Trump is moving to a 'darker place', warns man who ghostwrote 'Art of the Deal'
Donald Trump has descended into a “darker place” as he adopts far-right views to please his base, the President’s biographer has said.
By ghostwriting Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz helped build Mr Trump’s persona as a savvy and sometimes ruthless businessman. He has since become a critic of the President, often pairing his broadsides with insights into Mr Trump’s psychology.
Mr Schwartz said Mr Trump used to be “non-ideological” and mostly uninterested in politics, contributing money to both parties and evincing few beliefs beyond being social liberalism.
But that has changed in recent months, Mr Schwartz said.
“Today, I believe, he has adopted a pretty hard-right set of beliefs” Mr Schwartz told The Nation. “I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that he believes what he says now, and that’s because his base, the people who still love and adore him, are on the far right—and that’s what compels him the most”.
Despite running as a Republican candidate, Mr Trump has frequently rejected party orthodoxy. He can seem most in his element when he is speaking to campaign-style rallies, where he is able to appeal directly to his most fervent supporters.
“I think he’s drifted into that more for emotional and psychological reasons than for political and ideological reasons”, Mr Schwartz said of his perception that Mr Trump has turned to the right.
But some things, Mr Schwartz said, have not changed.
“He was then and is now always 100 per cent self-absorbed, incapable of interest in other human beings, and completely self-referential”, Mr Schwartz said. He viewed every event through the lens of its impact on him”.
Asked if Mr Trump could become "more cautious" as the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the possible ties between the his presidential campaign team and Russia mulls further indictments after three were revealed earlier this week - Mr Swartz said "not a chance in hell". However, he did said that the president "is certainly feeling under threat right now."
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