{"slug":"trump-pre-presidency-art-of-deal-ghostwriter","title":"The Art of the Deal: Tony Schwartz's Public Repudiation of Ghostwritten Book","date":"1987-11-01","lastUpdated":"2016-07-25","description":"The Art of the Deal, published in November 1987 and listed as co-authored by Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, became a bestseller and foundational element of Trump's public persona as a deal-making genius. In July 2016, as Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, Schwartz — the book's actual author — gave extensive interviews stating he wrote essentially the entire book, that Trump contributed little to the manuscript, that Trump was a deeply troubled individual who displayed narcissistic traits, and that Schwartz felt 'a deep sense of remorse' for having created what he called Trump's public persona. Schwartz said if he wrote the book today the title would be 'The Sociopath.'","summary":"Tony Schwartz spent 18 months with Trump to research and write The Art of the Deal. By his account, Trump's attention span was limited, he rarely focused on any topic for more than a few minutes, and most of what appeared in the book was invented or shaped by Schwartz from fragments of Trump's statements. The book created the public image of Trump as a brilliant real estate dealmaker — an image Trump leveraged throughout his political career as evidence of his fitness for office. Schwartz's 2016 interviews in The New Yorker and subsequent public statements described the book as a fabrication of Trump's public identity and said he feared Trump becoming president.","category":"corruption","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all","title":"Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All","publisher":"The New Yorker"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/donald-trump-tony-schwartz-art-of-the-deal.html","title":"The Real Story of 'The Art of the Deal'","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-art-deal-ghostwriter-schwartz","title":"Art of the Deal ghostwriter says he regrets the book","publisher":"The Associated Press"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Art-of-the-Deal","Schwartz","ghostwriting","pre-presidency","corruption","public-image","misrepresentation"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"1985-01-01","title":"Schwartz begins research — 18 months with Trump","summary":"Tony Schwartz begins an 18-month process of research for The Art of the Deal. He accompanies Trump to meetings, listens in on phone calls (with Trump's permission), and attempts to understand Trump's business approach. He later describes Trump's attention span as limited and his business decisions as more instinctive than analytical."},{"date":"1987-11-01","title":"The Art of the Deal published — Trump listed as co-author","summary":"The Art of the Deal is published with Trump and Schwartz listed as co-authors. It becomes a bestseller, spending 51 weeks on the New York Times list and being the bestselling nonfiction book of 1988. It establishes Trump's public persona as a business genius."},{"date":"2016-07-25","title":"Schwartz publishes tell-all in The New Yorker — repudiates his role","summary":"As Trump accepts the Republican nomination, Tony Schwartz tells The New Yorker he wrote essentially the entire book, that Trump had little attention span, that 'truthful hyperbole' was Schwartz's own invention, and that he feels deep remorse for his role. He says Trump becoming president frightens him."},{"date":"2016-07-26","title":"Trump threatens Schwartz with legal action","summary":"Trump's lawyers send a cease-and-desist letter to Schwartz and his publisher. Trump publicly calls Schwartz a 'total loser' and a 'fraud.' Schwartz continues giving interviews and eventually donates his Art of the Deal royalties to charity."}],"location":{"name":"New York, NY","lat":40.7128,"lng":-74.006},"custom":{"era":"pre-presidency","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"American voters and book readers who formed impressions of Trump's business acumen and character based on a book whose authorship and accuracy were misrepresented; political discourse shaped by a constructed public image","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Listed co-author; repeatedly cited the book as evidence of his deal-making genius throughout career and presidential campaign; misrepresented authorship and content","institution":"Trump Organization"},{"name":"Tony Schwartz","role":"Actual author; accepted payment and co-authorship credit in 1987; publicly repudiated the book and his role in constructing Trump's public persona in 2016","institution":"Independent"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2016-07-25","summary":"Based on July 2016 New Yorker article and subsequent interviews."}]}}