I understand what makes Wayne Barrett the great Trump chronicler but I have tried so many times to read his book on the President and I just can’t get through the first 40 or so pages. It’s larded with facts and names but not streamlined narratively so for easy reading.
In her book Hiding In Plain Sight, Sarah Kendzior mentioned that one but she also mentioned Lost Tycoon, a book on Trump I’d never heard of. I grabbed it during a borrowing spree from the library and yes. This is the book I’ve wanted.
As we get deeper and deeper into the Trump presidency, I’ve had a yen lately for looking back at his New York and Atlantic City days. Those in particular gave as good of an insight as possible into how he would plan to govern: leverage assets with maximum compliance from corrupt and unethical figures, brag about success using only the name brand, and hit the road when everything turns to dust. Harry Hurt III captures all the gory detail but, unlike Barrett, in a way the layperson such as I can follow. Along those lines, he covers Trump’s tumultuous marriage to Ivana and relationship with Marla Maples in a way that was intriguing and revealing more than gossipy.
Hurt has the ability to make Donald be the punchline without the winking smirk of a Jon Stewart or other wannabe satirist. Whereas everyone on the left wants to laugh at how buffoonish Trump is, Hurt lays the case out for his ineptness here. In no way can one read this and think that Donald Trump would some day be a good President. Although the brief coverage of his would be run in 1988 perhaps gave us more than a slight clue as to his burgeoning popularity.