Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

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Russ Buettner Susanne Craig

Lucky Loser

How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig

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English

Bodley Head
24 September 2024

Biography: business & industry; Biography: historical, political & military; True crime; Political corruption; Economics & Business

A masterpiece of narrative reporting and an explosive investigation into the history of Donald Trump's wealth, from two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters - revealing how a man once thought to be too rich to fail became the biggest loser of all.

Lucky Loser is an explosive investigation into the history of Trump's wealth, drawing on over twenty years' worth of Trump's confidential tax information, business records and interviews with Trump insiders.

Soon after announcing his first campaign for the U.S. presidency, Donald J. Trump declared that life ""has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me."" Building on a decades-old narrative, he spun a fable of how he turned a small loan from his father into a multibillion-dollar empire. This feat, he argued, made him singularly qualified to lead the country. Except none of it was true. Born to a rich father, Trump received the equivalent of more than $500 million today.

The story of Trump's finances is one of a rise and fall, and another rise and fall, as he squanders fortunes on money-losing businesses, only to be saved by blind luck. He tacks his name above the door of every building while taking out huge loans he'll never repay. He obsesses over appearances while ignoring threats to the bottom line and mounting costly lawsuits. He tarnishes the value of his name by allowing anyone with a big enough check to use it. He makes side deals to cut out the television producer who not only res-cued him from bankruptcy but casts him as a business guru - the public image that will carry him to the White House.

A masterpiece of narrative reporting, Lucky Loser is a meticulous examination spanning nearly a century, filled with scoops from Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, Atlantic City, and the set of The Apprentice. Here for the first time is the definitive true accounting of Trump and his money - what he had, what he lost, and what he has left - and the final word on the myth of Trump, the self-made billionaire.

By: Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig
Imprint: Bodley Head
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 637g
ISBN: 9781847928245
ISBN 10: 1847928242
Pages: 528
Publication Date: 24 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Russ Buettner (Author) Russ Buettner is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Since 2016, his reporting has focused on the personal finances of President Donald J. Trump, including articles exploring Mr. Trump's record of failure in Atlantic City and overstating revenues from his businesses. He joined The Times in 2006 after working on investigations teams at The Daily News in New York and New York Newsday. Susanne Craig (Author) Susanne Craig is an investigative reporter at The New York Times who writes about the intersection of politics, money and government. She has covered Wall Street for The Times and has served as Albany bureau chief. Previously, Craig was a reporter at Wall Street Journal and worked at The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper.

Reviews for Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

A first-rate financial thriller ... one of those rare Trump books that deserve, even demand, to be read ... A multi-generational saga * New York Times * Meticulously documented ... Buettner and Craig have such a trove of documents, they are able to prove, in incontrovertible detail, the reality under the hype that is Donald Trump ... This is a page turner, with spectacular anecdotes * Washington Post * Shows that the popular caricature of Trump as a canny real estate titan - one painstakingly crafted by him, and by television producers - is more fact than fiction. ... With scalpel-like precision, [Buettner and Craig] paint a detailed portrait of just how much Trump was given to set him up for success in business, and the hundreds of millions of his father's money he squandered on bad deals ... Damning * Sunday Times * A page-turner ... Buettner and Craig delve more deeply into this story than anyone I've encountered * Guardian * Groundbreaking reporting ... comprehensive, persuasive, and packed with damning anecdotes * The New Yorker * Strikes at the heart of the Trump myth * Financial Times * I can’t emphasise this enough: Lucky Loser is a gripping, page-turning read, devastating in its meticulousness and thrilling in its narrative. If the devil is in the detail, this book is as close to Satan’s origin story as we’re ever going to get -- Emma Brockes * Guardian * Buettner and Craig are relentless in picking apart every Trump misstatement … the pattern becomes clear … Lucky Loser shows us that Trump’s self-invention was largely based on lies * Literary Review *