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Confidence Man
The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
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4.0 • 306 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The #1 New York Times bestseller.
“This is the book Trump fears most.” - Axios
“Will be a primary source about the most vexing president in American history for years to come.” - Joe Klein, The New York Times
"A uniquely illuminating portrait." - Sean Wilentz, The Washington Post
“[A] monumental look at Donald Trump and his presidency.” — David Shribman, Los Angeles Times
From the Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times reporter who has defined Donald J. Trump's presidency like no other journalist, Confidence Man is a magnificent and disturbing reckoning that chronicles his life and its meaning from his rise in New York City to his tortured post-presidency.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like a tsunami traveling hundreds of miles before it crashes onshore, the shock of Donald Trump's election and polarizing presidency was less sudden than it first appeared, according to this sprawling account from Pulitzer winner Haberman. Drawing on decades spent covering Trump, Haberman is especially insightful on how his combative instincts and transactional worldview were forged in the cauldron of New York City's racialized politics and cutthroat real estate market. She documents tussles and quid pro quos with city officials over the Commodore Hotel and the West Side rail yards, and cites a source's claim that Rudy Giuliani, then serving as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, dropped an investigation into money laundering at Trump Tower because he wanted Trump's support in the 1989 mayoral election. (After he lost, Giuliani made unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud: "They stole votes in the Black parts of Brooklyn, and in Washington Heights"). Haberman also shares findings from a 1988 poll commissioned by Roger Stone to sell Trump on "a future in national politics"; recounts White House rivalries ("Did you see I cut Bannon's balls off?" Jared Kushner asked one visitor); and reveals that administration health officials believed Trump would have died from Covid-19 if he hadn't received monoclonal antibodies. Deeply reported and immersively told, this is an essential contribution to the overloaded bookshelf on Trump.
Customer Reviews
No in 2024
Scary book But right on target
Just as bad as Trump
If Haberman knew of these crimes and did nothing to report them but saved them for a book, she is just as bad as Trump. Don’t buy her book. She doesn’t deserve a penny.
Boring
Re-hash of reporting anyone who reads the daily paper pretty much knew (a long time ago).
Not sure what I expected…