Trumpnation: The Art of Being the Donald

by Timothy L. O'Brien

Book Overview

Available for the first time in a decade-the book that launched a $5 billion lawsuit--with a new introduction by the author in which O'Brien reflects on the recent wave of TrumpMania.

This entertaining look inside the world of Donald Trump is chock full of rip-roaring anecdotes, jaw-dropping quotes, and rigorous research into the business deals, political antics, curious relationships, and complex background of the leading Republican...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044669617X
• ISBN13: 9780446696173
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Swift, Biting, Funny, Entertaining Bio -- First Rate

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!!

Hear Ye Loyal Apprentices....

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!!

Wonderful, Funny Take on Culture & Biz

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.

Trumped!!!

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?

Are we getting closer to the truth?

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 a