The Book of the Week is “Trump and Me” by Mark Singer, published in 2016. This very short ebook, released just before Election Day, appears to have been an attempt to deter people from voting for Trump.
Singer, a writer for The New Yorker, recounts that when Trump declared bankruptcy in the spring of 1990, investors in his ventures lost approximately eight hundred million dollars. This blogger is mystified as to why, knowing Trump’s financial history, people would trust their money with him repeatedly. According to the author, through leveraging his name, Trump convinces investors he has power over other parties’ assets.
In the past, another way Trump became rich using other people’s money, was by bringing his casinos public. Trump’s bag of financial tricks also included– during his first investment in New York City real estate in 1975 (besides inheriting his father’s good name, wealth, and contacts)– reaping incredible tax breaks from a “… functionally bankrupt municipal government.”
The author mentions a few different sins Trump committed in connection with his work in the New York City construction industry, such as hiring illegal immigrants to demolish a building in the early 1980’s. However, Trump is far from alone in terms of such actions. Nevertheless, Singer does make him look hypocritical in that a large part of Trump’s political platform was to ban illegal immigrants from entering this country.
Read the book to learn some details of the President’s offensive, ridiculous and untruthful utterances, a little about his family, and more about his career highlights.
Side Note: This blogger checked out this ebook from the New York Public Library using OverDrive software for Kindle, through the Amazon.com website. The “Wireless” was turned off right after the ebook was brought up on the screen. Suspiciously, during the reading of this ebook, the screen froze an unprecedented number of times, especially at the bookmarking of screens containing passages most critical of Trump. It is unclear whether this was a coincidence, or whether Amazon’s software just happened to have glitches or security breaches at those times.