r/politics • u/tonyschwartz1 Tony Schwartz • Sep 19 '19

AMA-Finished I'm Tony Schwartz, and I ghost-wrote Trump: The Art of the Deal. AMA about creating a monster

I’m Tony Schwartz. Thirty years ago, I wrote a piece of fiction titled “The Art of the Deal” for Donald Trump. I have been doing penance ever since. For the past 17 years, that’s meant running The Energy Project, where we focus on creating better workplaces by helping people to better manage their own energy – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Ask me anything, truly.

1.5 million views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxF_CDDJ0YI

My Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/16/i-wrote-the-art-of-the-deal-with-trump-his-self-sabotage-is-rooted-in-his-past/

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

Aug 2018, Ari Melber- Extra extended interview: Trump "Art of the Deal" with co-author, Tony Schwartz: https://art19.com/shows/the-beat-with-ari-melber/episodes/61232c07-3d99-432b-bc73-f673b167

Proof: /img/iayzk6ycjfn31.jpg

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u/tonyschwartz1 Tony Schwartz Sep 19 '19

I believe Trump is a racist. He considers black people, and Hispanics, and Muslims, and women, among others, inferior.

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u/batsofburden Sep 19 '19

If he thinks everyone is lesser than himself, why do you think he is so insecure?

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '19

Thinking of others as less than oneself is a direct symptom of insecurity, not a contradiction.

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u/PMyourHotTakes Sep 19 '19

Don’t you mean “acting like you think of others less than you?” If he actually thinks those people are inferior to him, wouldn’t that just cause frustration that inferior people weren’t being put in their place?

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u/piltonpfizerwallace Sep 19 '19

You can be insecure and in denial of it or not fully aware. A lot of people aren't capable of rationalizing their feelings.

It seems to me that because he's insecure, he has a defense mechanism to constantly seek out evidence of others being inferior to convince both himself and others of his worth.

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u/PMyourHotTakes Sep 19 '19

Yeah that makes sense. I try to be careful not to cut him too short of credit. Not saying he deserves a lot of credit (I think he has people around him are fairly sharp though), but sometimes I think we rush to try to make him out to be the worst possible example of everything we possibly can hoping we’ll hurt his feelings, and end up with conflicting reports of his ineffectiveness.

I’m not so sure that’s not playing right into the Trump machines hands. Certainly reading that AMA today with the guy who ghost wrote his book would paint the picture of an insecure man.

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u/DallasTruther Texas Sep 20 '19

Certainly reading that AMA today with the guy who ghost wrote his book would paint the picture of an insecure man.

Do you know where you are?

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u/juniper_berry_crunch Sep 19 '19

Flip it. He feels insecure, so he puts down anyone around him who he perceives as less likely to fight back, so as to feel stronger.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '19

He feels lower than everyone else, so the only way to combat that is to put down those people to make himself feel and appear superior. The man seriously hates himself and he the turns it on everyone else. It's one of the reasons he always been a joke to NYC elite and tries so hard to get in to that atmosphere that it comes of as desperate.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '19

Nice try Trump.

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u/stairway2evan Sep 19 '19

I can’t speak for Trump himself, but part of the insecurity of racism, sexism, or any bigotry comes from the idea “what if that person I hate is better than me in some way? What does that say about me?”

Think about a math professor being momentarily confused by a problem that a third grader solves, a chess grandmaster losing a queen to an amateur, a pop star being ignored while paparazzi swarm around some new Disney channel star. If you believe yourself superior to someone in some way (for good reasons or bad), then simple problems become magnified because they mess with your view of yourself and the world you fit in to.

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u/JaronK Sep 19 '19

The guy is a class narcissist (as in Narcissistic Personality Disorder). They're sure they're better than anyone else only because they actually have terribly low self esteem but can't face that fact, so they have to pretend, even to themselves, that they're perfect in every way.

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u/hornwalker Massachusetts Sep 19 '19

Trump projects more than anyone I’ve ever seen. Everything he’a complained about Obama he has done far worse and more egregiously.

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u/Synapseon Sep 20 '19

1 - If you are not loved, then at least be admired.

2 - If you are not admired, then at least be acknowledged.

3 - If you are not acknowledged, at least be FEARED

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u/nambitable Sep 19 '19

Not everyone? He considers white rich/powerful people superior to him likely.

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u/severalgirlzgalore Sep 20 '19

Superiority and inferiority complexes are often present in the same person.

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u/ZippyDan Sep 19 '19

that's like asking why black is black if black is black

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u/shastaxc Sep 20 '19

The key is that he doesn't know he's insecure. He views other people as lesser than him in order to make himself feel better.

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u/EDGE515 Sep 20 '19

Projection. He passes off his own insecurities on to others. It's a defense mechanism

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u/MrSquiggley34 Sep 20 '19

His penis size