Confidence Man The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America

I wanted to tell a story about the arc of his life about the world of dysfunction that he came from where corruption touched on various aspects of the media of the real estate industry that he came from of his family business of machine boss politics and of racial tribalism in New York and how all of that was exported by him to Washington and foretold how his presidency was going to go.

He is not strategic and I do hope that people who read a lot of strategy into what he does come away with realizing that from reading the reporting in the book, but what he is is more calculating moment to moment and I hope they get that too.

I think a great deal. I would I would put that in one bucket I think another bucket that explains his political success is that he spent decades brick by brick news story by news story building this orifice of himself as a you know, a massively successful tycoon Commensurate with you know, New York's biggest names in finance, which was just not who he was.

But the view of him outside of the five boroughs of New York was much more that that was the case And I remember being very struck by the cognitive dissonance in that in 2015 A big part of that was him playing himself on The Apprentice, you know the the person who We got to see over and over again doesn't really like interpersonal conflict and doesn't really like to fire people himself Had the catchphrase you're fired and that's what he was known for.

combined with to your point He both intimidates and is about power and dominance But he also tries to entertain and that has kept him where he is.

So, Maggie wrote a preview in The Atlantic and a few outlets got copies of the book. So, we already have plenty of tidbits.

And let me tell you, it doesn't seem like the guy was the best president.

Maggie's like, 'Oh my god, I think he's racist. Oh my god, I think he's transphobic.'

Donald Trump said in this book, 'You know how some guys you always kind of knew they were gay? Not Jason Miller. Not even one percent.'

When he is being asked to speak to trans issues, he's asking if a hypothetical college student asking about trans rights is cocked or uncocked.

A lot of reporting Maggie Haberman has done in some of these books that Cipollone was often the person trying to stop Trump and his allies from committing a lot of crimes, stopping and failing in many cases.

I wanted to tell a story about the arc of his life about the world of dysfunction that he came from where corruption touched on various aspects of the media of the real estate industry that he came from of his family business of machine boss politics and of racial tribalism in New York and how all of that was exported by him to Washington and foretold how his presidency was going to go.

He is not strategic and I do hope that people who read a lot of strategy into what he does come away with realizing that from reading the reporting in the book, but what he is is more calculating moment to moment.

He both intimidates and is about power and dominance But he also tries to entertain and that has kept him where he is.

I see him as a boss. I'll answer that slightly differently because I think an authoritarian has a coherent view of governance And and I think an authoritarian doesn't mind having responsibility in addition to power I think Donald Trump is all about avoiding responsibility.

He does not enjoying himself. You can see it when he's at these rallies. It's just something is is not quite what it was

So that's going to be a bit harder thanks to next Tuesday's release of New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman's eagerly awaited Trump book Confidence Man.

And let me tell you, it doesn't seem like the guy was the best president. I'll just that's the spoiler alert from the from what I've read.

Maggie's like, oh, my God, I think he's racist. Oh, my God, I think he's transphobic. Oh, my God, Maggie.

And it really made me lose respect for John Kelly, because like you had him where you wanted him and you fucking you fumbled the bag, man.

When he is being asked to speak to trans issues, he's asking if a hypothetical college student asking about trans rights is cocked or uncocked.

she's the author of the great book, Confidence Man, The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

he is a genius about human emotions and a certain darkness in what animates people

I think he's backed himself into a corner where he has to

He misses the power of the office, but he likes not being accountable, presumably.

His entire life has been about finding ways to avoid blame. But getting credit is very important.

I think that there are anecdotes that fit for a book that don't necessarily make a whole news story.

He craves attention and I explore this in the book.

He just constantly wants to hold the media's gaze and he wants to see if he can sell you on a version of himself and he wants to get what he would call a good story, literally those would be the words, a good story and then you write about him accurately and he says that it's unfair.

He is uniquely focused on the paper and I'm just the person who has covered him more often than not.

I think there is a preserved an amber quality to him. You just described that about how all of his cultural touchstones are in the 1980s which is when he was reaching his height.

This book is neither one of those and I think explains exactly who he is.

He's a subject who I cover and I have covered a number of politicians over the last 26 years. I covered Hillary Clinton, I covered Mike Bloomberg, I covered Rudy Giuliani, I covered Donald Trump...

Trump needs the media in a way that's unlike any other politician I've ever seen. He craves attention and I explore this in the book.

He just constantly wants to hold the media's gaze and he wants to see if he can sell you on a version of himself that is a good story. Literally, those would be the words, a good story.

But basically, he's obsessed with The New York Times. That is a lot of what this is about.

I think that he has exposed aspects of how America has broken and fueled and exploited that for his own gain.

She was last on Fresh Air in 2022 to talk about her bestselling book, Confidence Man, the Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

Maggie Haberman is senior political correspondent for The New York Times and author of the book Confidence Man, the making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America.

Maggie Haberman is senior political correspondent for The New York Times and author of the book Confidence Man, the making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America.

Sheldon Adelson used a 20 million dollar donation to a super PAC to pressure then-President Donald Trump to adopt the highly controversial decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Adelson's singular focus was Israel, wrote Haberman, effectively acknowledging the foreign president's biggest funder was most interested in promoting the interests of a foreign country.

Maggie Haberman who I think was one of the more solid reporters during the Trump administration, it has a new book coming out this fall called Confidence Man about his rise and about his presidency.

They say well President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.

a mostly fictitious book by the way that uh he apparently like cooperated with yeah sat down with her he just can't he just can't resist canny.

Well, President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.

a mostly fictitious book by the way that uh he apparently like cooperated with yeah sat down with her he just can't he just can't resist canny

Sheldon Adelson used a 20 million dollar donation to a super PAC to pressure then President Donald Trump to adopt the highly controversial decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Adelson's singular focus was Israel, wrote Haberman, effectively acknowledging the foreign president's biggest funder was most interested in promoting the interests of a foreign country.

Well, President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.

He says that the allegations are another fake story, call some categorically untrue, simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.

a mostly fictitious book by the way that uh he apparently like cooperated with yeah sat down with her he just can't he just can't resist canny

Her portrait of Trump in her book Confidence Man emphasizes his assent in the New York City of the 70s and 80s.

The book is The Confidence Man, the making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America.

The book paints a jarring portrait of Trump, but one that differs in some respects from more common one-dimensional portraits. As a basically lonely man whose own views and attitudes are amorphous and situational rather than strategic, he can be charming and cruel, generous and selfish, tolerant and viciously closed minded.

Confidence Man can be read two ways, and I think is. And one is that he is indeed somebody who exudes confidence. There's no question about that. But the textbook definition of a confidence man, if you yield internet, is somebody who uses their persuasive nature and abilities to take things from other people.

And the book is Confidence Man, the making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman.

According to a new book by Maggie Haberman, then President Donald Trump once came very close to firing Jared and Ivanka from the White House via tweet.

Haberman also detailed several examples of Trump homophobic and transphobic behavior over the decades.

According to Maggie Haberman's new book Confidence Man, White House staffers regularly found toilets clogged with printed paper apparently flushed by the former president.

Then there was the insane detail from a forthcoming book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman that Trump had at times flushed documents down the toilet to the point of clogging the toilet.

And that is part of a broader concern that he may have taken documents to Mar-a-Lago and that he may have destroyed others.

including this anecdote in an upcoming book from reporter Maggie Haverman that the former President was apparently flushing documents down the toilet at one point.

Then there was the insane detail from a forthcoming book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman that Trump had at times flushed documents down the toilet to the point of clogging the toilet.

There's also some reporting about paper shredding and general document destruction, including this anecdote in an upcoming book from reporter Maggie Haverman that the former President was apparently flushing documents down the toilet at one point.

I saw that article. I mean, I have no idea if that's true. It's pretty strange.

It is pretty strange as an understatement.

And I have no idea. I mean, I just saw the article in the newspaper about the allegation of flushing articles and plugging up the toilet. I mean, I don't know if that's true. If so, that would not be in conformance with his obligations under the law.

Then there was the insane detail from a forthcoming book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman that Trump had at times flushed documents down the toilet to the point of clogging the toilet.

Maybe this explains his bizarre and controversial theory that modern toilets need to be flushed a million times.

And that is part of a broader concern that he may have taken documents to Mar-a-Lago and that he may have destroyed others.

I saw that article. I mean, I have no idea if that's true. It's pretty strange.

It is pretty strange as an understatement.

I put it in a book. If people want to buy the book, it was called Confidence, man.

You wrote last November that Ronald Lauder was no longer backing his friend of decades, Donald Trump.

I think that they assume that Biden is the nominee and, and, uh, and they like their chances against him, whether they should or shouldn't, they'd like their chances against him.

I think that, uh, you know, he gets dinged a lot, you know, with reason for, for his work ethic, but he actually outworked Clinton, um, in, in 2016.

And so he had just been branded as this, as this success story for so long that it was an impenetrable artifice.