Trump 1.0: What鈥檚 in his first bestseller?
Donald Trump, billionaire and unlikely presidential frontrunner, thinks you should read his first book. Right now would be a good time if you鈥檙e not busy. Or even if you are busy. Drop everything. Crack it open, lightweight!
鈥淚t's not good if we have dummies,鈥� he declared at a recent Iowa press conference. 鈥淚t's not good if our leaders are incompetent. It's not good if they've never read one of the greatest books of all time, second to the Bible.鈥�
Well, he cautioned, 鈥渨ay, way, way, deep second.鈥� But still, you know, second.
Can this guy possibly be serious? Your guess is as good as ours. But a look at 1987鈥檚 鈥淭he Art of the Deal鈥� reveals his legendary braggadocio isn鈥檛 just an egotist鈥檚 ego-tic. Trump purposefully uses his legendary self-regard 鈥� the best, classiest, most luxurious self-regard you can find 鈥� to build his brand and his empire.
Take it from the man himself, who acknowledges his use of 鈥渂ravado鈥� as a promotional tool. 鈥淚 play to people鈥檚 fantasies,鈥� Trump writes. 鈥淧eople may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That鈥檚 why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.鈥�
There鈥檚 more. 鈥淚 call it truthful hyperbole,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an innocent form of exaggeration 鈥� and a very effective form of promotion.鈥�
To recap, Trump likes a 鈥渓ittle鈥� bit of 鈥渋nnocent鈥� exaggeration that鈥檚 still 鈥渢ruthful.鈥� If we pursue this any further, we鈥檒l vanish into a wormhole with Alice in Wonderland, a dictionary and the ghost of George Orwell. Instead, let鈥檚 look at some other Trumpian strategies from the mid-1980s 鈥� when he was in his early 40s 鈥� that he still observes today:
鈥�聽Be nice but let 鈥檈r rip when you鈥檙e attacked.
The pundits of 2015 have noticed that Trump doesn鈥檛 tend to go after his presidential race foes until they criticize him first. Just ask Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, George Pataki, etc. When a Scott Walker ally called him 鈥淒umbDumb,鈥� Trump declared that 鈥溾��
This isn鈥檛 new. Trump has long resisted pre-emptive strikes, at least in theory. 鈥淚鈥檓 very good to people who are good to me,鈥� he writes. 鈥淏ut when peopletreat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.鈥滺e does so with blunt language, not fists. As USA Today notes, he has with slurs like 鈥渓oser,鈥� 鈥渓ightweight,鈥� 鈥渕oron,鈥� 鈥渄ummy鈥� and 鈥渮ero.鈥�
鈥淎rt of the Deal,鈥� in contrast, is more about advice and self-aggrandizement than score-settling. Trump doesn鈥檛 refer to anyone by those words in the book. In fact, he praises several people in 鈥淎rt of the Deal,鈥� often describing them as 鈥渘ice鈥� or 鈥渧ery nice.鈥�
In 2015, Trump still likes to throw around the word 鈥渘ice,鈥� but you鈥檇 better duck if you hear him use it to describe you. He eviscerated both Jeb Bush and Ben Carson while describing them each as a 鈥渘ice man.鈥�
鈥� It鈥檚 OK to go "wild"
Commentators are still marveling at Trump鈥檚 ability to survive vicious comments that would have doomed any other politician. But if 鈥淎rt of the Deal鈥� is to be believed, 鈥渟ometimes it pays to be a little wild.鈥�
Trump makes that comment after telling a story about how he successfully threatening a banker into not foreclosing on a Georgia widow he鈥檇 heard about on the news. He supposedly told the banker: 鈥淵ou listen to me. If you do foreclose, I鈥檒l personally bring a lawsuit for murder against you and your bank, on the grounds that you harassed Mrs. Hill鈥檚 husband to his death.鈥� The intimidated banker, the story goes, called back shortly and told 鈥淢r. Tramp鈥� that he鈥檇 work things out.
Remember, of course, that the author believes it鈥檚 fine to fine-tune the truth with a 鈥渓ittle hyperbole.鈥� But BuzzFeed reports that Trump聽, and her family remains deeply grateful.
鈥� You鈥檝e gotta deliver
"You can鈥檛 con people, at least not for long,鈥澛� Trump writes. 鈥淵ou can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don鈥檛 deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.鈥�
Two wives and almost three decades later, Trump remains on top of the world. His foes hope voters will eventually 鈥渃atch on鈥� to his supposed inability to deliver. For now, however, the Summer of Trump continues, and the other GOP candidates are, to borrow a phrase, 鈥渨ay, way, way, deep second.鈥�
Randy Dotinga, a Monitor contributor, is president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
