Ghostwriter’s Revenge

The danger of self-publicity and aggrandizement is that those who support your effort can turn on you.  Consider this case.  Donald Trump’s ghostwriter for his book “The Art of the Deal” has given a tell-all to The New Yorker magazine that is devastating to Trump’s image — even considering that Trump is known as an egotistic blowhard.  The Trump that emerges from the narrative is a sociopath focused solely on himself and disregarding the needs and rights of others.  He is a man incapable of telling the truth and able to believe his lies almost immediately.  Notable among his prevarications is that he believes he wrote “The Art of the Deal” when he had almost nothing to do with it.  I’ve seen this sort of individual in my career.  In the heat of selling, they make up facts that they later come to believe are true.  It is a common enough failing.  The objectionable part of lying is that it can extend to nearly everything one does, and this is the picture of Trump that comes from the narrative.  The article should be enough to bury Trump as a candidate but for one truth Trump was able to tell — few people read The New Yorker.