The Making of Donald Trump
by David Cay Johnston


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book is the first journalistic retrospective on the 2016 campaign, published after the primaries and before the general election. It's written by David Cay Johnston, a long-time journalist for the New York Times and USA Today. Johnston says he wrote about Trump because "I would be writing a book about Hillary Clinton but for the simple fact that in 1988, my career took me not to Little Rock, Arkansas, but to Atlantic City, New Jersey. What I have attempted to do here was take my direct knowledge of Trump documents I've collected in my nearly half-century as an investigative reporter, and focus on the aspects of Trump's conduct that I think are most important for voters to ponder before they cast their ballots" (Epilogue, p. 205).

Johnston has plenty of material on Trump, and is well-credentialed to write about Trump. But he utterly failed in his attempt to convey his "direct knowledge" in a way that is "important for voters to ponder" – and he failed for exactly the same reasons that Trump succeeded. Johnston is the elite establishment media that Trump complains about – and Trump is 100% right that "investigative reporters" like Johnston stack the deck against candidates like Trump. Johnston betrays his lack of bias in the book's closing pages: "Whether one adores Trump or is aghast, his public conduct should prompt us all to think about what qualities we want in our political leaders and why there is so much opportunity for someone like Trump to garner tens of millions of votes." That sort of condescending anti-Trump sentiment is exactly why Trump supporters despise the mainstream media as elitist know-it-alls who just don't get that Trump voters consider the mainstream media and the political establishment as one and the same.

Johnston has written, in effect, a book-length Fact-Check. People who write fact-checks (which includes OnTheIssues fact-checking since 2011) have an earnest, sincere, naive belief that informing voters about facts will influence their voting behavior, which voters often see as a condescending attitude about "educating" voters. Johnston's well-researched collection of facts include:

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, Jan. 2017

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Government Reform     Trump made a profit from his 2016 campaign.

Immigration     2015 campaign announcement focused on Mexicans and Muslims.

Principles & Values     OpEd: curries favor with journalists who don't cross-check.     Trump made a profit from his 2016 campaign.     OpEd: Trump dealt with Genovese & Gambino crime families.     OpEd: Trump never faced tough press questioning.     Didn't vote in any Republican primary from 1989 until 2016.     Talked about running for president since 1985.     Anti-corruption laws ensure that Trump profits from campaign.     OpEd: Trump was a modern P.T. Barnum.     OpEd: Question Trump's dealings with Genovese crime family.     OpEd: News media never asked Trump hard questions.     OpEd: Trump's winning began with fraud and deception.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Donald Trump