What does new Trump bio tell us about the real estate mogul who would be president?
According to early reviews the book is neither a hit nor dry campaign literature, but a examination of Trump's roots and his rise in business and politics, full of the sort of gems political watchers have been enjoying all summer.
Will Donald Trump make a great US president? The jury is still out on that, but this much is clear – with his larger-than-life personality, stinging commentary, and gift for exaggeration, he makes a great subject for a biography.
So good, in fact, that the publication date for a forthcoming Trump bio has already been moved up twice, and the buzz has generated dozens of articles, Twitter hashtags, and Internet memes.
"Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success," by Pulitzer Prize-winning former Newsday reporter Michael D'Antonio will be published Sept. 22.
Originally slated for January 2016, it was first moved to October 2015, then September, perhaps to capitalize on the billionaire businessman's booming (and possibly fleeting) popularity.
In addition to speaking with co-workers, friends, enemies, and former wives, Mr. D'Antonio interviewed Trump for more than six hours for the book – before, according to The New York Times, Trump abruptly ended their sessions after learning the author had spoken with a longtime Trump enemy.
The result, according to early reviews, is neither a hit nor dry campaign literature, but a examination of Trump's roots and his rise in business and politics, full of the sort of gems political watchers have been enjoying all summer.
“It’s not a hit. But not campaign literature either. It’s a full-scale examination. Where he came from. How he’s different from his father, Fred," St. Martin's publisher Thomas Dunne told the New York Post's Page Six. "It’s no love letter. He won’t love every line. It’s learning how he became iconic. Over a year ago he told the author he’s running for president. How did he become that famous? What made him so big? Even in Tulsa they know him. Movie stars aren’t that famous.”
Among the gems The New York Times, which received an advance copy, unearthed:
Trump says his schooling at a military-themed boarding school was just like being in the actual military.
"[I] always felt that I was in the military," he told the author.
"Mr. Trump said his experience at the New York Military Academy, an expensive prep school where his parents had sent him to correct poor behavior, gave him 'more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military,'" reported the Times.
"That claim may raise eyebrows given that Mr. Trump, now a Republican presidential candidate, never served in the military and mocked Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a decorated naval aviator, for his captivity of several years during the Vietnam War."
That particular morsel was a blogosphere favorite, and inspired a #JustLikeMilitaryService hashtag.
As for where Trump got his tireless self-promotion and confidence, it's all from his father, D'Antonio writes.
Fred Trump, a major real estate developer, told his son to "be a killer," and regularly said, "You are a king."
Perhaps startlingly, Trump also offers this surprising statement to the author: “[W]hen I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same," he said. “The temperament is not that different."
Which is why, perhaps it's no surprise that his second wife, Marla Maples, described him as "The little boy that still wants attention."
Thanks to a surprisingly successful, out-of-left-field presidential campaign, and now, an anticipated biography, he's getting plenty.