Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Says a President Trump Will Lead to the End of Civilization

Posted on July 18, 2016

Donald Trump's ghostwriter is speaking out, and boy does he have a lot to say. In an interview with The New Yorker's Jane Mayer, journalist and author Tony Schwartz says he is solely responsible for writing Donald Trump's bestselling book The Art of the Deal. Schwartz explains how the book came to be, how it was written and why he is now ashamed of what he wrote.

The crux of the story is that Schwartz thinks that Donald Trump will be a terrible president if he is elected and believes that he is partially responsible for his rise in politics. Schwartz says that he found Trump to be an impossible man to interview, and wanted to quit the project. But he finally pitched Trump on the idea of just following him around all day for weeks. Trump liked that and a collaboration was born.

Schwartz listened in on all his phone calls, sat in on meetings and talked to colleagues and friends. Trump didn't hide anything from him. Schwartz, who describes himself as a liberal Democrat, says he took the job for the money and "sold out." In fact, he admits that Trump paid him half of the advance money and a whopping 50% of the profits. That is absolutely unheard of in the ghostwriting business.

After shadowing Trump for weeks, Schwartz said he was appalled at his business dealings. He said of Trump, "He lied strategically. He had a complete lack of conscience about it." Schwartz says Trump has a very short attention span, and only cares about money, power and prestige. He says he created the business savvy persona portrayed in the book. He says, "I put lipstick on a pig. I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is."

But that's not the worst thing Schwartz says. He drops this little bombshell: "I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization."

Trump was not happy that Schwartz is saying these things about him and called him to discuss it. Trump asked why Schwartz is being so disloyal when he helped his career when he was flat broke. Schwartz says he told Trump that he disagreed with his political positions. Trump told him, "That's your right, but then you should have just remained silent. I just want to tell you that I think you’re very disloyal. Without me, you wouldn't be where you are now." Schwartz doesn't disagree with that assessment, but says that thinks the stakes are too high for him to remain silent.

Trump vehemently denies that Schwartz was the sole author of The Art of the Deal, saying the he was the co-author.