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"From the Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times reporter who has defined Donald J. Trump's presidency like no other journalist: a magnificent and disturbing reckoning that moves beyond simplistic caricature, chronicling his rise in New York City to his tortured post-presidency and his potential comeback. Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means. Interviews with hundreds of sources and numerous interviews over the years with Trump himself portray a complicated and often contradictory historical figure. Capable of kindness but relying on casual cruelty as it suits his purposes. Pugnacious. Insecure. Lonely. Vindictive. Menacing. Smarter than his critics contend and colder and more calculating than his allies believe. A man who embedded himself in popular culture, galvanizing support for a run for high office that he began preliminary spadework for 30 years ago, to ultimately become a president who pushed American democracy to the brink. The through-line of Trump's life and his presidency is the enduring question of what is in it for him or what he needs to say to survive short increments of time in the pursuit of his own interests. Confidence Man is also, inevitably, about the world that produced such a singular character, giving rise to his career and becoming his first stage. It is also about a series of relentlessly transactional relationships. The ones that shaped him most were with girlfriends and wives, with Roy Cohn, with George Steinbrenner, with Mike Tyson and Don King and Roger Stone, with city and state politicians like Robert Morgenthau and Rudy Giuliani, with business partners, with prosecutors, with the media, and with the employees who toiled inside what they commonly called amongst themselves the "Trump Disorganization." That world informed the one that Trump tried to recreate while in the White House. All of Trump's behavior as President had echoes in what came before. In this revelatory and newsmaking book, Haberman brings together the events of his life into a single mesmerizing work. It is the definitive account of one of the most norms-shattering and consequential eras in American political history"--… (more)
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Based on hundreds of hours of interviews and covering his events, Haberman draws
This was a hard book to put down.
As she meticulously lays out her web of misdeeds and faults it simply profiles that this is how the man operates, and for him it seems to work. And probably only him. Let's face it, Donald Trump is a party of one. He really has no policy or guiding principles that he operates other that just what pops into his head at any given moment.
Despite all the legal woes that lie ahead he will probably still be the Republican nominee in '24. Why, because enough of his ilk get behind him and push him ahead of the other non-entity Republican candidates. He is not very unlikely to win the presidency again however, because of the massive numbers that will turn out against him. These people are not necessarily voting for Joe Biden, but against Trump at all costs. And the fact that Biden is there gives Trump a bump from say 2% to 3%. We shall see if Biden actually does, run. He says so, but he still may not. Trump will forge on taking the Republican party down with him for the last time and who knows what will emerge in the wake, but doubtful nothing again quite like the Trumpster.