Customer Reviews

Trump Nation

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Those fans of Donald Trump's TV show The Apprentice might be
FIRED UP when you listen to author Timothy L. O'Brien's Trump
Nation: The Art of Being the Donald (three cds, three hours,
abridgement, Time Warner Audio books). O'Brien shows the under
belly of the real Donald, the Trump that is hidden for public
view or buried on page 57. It is stark and revealing, but its
all true. It is investigative journalism on audio at its best

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

Biographers and analysts keep chipping away at Donald Trump, hoping to eventually reach the core, the bottom line, the ultimate truth. New York Times journalist Timothy L. O'Brien seems to have gotten closer than anyone else who has recently chosen to tackle this subject. During the past decade, he has interviewed and interacted with Trump a number of times -- sometimes even at the m/billionaire's request. He certainly has had access to the man and his colleagues. The result is TRUMPNATION, a readable and fascinating book about someone who, for whatever reason, continues to fascinate the American public. At least for now.

You've got to get past the book jacket first, past the stoic image of Trump in a superhero action-figure-like stance. The star (savior?) of his own universe. Is that how he sees himself? Should we? O'Brien more often likens him to showman P.T. Barnum, and Trump does little to dispel this notion. He's even quoted as claiming, "I am going to put show business into real estate. I'll have the best of both worlds." (p. 53) He inflates any number that comes his way, from his own net worth to the floor count of his buildings. The best evidence of this disparity comes in two lists found in the "TrumpBroke" chapter. The first shows Donald's inconsistent Forbes 400 ratings for the past 23 years. The second one lists Trump's current properties and projects and what Donald says they're worth. When the latter is compared with a similar list found in the back of his own book from 2004, "Trump: How to Get Rich," the two just don't match up. What a difference a year can make! But you also have to consider the source. O'Brien refers to all of the books Trump has penned as "nonfiction works of fiction" and "a tour of the business world according to Mister Id." (A great turn of phrase, by the way.)

While this book is a tad more current than Gwenda Blair's "Donald Trump: Master Apprentice," it also provides more financial specifics about the deals that Trump has been involved in. It describes more completely his battles with Ed Koch, Steve Wynn, Ivana, Marla, and professional sports and gaming commission officials. O'Brien got Trump's version, then went to the other players in the contests, some of whom felt more freedom to speak now, years after the fact. The result is probably close to reality, though readers are still called upon to draw their own conclusions. Each chapter closes with a summary faux-quiz that the author encourages readers to answer and mail to Trump himself. The imagined prize will be free tickets to the 12th Apprentice finale. (The author already refers to the TV show in the past tense.) I wonder how many people will take the bait?

O'Brien knows business, so maybe we can forgive him for not knowing sports trivia. After Donald Trump bought the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, the author writes, "he signed Doug Flutie, a Heisman-winning Boston College quarterback who entered the national spotlight after hurling a Hail Mary pass for a touchdown and a victory in the final seconds of the 1984 Cotton Bowl." (p. 87) That legendary last-second pass from Flutie to Gerard Phelan put BC over Miami, 47-45, on November 23, 1984. Flutie and the Eagles went on to beat Houston 45-28 in the 1985 Cotton Bowl game on January 1st. Two separate games. Alas, in any event, Doug Flutie can have the last laugh. He's still in professional football. Donald Trump isn't.

You'll enjoy TRUMPNATION if you're still simultaneously attracted to and annoyed by The Donald. How long can this ride last?

The host of your show is not what he seems to be. Donald Trump on TV: calculating decisionmaker, ruthless corporate assassin, titan of business. Donald Trump in TrumpNation: prone to screw-ups, entertainingly BIZARRE, stumbling with people, befuddled in business. This book is so accurate and broad that you finish in a state of disbelief about how Trump has gotten over on all of us for so long. Once the author grabs hold of Trump he doesn't let go, and you wonder why Trump cooperated to the degree that he did. There are exchanges between Trump and O'Brien that are priceless and Trump clearly believed he was going to seduce the writer I think. Well, the result is hilarious and instructive and Trump does not come out on top. This book has a lot to say and it says it quickly and unrelentingly. I really enjoyed it!!

First things first: I am a huge fan of "The Apprentice", one of the better reality TV shows out there. The author brings us a bunch of interesting tidbits about the show. Such as: after a fired contestant takes a cab and gives his/her last thoughts and you see the cab taking off into the NY traffic, then off-camera the cab goes around the block because of course all the contestants are quarantined for the duration of the entire season's shoot (just like in "Survivor").

But on to the book itself, "TrumpNation" (276 pages). The author, a NY Times business reporter, makes clear that he has had plenty of access to the Donald, even for the writing of the book. And the image that comes through is that in real life, the Donald is a successful business person, for sure, but one who has made plenty of mistakes. The best part of the book is a chapter called TrumpBroke, where the author examines the REAL wealth of Trump: "Donald doesn't control [a number of] Manhattan properties that bear his name or are closely associated with him today, including Trump Tower". The author also refers to Donald's many books of business advice as "nonfiction work of fiction".

Trump has had a lot of ups and downs and we'll never really know how many millions (or billions, per the Donald) he is really worth these days, but it's clear that the "Trump" brand still resonates after 20+ years. The book reads like a breeze and on that account is successful.

The author is a writer with The New York Times and this book shows that: it is heavily researched and wonderfully written (not that I think the Times is the best written thing around, but the great Times writers know how to turn a phrase). O'Brien author turns a phrase -- with a lot of laughs and lot of knowledge -- on many pages. Donald Trump is a silly man who apparently takes himself far too seriously. TrumpNation shows all the jokes and mistakes that exist behind the Trump myth, but does it in a very fair way. The picture that comes out of this book is not flattering to Trump, but the author doesn't just slap him around. In some parts it allows you to actually laugh with Trump. But the writer targets big money, real estate, celebrity, and life in New York with deadly accuracy. Great, great book! I really enjoyed it!!

This is a fast, fun, and very humorous book. I like the Apprentice and get the whole Trump thing. It's a charade, however, and the author takes you behind all of that. It has football, Hollywood, New York, New York, money, Wall Street, gambling, trophy wives, trophy buidlings, and trophy toys. I think too that is goes way beyond Trump and into our own heads -- it asks us why we even bother with Donald Trump. Mainly, I think it's a hysterical book, like the writer is a Saturday Night Live guy taking Trump through his life. Great comedy.

I loved this book -- start to finish. It's uproariously funny, elegantly written and very detailed. Donald Trump sat down with a Times writer who captured every blink and false step he made and then brought it all together in a straight through the heart way. I kept laughing and I discovered a lot about the business world, fake moguls, and America's celebrity obsessions.

The Donald is probably not amused buy this book, but I was!! This is biographical satire at its best -- and it pulls the covers off someone who has been faking it for too long. I liked the parts about Palm Beach and CEO celebrities very much and liked how O'Brien split apart every deal Trump has done and showed what a bad-- what a completely inept -- businessman he is. Perfect for a plane trip or a weekend.

Donald Trump is full of hot air. This book pops him like a balloon. But it pops him with a lot of laughs and sometimes even gives him a gentle pat on the back, as if to say: "Hey Donald, if you haven't woken up from this weird dream you're living in, the rest of us have!" You finish this book knowing a lot about: New York, media manipulation, celebrity worship, and how Trump is a fabrication and not a great businessman. O'Brien is smart, very funny, and insightful. Fantastic book, but how did the writer have the patience to survive all that time with this guy? How do we?

TrumpNation has gotten under Trump's skin -- maybe because a writer is finally showing Trump for what he is and doing it in a very funny, inventive way. The NY Post reports today about Trump's whining about the book's writer, a New York Times reporter. Trump is so off-balance and threatened he can only make personal attacks. He said TrumpNation is horribly written. Huh??? I don't know the writer but the book is divine and wonderfully written. Stop your sobbing Donald and act like a man!!! This is a classic case of an underdog journalist taking on an icon who thrives on lies. Fun in Manhattan!!