The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump
ISBN 0-446-35325-6 
The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump is a book where there is no mistaking the voice. In its pages, we are thrust into 1980’s New York upper crust social scenes complete with all the turmoil and corruption that backdrop entails. Trump does not allow us much time to adjust as we move straight into his agenda for the day which includes meetings for–you guessed it–business deals of varying kinds.
Trump lets us know by his agenda that he is busy and he is rubbing shoulders with some “very important people” which are likely the sort that you will never, yourself meet. These personages are dealing in dollar amounts that you will also probably never see in your lifetime. This is, for certain, a calculated 1980’s ‘business executive dream’ or wish fulfillment kind of voyeurism. The details of course, are interesting since one wonders how people that have the kinds of money at this strata of living make decisions. What are their days like, exactly?
In reading the book through, one discovers that mostly it is about making money and lawsuits. Urban development is a war zone complete with boards that deal with air right-of-ways, competitors, and city planners who all basically are obstacles, at least from the point of view of New York in the 80’s Donald Trump. Quite probably, this is the most accurate picture one is likely to get from someone in a position such as Trump. While it is true that the view is laced with the self-promotion that Trump is famous for, it is also true that he really, even at this point in his development, is calling the situation as he sees it.
Does this endear him to the reader? No, not really. That does not appear to be the function of the book. In most all scenarios, Trump wants you to know that he gets things done, and he is not shy about the fact that he is the best at doing so. Along the way, however, we do discover that he has certain guiding moral principles he is not willing to budge on, which is a tribute to his character.
Most often in the book Trump is discussing his ability to finish ambitious projects. To get these projects finished requires, in his words, “Leaning on the Contractor”. While this is likely true in his experience, it is also true that if you happen to not be a billionaire that this tactic might leave you contractor-less. The expectation of future work is a hidden kind of leverage that Trump is using quite effectively to get what he sets out to do to get done. He also is able to do much of this because his companies are private and where he has partnerships he usually buys out the other party so that the only person he has to answer to is himself.
Trump is fond of glamour and he wants everyone to know that he lives large. He is not hiding what his tastes and accomplishments and way of living are in this book. If he wants a bedroom the size of a small football field, he makes it and that is that.
Where Trump strikes a more sour tone is when it comes to developing some “older apartment complexes” that involve rent control. Here, he has a dialog about how he wishes to “help” the homeless by giving them apartments temporarily in a building he is hoping to tear down. He says that his motivation is purely charitable, but he also wants the renters who are under rent control out so he can tear the building down. He admits that he somewhat delights in the idea that the rent control people who take advantage of the situation would be actually near the disadvantaged, but the passage seems to be tone deaf. Trump, and his life, at this point according to this book, are about as far removed from the poor as it is possible to be. That this charitable extension is only temporary and “sort of” suits his aims at the same time is not especially a flattering view of his morality.
On the other hand, there are things he does do such as assisting a widow to burn the mortgage to her farm after her husband committed suicide hoping his insurance would help keep the farm out of financial trouble. They burn the lease in Trump tower, but everything has a certain showman aspect to it such that it is hard to tell if what is being shown is entirely Trump or just a glamour that he likes to project.
New York in the 80’s was a hard place, and there is little doubt that one needed to be a bit “tough” to do well there, especially among the types of people with which Trump is keeping company. Likewise, it is certain that people tend to “mellow” as they age, and so the Art of the Deal might best be thought of as a kind of monument to 20th Century America. It may not win any “Mother Theresa” awards, but then again, Trump is a business man and making money and building the tallest, largest, most expansive buildings are “his thing”. Whereas an artist might paint a portrait well, Trump dreams about buildings and then does what few of us can–he makes those dreams realities. In his book, he wants you to know that he has fun doing it, and if you try to screw with him, he will fight you with everything he has. He is a man accustomed to getting his way. When it comes to business books, that is really the bottom line of any executive’s desire.
His political ambitions are beginning to take shape here as well, as he fights with the mayor of New York, Ed Koch. To his credit, he appears to be correct about Koch–there is a type of incompetence and corruption that results in no one getting anything done on time or on budget. Trump, on the other hand, delivers. One might say he does so because he is a kind of “lone wolf”. He has fewer complications to navigate.
While it is doubted Trump is likely to ever encounter this review of his book, he makes it clear that when it comes to critics he wishes they would give him a chance to reply. Though this is a review and not so much a critique, the line becomes blurry when one considers any given work. Should he wish to give a reply, it will be published as an addendum to this interview without editing in full.
