The Pioneer: David, all politics seem to revolve around Donald Trump these days. How does his behavior and communication in light of the recent escalation between Israel and Iran reflect his biography and character?
David Cay Johnston: Well, Trump is, by any definition, a leader. He is changing America, and he's changing the world. Unfortunately for everyone, Donald Trump is appallingly ignorant—and he is deeply mentally ill.
For seven years, I was the only publisher for a tenured psychiatry professor, Dr. Bandy X. Lee, at Yale Medical School. Her field of study is how followers can acquire the mental illness of a leader once they embrace that leader. Frankly, it shouldn’t surprise us that some of the people who rise to leadership positions are deeply mentally ill.
The Pioneer: What kind of mental illness are we talking about?
Johnston: Well, there are a number of issues, and I’d refer you to Dr. Lee for the specifics. To put it in layman’s terms, Donald is completely lacking empathy for others. He is totally about himself.
Emotionally, he’s still the 13-year-old boy who was sent off to military school by his father. Hazing and sexually humiliating new cadets was standard practice there. And if you listen to him talk about women today, it's like listening to a 13-year-old boy.
Von links nach rechts: Donald Trump mit seinen Geschwistern Fred Jr, Elizabeth, Maryanne und Robert. © Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.To him, everyone around him – his family, his aides, the public – are objects. They’re not people. He has never known a day of joy or contentment. He’s an empty vessel. And to fill that emptiness, he’s made these wild, ridiculous claims: inflating his wealth, bragging that he's the greatest Don Juan in history, or that he's the world's leading expert on 22 different subjects.
The Pioneer: You have spent hundreds of hours with Donald Trump. Could you take us back to the first time you met him: What was his presence like? How did he move, how did he look at people?
Johnston: The first time was really just a handshake, quick greeting. It lasted maybe a minute or a minute and a half. He was working his way through a room at one of his Atlantic City casinos. One of his staff had arranged for us to talk later. That was in early June 1988, 37 years ago.
Donald is often very awkward around strangers. For example – I remember seeing Steve Wynn, the man who reinvented Las Vegas, give a suite key to big gamblers, high rollers. Wynn would make them feel so special, so appreciated, you’d go home and tell the story for the rest of your life. Trump? I once watched him hand a room key to a couple and say, “Glad you're here so I can get all your money.”
The Pioneer: When did you first get to talk to him properly?
Johnston: When I first sat down with Trump – this was later in June 1988 – I had done a lot of preparation. In Atlantic City, he was the only really interesting casino owner. The others were mostly corporate types. The state regulators told me, “Donald is not an operator.” I asked, “What do you mean by that?” And they said, “You’ll find out.”
So I went to some of his executives. I asked them, “What does it mean that he’s not an operator?” And they said, “Donald doesn’t know anything about the casino business. He screws it up all the time.” I said, “Wait, he owns two casinos. He can’t not know anything.” But they were clear, he knew nothing. It was all bluff and bluster.
Musste 2014 Insolvenz anmelden: Der Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City © dpaStill, I was skeptical. So, with the help of one of his guys, I wrote down four questions, each one of them contained a falsehood about gambling. During the interview, which lasted about 90 minutes, I dropped those questions in, Trump picked up on the falsehoods, obviously not knowing I was testing him and ran with the lies. He fed me what he thought I wanted to hear. That’s what con artists do.
I quickly realized The Art of the Deal, his supposedly best-selling book – eleven million copies – I think is basically a manual for serial con artistry. In that book he brags about cheating and lying to people to get money or whatever he wants. And yet most reviewers didn’t seem to get that. But that’s what the book is: one con job, one fraud after another.
And so I began to realize: This guy is a truly significant figure, because he's getting away with lying, cheating, and stealing. The state of New Jersey claimed that Atlantic City casinos were, quote, “the most highly regulated industry in the history of the world.” To which I always add: even more regulated than nuclear power plants – according to the state, at least.
The Pioneer: And how did he get away with the cheating and lying when the industry is so well monitored?
Johnston: Well, for starters, he got his casino license thanks to political pressure. The New Jersey Attorney General, who, unlike in most states, is appointed, not elected, was running for governor. Trump made it clear that if he didn’t get the license on his terms, he’d accuse the AG of being anti-jobs. That threat was enough.
As it turned out, the license was rushed. Every other casino operator went through extensive scrutiny. Investigators traveled around the world. They’d track down your college roommate in Portugal if needed. But for Trump? They wrapped it up in just a few weeks. No deep background check. Later, other jurisdictions, Australia, the UK, even Nevada, refused to license him because of his ties to organized crime. Not to the traditional Mafia necessarily, but to criminal subcultures. Every community has its criminal underbelly, and Trump gravitates toward those people.
He is, however, very polished. He knows how to position himself for the camera. He learned how to preen for the press. He’s also adept at finding journalists who won’t let facts get in the way of a good story.
The Pioneer: A good story, like – ?
Johnston: Take his divorce from Ivana. The New York Post ran a front-page quote from Marla Maples, who he later married, saying “Best sex ever.” Years later, Marla appeared on an episode of the American TV show Designing Women, and she looked into the camera and said something like, “I never said that.” She was distancing herself from it.
