I flew through this short 208 page book published in 2015 and written by non other then our President, Donald Trump. For the purpose of this review I will assume he wrote the entire book himself. For his book, The Art Of The Deal he had another author write a sizable portion of the book and thus got his name on the cover. I don't know if he had a ghostwriter for this book, but considering this book has better grammar, word choice, thought synchronization then any speech or interview he has given, then it is likely a ghostwriter is behind at least some elements of the book. Which, isn't the worst, It is what it is.
Summary
This book chronicles how Trump came to run for the presidency and how he is uniquely equipped to solve America's problems. He hits many areas and some of his most frequent topics during campaign rallies.
- Immigration
- Taxes
- Education
- Media
- Foreign Policy (Iran, China)
- Infrastructure
- Government inaction/gridlock
While divulging why America is "losing" in these categories, Trump would explain why his prestigious business experience has allowed him to come to solutions. Not only know the solutions, but that his business acumen can solve government gridlock and he knows how to negotiate and makes deals like no one has ever seen.
What He Gets Right and Wrong
Many of the issues Trump highlights in this book, most people would agree are problems. Illegal immigration is one of those first and foremost. There are compelling arguments Trump makes about immigration, also some false ones. Protecting our boarder is important and many people want to come to America for what it has to offer. We cannot allow individuals to come in at will, because being a U.S. citizen is a privilege, not a right for everyone.
I enjoyed sections of the book that he chastises his critics. The man, for whatever you may think of him has been in the social spotlight for decades. He has remained a wealthy and (despite many failures) successful businessman. He has retained this wealth through hardships and disasters, always coming out ahead. He points out correctly the lies that are often fed about him, but conveniently ignores the lies he dolls out himself.
There are many issues he highlights that are, what most people would agree, big issues. That is not groundbreaking in itself, what this book attempts to do is provide sound solutions for these problems. The solutions often are either counter-intuitive to solving the real problem, or the solution given in the book barely have any more depth then when he was on the campaign trail. He substitutes depth of knowledge for look at me I'm rich, I know everything trust me and it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth while reading it.
This is not to say that some parts in the book, I was like okay, I like that, good point and that seems like a good way to go about it to. Until it popped into my head a instance where Trump did exactly what he chastised in the book. For a quick example Syria. "Our generals give warning when they launch missiles or foreshadow their military moves. I would never be so stupid". However, right after the Syrian gas attacks, the U.S. under the direction of Trump and the military minds he appointed gave forewarning where and when they would be launching Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase.
This is one, but of many direct contradictions and hypocritical occurrences during the read.
Overall, it was eh. If you like Trump, you'll love it. You might rationalize the lies and hypocrisy that plauge this book. If you hate Trump, you will have trouble getting anything out of it becasue your're already convinced he's saten and there can't be anything useful in the book. For me, I did get a few things out of the book and enjoyed sections. For some topics it made me question my currently held beliefs and that's what a book should do.
2.5/5 