‘Art Of The Deal’ Co-Author: Trump Will Inflict 'Suffering On All Of Us’ As Term Ends

Tony Schwartz, the co-author of Donald Trump’s most well-known book, “The Art of the Deal,” on Wednesday termed the president a “sociopath” who would seek to cause as much collateral damage as possible in his remaining weeks in office.

“Trump feels he’s been wronged by virtually everybody,” Schwartz said on MSNBC, and as an example noted that a longtime friend of the president, Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera, has said that Trump was no longer taking his calls after he acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden won November’s election.

Schwartz added that Trump is “feeling unbearably diminished by the country’s lack of acceptance of his dominance. So it becomes something like, ‘I’ll show them. I’ll inflict as much suffering as I can in the weeks I have left.’”

Asked to elaborate by host Ari Melber, Schwartz said Trump would be “inflicting suffering on all of us” before Biden is inaugurated at noon on Jan. 20.

“He’s going to piss people off in any way he can over the next four weeks, beginning with pardons,” Schwartz said. “Watch what he does with pardons. They will be equal opportunity offensive.”

Schwartz also offered his take on a viral clip from Monday when Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to famed Olympic gold-medalist wrestler Dan Gable at the White House. The footage showed that Trump’s exit from the Oval Office after the ceremony and as reporters asked him questions about the election seemed to leave Gable perplexed. (An extended version of the video shows that while Trump did make a sudden exit, he nevertheless took some questions and offered additional praise for Gable before departing.)

″[I see] depression,” Schwartz said when asked what he thought of the clip. “I mean, he slunk out of that office... He just couldn’t bear to be there.”

Schwartz added that his greatest fear over the next four years was not necessarily the president, but the “cult of Trump” ― and said Biden needed to make “humility and decency cool again.”

In recent years Schwartz has repeatedly said he regrets teaming up with Trump to produce 1987′s “The Art of the Deal,” which reached the top spot on The New York Times bestseller list. Although the two shared co-authorship credit, Schwartz has said he wrote the book and Trump made some edits.

He has previously characterized Trump as “delusional.” In May, he said that as the death toll from COVID-19 mounted, all Trump cared about remained winning reelection.

Watch Schwartz’s remarks below.

Related...

Trump's Co-Author: White House Now 'Deeply Concerned About His Mental Health'

'Art Of The Deal' Co-Author Says Michael Cohen Testimony Could Mean 'The End' For Trump

'Art Of The Deal' Co-Author Spells Out Why Coronavirus Deaths 'Don't Matter' To Trump

Fox News' Geraldo Rivera: Trump's Not Speaking To Me Right Now

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.