater fish, and Tony describes him as fidgety and annoyed when asked to reflect on his past.
The delightful solution to this problem was for Trump to just go about his regular daily routine with Tony standing nearby, taking notes. Trump loved that because it made him feel important — his only motivation for anything that he does.
This all happened back in 1985, and after the experience was over, Tony was so demoralized that he completely transformed his life. He wrote one more book — this time about finding true meaning in one's life — and then started a company devoted to spiritual fulfillment. (He's donating all of the Art of the Deal proceeds in 2016 to human rights charities.)
In essence, he discovered what many in the GOP are now learning the hard way, 30 years later: Trump is unmanageable, self-obsessed, a "sociopath," according to Tony. With the convention just moments away from starting, some lovely details have emerged about the circus Trump had planned: for example, he wanted Don King to speak (it took the head of the party to explain to Trump that no, they probably shouldn't have a convicted murderer take the stage).
The weird roster doesn't end there. To the chagrin and horror of the GOP, Trump has arranged for relatively few prominent politicians to speak, and will instead hand over the microphone to various reality show stars, soap opera actors, and Scott Baio, star of the film Skatetown USA.
"When he speaks I understand him," said Baio, one of the great political thinkers of our time. "He speaks like I speak, he communicates with people very well. I want him, as any one person can do, to go into Washington and blow it up."
Nice choice of metaphors there, Chachi.
Tony Schwartz has the comfort of three decades between him and his last involvement with Trump. He emerged from the experience a changed, traumatized man, and ultimately a better person. I wonder what shape the Republican Party will find itself in when the dust settles.
