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https://theconversation.com/cruelty-pettiness-and-real-estate-in-confidence-man-maggie-haberman-wields-eye-popping-anecdotes-to-plumb-the-trump-phenomenon-191684>
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Review: Confidence Man: The making of Donald Trump and the breaking of
America –Maggie Haberman (HarperCollins)
Donald Trump has been colonising the world’s attention for years, via
television, on social media and in books. Ironically, given Trump likes books
about as much as he does germs, more than 100 books about him are listed on
Wikipedia, ranging from biographies and exposés to paeans of praise (think his
former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski) and scathing analyses of his
presidency.
One work,
Plaintiff in Chief, concerns the gob-smacking number of lawsuits
Trump and his businesses have engaged in – 3500 – and is already well out of
date, having been published in 2019. There is even a book about all the Trump
books. Its nicely punning title, What were we thinking?, might also be said to
apply to the publishers of Carlos Lozada’s book although that would undervalue
his insights, and those of the authors whose work he examines.
With the application of all this intellectual muscle, though, what do we still
need – or want – to know about Donald Trump? All of us probably do need to know
the likelihood Trump will run again for president and, worse, win. On that
hinges the future of democracy in a global superpower along with prospects for
real action combating the effects of climate change.
The answer to this need-to-know question is undeniably important, but I still
want to know whether Trump actually believes the 2020 presidential election was
stolen. Is there some psychological wound from his childhood that renders him
unable to bear loss? Or is his unblinking refusal to accept the election result
yet another example of his lifelong habit of lying and grifting to get his own
way?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
