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The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family
Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and dean of Trumpologists David Cay Johnston reveals years of eye-popping financial misdeeds by Donald Trump and his family.
While the world watched Donald Trump’s presidency in horror or delight, few noticed that his lifelong grifting quietly continued. Less than forty minutes after taking the oath of office, Trump began turning the White House into a money machine for himself, his family, and his courtiers.
More than $1.7 billion flowed into Donald Trump’s bank accounts during his four years as president. Foreign governments rented out whole floors of his hotel five blocks from the White House while lobbyists conducted business in the hotel’s restaurants. Payday lenders and other trade groups moved their annual conventions to Trump golf resorts. And individual favor seekers joined his private Mar-a-Lago club with its $200,000 admission fee in hopes of getting a few minutes with the President. Despite earning more than $1 million every day he was in office, Trump left the White House as he arrived—hard up for cash. More than $400 million in debt comes due by 2024, and Trump still lacks the resources to pay it back.
“Few people are as well positioned to write an exposé of the former president as Johnston” ( The Washington Post ), and The Big Cheat offers a guided tour of how money flowed in and out of Trump’s hundreds of enterprises, showing in simple terms how a corrupt president used our government for his benefit, even putting national security at risk. Johnston details the four most recent years of the corruption that has defined the Trump family since 1885 and reveals the costs of Trump’s extravagant lifestyle for American taxpayers.
While the world watched Donald Trump’s presidency in horror or delight, few noticed that his lifelong grifting quietly continued. Less than forty minutes after taking the oath of office, Trump began turning the White House into a money machine for himself, his family, and his courtiers.
More than $1.7 billion flowed into Donald Trump’s bank accounts during his four years as president. Foreign governments rented out whole floors of his hotel five blocks from the White House while lobbyists conducted business in the hotel’s restaurants. Payday lenders and other trade groups moved their annual conventions to Trump golf resorts. And individual favor seekers joined his private Mar-a-Lago club with its $200,000 admission fee in hopes of getting a few minutes with the President. Despite earning more than $1 million every day he was in office, Trump left the White House as he arrived—hard up for cash. More than $400 million in debt comes due by 2024, and Trump still lacks the resources to pay it back.
“Few people are as well positioned to write an exposé of the former president as Johnston” ( The Washington Post ), and The Big Cheat offers a guided tour of how money flowed in and out of Trump’s hundreds of enterprises, showing in simple terms how a corrupt president used our government for his benefit, even putting national security at risk. Johnston details the four most recent years of the corruption that has defined the Trump family since 1885 and reveals the costs of Trump’s extravagant lifestyle for American taxpayers.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published November 30, 2021
271 people are currently reading
694 people want to read
About the author
David Cay Johnston
19 books215 followersDavid Cay Boyle Johnston (born December 24, 1948) is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting.
From 2009 to 2016 he was a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer who taught the tax, property, and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and the Whitman School of Management. From July 2011 until September 2012 he was a columnist for Reuters, writing, and producing video commentaries, on worldwide issues of tax, accounting, economics, public finance and business. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He has also written for Al Jazeera English and America in recent years.
From 2009 to 2016 he was a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer who taught the tax, property, and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and the Whitman School of Management. From July 2011 until September 2012 he was a columnist for Reuters, writing, and producing video commentaries, on worldwide issues of tax, accounting, economics, public finance and business. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He has also written for Al Jazeera English and America in recent years.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
December 16, 2021
This is required reading for every American. Every one.
David Cay Johnston has once again proved that he is one of the foremost critics of the Trump regime. He has the cred. This is an economics book written for people who find economics boring, not worth their time; egghead stuff. Nothing is further from the truth.
Johnston lays out in terms everyone can comprehend the damage Trump and his family has inflicted upon this country. You may start at any chapter and understand how this immoral, unethical grifter raped this country. In fact, his entire family from his grandfather to any Kushner reaped millions from this country and destroyed whatever International goodwill we may have earned. Additionally, his damage to the idea of America emboldened nazis, white supremisits, misogynists, to bay at his dog whistle and threatened harm among the most disenfranchised in our country.
Some people won't like this, but they are too far gone to redeem. This is for the uninformed citizen who blathers about how they hate the government until they need them.
You are a citizen. You have a duty to make things right. Congress and Justice believe you don't care. As long as you refuse to hold the people you elected to responsible, this very flawed nation has no chance of survival. The ball is in our court.
David Cay Johnston has once again proved that he is one of the foremost critics of the Trump regime. He has the cred. This is an economics book written for people who find economics boring, not worth their time; egghead stuff. Nothing is further from the truth.
Johnston lays out in terms everyone can comprehend the damage Trump and his family has inflicted upon this country. You may start at any chapter and understand how this immoral, unethical grifter raped this country. In fact, his entire family from his grandfather to any Kushner reaped millions from this country and destroyed whatever International goodwill we may have earned. Additionally, his damage to the idea of America emboldened nazis, white supremisits, misogynists, to bay at his dog whistle and threatened harm among the most disenfranchised in our country.
Some people won't like this, but they are too far gone to redeem. This is for the uninformed citizen who blathers about how they hate the government until they need them.
You are a citizen. You have a duty to make things right. Congress and Justice believe you don't care. As long as you refuse to hold the people you elected to responsible, this very flawed nation has no chance of survival. The ball is in our court.
December 20, 2021
Before reading this book, I thought I understood the corruption of Trump, his family and his cronies; I was wrong. It was much worse than I knew. Great book by an investigative reporter who has Trump’s number.
December 10, 2021
Well-documented expose of how Trump made the presidency pay for him -- and his family. Easy to read and understand. Interesting insight into Trump appointees and how they served their own interests, too. Sickening.
June 2, 2022
Despite the fact that David Cay Johnston’s The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family covers much of what is already known about Donald Trump’s misdeeds while in office for four years, it is an entertaining and authoritative refresher. That refresher, by the way, will afford readers another opportunity for wide-eyed, open-mouthed astonishment, quickly leading to helpless anger as the greater detail on all the cheating, lying, and conspiracy theorizing is laid out in black and white.
The Trump family members get plenty of real estate in the book, with Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka getting the lion’s share of attention, rightly so, since it appears their financial gains through questionable practices easily outdid those of Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Eric.
But more than all the financial chicanery, I was more incensed this time by reliving Trump’s sycophantic behavior towards leaders of other countries, whose dictatorial conduct clearly illustrates everything Trump yearns for himself—people like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, and India’s Narendra Modi. The former president’s disloyalty to America was nowhere more egregiously displayed than when, on a world stage, he sided with Putin against our country’s intelligence agencies.
Sadly, the things that Trump appeared to do well all smacked of shadiness or downright illegality with a touch of evil thrown in for good measure. He certainly comes across as someone profoundly unfit for public service, his only consuming occupation being self-interest. The skillset he brought to the presidency, and then honed over four years, included blatant nepotism, the somewhat clever practice of refashioning facts to make his own truth, and breaking promises. One notable broken promise was to do with draining the Washington swamp. In one way, he could claim he drained it, but as author Johnston points out, he promptly “stocked the swamp with voracious Wall Street predators while abandoning or not enforcing rules to contain their worst behaviors.”
Towards the end of the book, Johnston does offer remedial actions to prevent a recurrence of another president like Donald Trump. However, I confess to a lingering fear that America might get someone worse! And if that executive manipulates the legislative and judicial branches into his or her pocket, the country and democracy will be ripe for hijacking once again!
The Trump family members get plenty of real estate in the book, with Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka getting the lion’s share of attention, rightly so, since it appears their financial gains through questionable practices easily outdid those of Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Eric.
But more than all the financial chicanery, I was more incensed this time by reliving Trump’s sycophantic behavior towards leaders of other countries, whose dictatorial conduct clearly illustrates everything Trump yearns for himself—people like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, and India’s Narendra Modi. The former president’s disloyalty to America was nowhere more egregiously displayed than when, on a world stage, he sided with Putin against our country’s intelligence agencies.
Sadly, the things that Trump appeared to do well all smacked of shadiness or downright illegality with a touch of evil thrown in for good measure. He certainly comes across as someone profoundly unfit for public service, his only consuming occupation being self-interest. The skillset he brought to the presidency, and then honed over four years, included blatant nepotism, the somewhat clever practice of refashioning facts to make his own truth, and breaking promises. One notable broken promise was to do with draining the Washington swamp. In one way, he could claim he drained it, but as author Johnston points out, he promptly “stocked the swamp with voracious Wall Street predators while abandoning or not enforcing rules to contain their worst behaviors.”
Towards the end of the book, Johnston does offer remedial actions to prevent a recurrence of another president like Donald Trump. However, I confess to a lingering fear that America might get someone worse! And if that executive manipulates the legislative and judicial branches into his or her pocket, the country and democracy will be ripe for hijacking once again!
November 1, 2022
I knew this author's work when he was an ace columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and then as a
stoic researcher of Donald Trump's early years as a liar, cheat and union buster in Atlantic City. I also worked in Atlantic City while Trump declared bankruptcy a record 4 times and got out of paying his debts and yet yielded $82 million as a result. I wanted to read this book instead of the previous ones because this one details the corrupt Cabinet members who were permitted to "rape and pillage" our
government, we the taxpayers and our reputation worldwide. Sadly, not enough has been highlighted in the media about the layers and layers of corruption inflicted upon us in detail by each cabinet member as well as by this conniving grifter who was elected POTUS. I knew I would be gut-punched
and furious but I still wanted to know the details and I knew the author would deliver. I gave the book 3 stars only because I was so nauseous I couldn't read anymore: millions dead from COVID, taxes for the rich, EPA, Labor and Energy turned upside down not to mention the illegal and overlooked dabbling into foreign banks, stock and market manipulation and I just can't stomach the rest. We are surely a Country in decline with our Institutions and SCOTUS up for grabs.
stoic researcher of Donald Trump's early years as a liar, cheat and union buster in Atlantic City. I also worked in Atlantic City while Trump declared bankruptcy a record 4 times and got out of paying his debts and yet yielded $82 million as a result. I wanted to read this book instead of the previous ones because this one details the corrupt Cabinet members who were permitted to "rape and pillage" our
government, we the taxpayers and our reputation worldwide. Sadly, not enough has been highlighted in the media about the layers and layers of corruption inflicted upon us in detail by each cabinet member as well as by this conniving grifter who was elected POTUS. I knew I would be gut-punched
and furious but I still wanted to know the details and I knew the author would deliver. I gave the book 3 stars only because I was so nauseous I couldn't read anymore: millions dead from COVID, taxes for the rich, EPA, Labor and Energy turned upside down not to mention the illegal and overlooked dabbling into foreign banks, stock and market manipulation and I just can't stomach the rest. We are surely a Country in decline with our Institutions and SCOTUS up for grabs.
April 6, 2022
Audiobook 3.5/5 stars. Very thorough expose of many of the scandals and chicanery committed by Donald Trump and his family/appointees as POTUS. Went into very deep detail on some of the appointees which seemed to drag on in places. Overall very thorough and damning.
April 9, 2022
Can't blame this book for reminding us of all of the lying, galling thievery that is Trump and family before, during and after his Russian presidency.
March 29, 2022
The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family by David Cay Johnston
“The Big Cheat” tells the story of how President Trump abused his position of power to enrich himself. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston documents how Trump used his presidency to get richer and set up lucrative future opportunities. This concise 241-page includes nineteen short chapters.
Positives:
1. A well-written, well-researched book.
2. An interesting topic, the story of how Trump used the his presidency to fleece America.
3. Provides a clear purpose of the book in the introduction.” The Big Cheat documents how Trump did what he has always done: promise the moon, the sky, and the stars, and then deliver rocks and sand, if that.”
4. Describes how Trump gave aid and comfort to those who feared racial minorities. “In supporting Trump they found a way to express the desire of many to Make America White Again.”
5. How Trump came up with ways to line his own pockets from charity events. “The years of excessive fees for using the golf course and the money that flowed from the father’s charity to the son’s charity to the Trump Organization constituted self-dealing, using charity funds to benefit the people in charge of the charity instead of applying the money to the charitable purpose donors believed they were supporting.”
6. Where did all the Trump inaugural money go?
7. How Trump collected tributes. “Everson realized that those seeking favors from Trump would stuff his pockets with money that was, to them, like tap water. Indeed, soon people, organizations, and governments that could drop unlimited sums on Trump did so. The government of Saudi Arabia, among others, rented out entire floors at Trump’s Washington hotel. The Saudis rely on the U.S. military to maintain their iron grip on that nation’s people.”
8. Describes financial conflicts of interest. “This lease language makes it crystal clear that Trump had to exit the Old Post Office building lease once he assumed office. Indeed, the 1808 law, updated and still in effect, provided that “every such contract or agreement shall moreover be absolutely void and of no effect.”
9. Trump’s international dealings. “Then there’s India, where the Trump Organization had its biggest deals. Five Trump-branded projects worth $11 million annually in fees to Donald were underway in India when he became president. As with Trump-branded projects in the former Soviet satellites Azerbaijan and Georgia, in Panama, and at the Trump SoHo tower in Manhattan, the principals in the India projects involved people under criminal investigation.”
10. Trump’s tax scam. “She explained that half of Trump’s income tax cuts would go to people in the top 1 percent.” “The net effect of Trump’s tax law was insignificant relief for those on the lower half of the income ladder and a big tax cut for the richest Americans. Trump’s ironclad promise of ending the income tax for 60 percent of Americans filing tax returns never materialized.”
11. Trump’s tax law. “Trump’s tax law also shifted the burden of supporting our federal government from companies and onto workers. In 2018, the first year the new law was in effect, the share of federal revenues paid by corporations fell by a third, to 6 percent from 9 percent.”
12. Trump helping out his rich friends exposed. “Special Agent Galdys sent a short email to Cohan on June 13, 2017, making it clear he was no longer pursuing the case, but not why. Cohan believes Trump signaled that the IRS should lay off Bill Koch.”
13. Trump’s wall scam. “On Trump’s watch, government contractors completed only 69 miles of fencing, not the 450 miles of wall that Trump claimed, the Government Accountability Office reported in June 2021.”
14. Trump’s federal loan scams. “One reason the Trump administration was so determined to keep the identities of loan recipients secret emerged from the files. More than two dozen loans totaling more than $3.6 million were made to companies owned by or connected to the Trump-Kushner family.”
15. How Trump favored fossil fuel industries. “Trump and his team tried to enrich many industries, especially fossil fuel companies, usually in ways that inflated profits at the expense of the American people.”
16. Trump’s pollution policies. “What all of these Trump pro-pollution policies have in common is that they would shift costs of mitigating the effects of toxic waste from energy producers to taxpayers.”
17. Trump’s financial ties to Russia. “Another investor in the Bank of Cyprus was Dmitry Rybolovlev. He’s the oligarch who paid Trump $95 million in 2008 for a gaudy Palm Beach mansion worth maybe a third that much, tore it down, and later sold off parts for a fraction of what he paid. That inflated purchase price allowed Trump to repay an overdue $40 million Deutsche Bank loan.”
18. Ivanka’s financial abuse of power exposed. “Ivanka also owned a slice of her father’s Washington hotel. In the first three years of his presidency, the hotel made her $13 million, she disclosed in ethics reports. In 2020, when the pandemic hit travel and entertainment businesses hard, she still earned $1.5 million.”
19. How Trump made family first over country. “While Jared was working in the White House, Freddie Mac, the federally sponsored mortgage loan corporation, approved almost $850 million of 10-year interest-only mortgages issued to the Kushner Companies.”
20. Trump’s legacy. “He promised to Make America Great Again. But Trump is the only president since Herbert Hoover in 1933 to leave office with an economy that was smaller per American than when he moved into the White House.”
Negatives:
1. No charts, graphs or visual material to complement the narrative.
2. Very few links and supplementary material.
3. No bibliography.
4. No clear expectations on what Mr. Cay Johnston expects to happen to Trump.
5. I would have added an appendix denoting exactly how we can prevent future presidents from fleecing America.
In summary, this is an interesting book that describes how Trump used the presidency for his personal gain. David Cay Johnston does a very good job of investigating and exposing Trump’s modus operandi and explaining it clearly to the public. My only criticism of note is the lack of supplementary material like notes or lists that would have complemented the narrative. A worthwhile read, I recommend it.
Further suggestions: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” by the same author, “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President's Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies” by Glenn Kessler, “Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever” by Rick Wilson, “Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic” by David Frum, “One Nation After Trump” by E.J. Dionne Jr., and “Democracy in Chains” by Nancy MacLean.
“The Big Cheat” tells the story of how President Trump abused his position of power to enrich himself. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston documents how Trump used his presidency to get richer and set up lucrative future opportunities. This concise 241-page includes nineteen short chapters.
Positives:
1. A well-written, well-researched book.
2. An interesting topic, the story of how Trump used the his presidency to fleece America.
3. Provides a clear purpose of the book in the introduction.” The Big Cheat documents how Trump did what he has always done: promise the moon, the sky, and the stars, and then deliver rocks and sand, if that.”
4. Describes how Trump gave aid and comfort to those who feared racial minorities. “In supporting Trump they found a way to express the desire of many to Make America White Again.”
5. How Trump came up with ways to line his own pockets from charity events. “The years of excessive fees for using the golf course and the money that flowed from the father’s charity to the son’s charity to the Trump Organization constituted self-dealing, using charity funds to benefit the people in charge of the charity instead of applying the money to the charitable purpose donors believed they were supporting.”
6. Where did all the Trump inaugural money go?
7. How Trump collected tributes. “Everson realized that those seeking favors from Trump would stuff his pockets with money that was, to them, like tap water. Indeed, soon people, organizations, and governments that could drop unlimited sums on Trump did so. The government of Saudi Arabia, among others, rented out entire floors at Trump’s Washington hotel. The Saudis rely on the U.S. military to maintain their iron grip on that nation’s people.”
8. Describes financial conflicts of interest. “This lease language makes it crystal clear that Trump had to exit the Old Post Office building lease once he assumed office. Indeed, the 1808 law, updated and still in effect, provided that “every such contract or agreement shall moreover be absolutely void and of no effect.”
9. Trump’s international dealings. “Then there’s India, where the Trump Organization had its biggest deals. Five Trump-branded projects worth $11 million annually in fees to Donald were underway in India when he became president. As with Trump-branded projects in the former Soviet satellites Azerbaijan and Georgia, in Panama, and at the Trump SoHo tower in Manhattan, the principals in the India projects involved people under criminal investigation.”
10. Trump’s tax scam. “She explained that half of Trump’s income tax cuts would go to people in the top 1 percent.” “The net effect of Trump’s tax law was insignificant relief for those on the lower half of the income ladder and a big tax cut for the richest Americans. Trump’s ironclad promise of ending the income tax for 60 percent of Americans filing tax returns never materialized.”
11. Trump’s tax law. “Trump’s tax law also shifted the burden of supporting our federal government from companies and onto workers. In 2018, the first year the new law was in effect, the share of federal revenues paid by corporations fell by a third, to 6 percent from 9 percent.”
12. Trump helping out his rich friends exposed. “Special Agent Galdys sent a short email to Cohan on June 13, 2017, making it clear he was no longer pursuing the case, but not why. Cohan believes Trump signaled that the IRS should lay off Bill Koch.”
13. Trump’s wall scam. “On Trump’s watch, government contractors completed only 69 miles of fencing, not the 450 miles of wall that Trump claimed, the Government Accountability Office reported in June 2021.”
14. Trump’s federal loan scams. “One reason the Trump administration was so determined to keep the identities of loan recipients secret emerged from the files. More than two dozen loans totaling more than $3.6 million were made to companies owned by or connected to the Trump-Kushner family.”
15. How Trump favored fossil fuel industries. “Trump and his team tried to enrich many industries, especially fossil fuel companies, usually in ways that inflated profits at the expense of the American people.”
16. Trump’s pollution policies. “What all of these Trump pro-pollution policies have in common is that they would shift costs of mitigating the effects of toxic waste from energy producers to taxpayers.”
17. Trump’s financial ties to Russia. “Another investor in the Bank of Cyprus was Dmitry Rybolovlev. He’s the oligarch who paid Trump $95 million in 2008 for a gaudy Palm Beach mansion worth maybe a third that much, tore it down, and later sold off parts for a fraction of what he paid. That inflated purchase price allowed Trump to repay an overdue $40 million Deutsche Bank loan.”
18. Ivanka’s financial abuse of power exposed. “Ivanka also owned a slice of her father’s Washington hotel. In the first three years of his presidency, the hotel made her $13 million, she disclosed in ethics reports. In 2020, when the pandemic hit travel and entertainment businesses hard, she still earned $1.5 million.”
19. How Trump made family first over country. “While Jared was working in the White House, Freddie Mac, the federally sponsored mortgage loan corporation, approved almost $850 million of 10-year interest-only mortgages issued to the Kushner Companies.”
20. Trump’s legacy. “He promised to Make America Great Again. But Trump is the only president since Herbert Hoover in 1933 to leave office with an economy that was smaller per American than when he moved into the White House.”
Negatives:
1. No charts, graphs or visual material to complement the narrative.
2. Very few links and supplementary material.
3. No bibliography.
4. No clear expectations on what Mr. Cay Johnston expects to happen to Trump.
5. I would have added an appendix denoting exactly how we can prevent future presidents from fleecing America.
In summary, this is an interesting book that describes how Trump used the presidency for his personal gain. David Cay Johnston does a very good job of investigating and exposing Trump’s modus operandi and explaining it clearly to the public. My only criticism of note is the lack of supplementary material like notes or lists that would have complemented the narrative. A worthwhile read, I recommend it.
Further suggestions: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” by the same author, “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President's Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies” by Glenn Kessler, “Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever” by Rick Wilson, “Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic” by David Frum, “One Nation After Trump” by E.J. Dionne Jr., and “Democracy in Chains” by Nancy MacLean.
August 28, 2022
Take politics out of the equation and prosecute ANY person who endangers our democracy and cheats every hardworking taxpayer in the process. Remember the good old days when cheating was a bad thing and those who were caught were punished? I fear the people who really need to read this won't.
July 7, 2022
Everything in a nutshell. Well documented and eye popping.
February 20, 2025
What disturbs me most with this book is not that Trump is a lying egotistical cheat, as that is a given; but that the structure set up in one of the strongest democracies in the world chooses not to deal with him. The facts given on his loans, on taking money from charities, blurring the lines with business for personal gain and then to be told the investigations are never instigated or followed through.
I like the proposal in the last chapter on documenting impeachable activities, as that takes the emotion and partisanship out of the decision.
However my other takeaway, and supported by a comment I saw recently from a US voter - the democrat leadership need to think long and hard and make a plan based not on virtual signalling but on the basics of governance. As the commenter stated, he hates trump, and believes he is evil, but he was a lesser evil to the other option. For someone to believe trump is the lesser evil means the democrats have a lot of work ahead of them. I dread the next 4 years with the orange terror in the white house, but I worry more about the lasting damage he will do to world order.
I like the proposal in the last chapter on documenting impeachable activities, as that takes the emotion and partisanship out of the decision.
However my other takeaway, and supported by a comment I saw recently from a US voter - the democrat leadership need to think long and hard and make a plan based not on virtual signalling but on the basics of governance. As the commenter stated, he hates trump, and believes he is evil, but he was a lesser evil to the other option. For someone to believe trump is the lesser evil means the democrats have a lot of work ahead of them. I dread the next 4 years with the orange terror in the white house, but I worry more about the lasting damage he will do to world order.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2024
Well written book to put all of tRumps deceits in a short comprehensive read. Why this country still voted for him for another Presidency in 2024, I will never understand. Depresses me to know I live in such a misogynic, bigoted country. Would have rated higher if the title didn't include the narcissist's name.
February 2, 2022
While this book doesn't reveal anything I didn't already know, it does a good job of exposing the litany of money-making scams that Trump and his gang have conducted before, during, and after his four years in office.
How he manages to stay relevant is beyond me. Trump's shameless overcharging, backdoor transactions, and use of his real estate holdings to conduct government business is astounding. But Trump was not alone in his unethical practices. You can add to the list of scam artists the entire Trump family and a host of sycophants like Flynn, Bannon, Manafort, Gates, Ross, and many more.
However, the biggest scam of all is the one mentioned in the book's closing pages. It has to do with Trump's incessant fundraising efforts. During Trump's four years in office, I wanted to see the nonsense they were pushing on their supporters. So, I clicked on a Facebook ad and got placed into the Trump conspiracy spin cycle. Towards the end of 2020, as the election neared, the Trump emails and text messages were nonstop. It wasn't unusual to receive as many as fifteen or twenty requests for money a day. They usually came with a poll. Do you agree that Trump is the best president in history? Do you think Joe Biden would be a disaster for our country? Do you want the radical democrats to turn our country into a socialist nation? Stupid stuff like that. I tried unsubscribing. For a while, they had an actual link to unsubscribe. It didn't do anything. Eventually, they just removed the unsubscribe link. But for the Trump loyalists who gave them their credit card number, that's where the big cheat really happened. The donation page had a check box that said, "make this a monthly donation." It was hard to see if you weren't looking for it. It was only after people (Trump supporters) started noticing recurring charges on their credit card bills. Trump eventually had to refund $121 million of ill-gotten funds. How many people didn't catch the theft?
Once Trump left office, his money train came to an end, or at least you would have thought. Not so for Trump. Only Trump could come up with a way to steal even more money from supporters. His new money-making scheme was to form a Political Action Committee called Save America. The pitch this time was that Trump needed cash for his Stop the Steal efforts. A former president, twice impeached, raised $255 million. Once again, he required donors to uncheck the recurring donation checkbox. Trump told his unsuspecting donors that he needed the money to pay lawyers to prove election fraud. So, how much of that $255 million went for lawyer fees? How about less than $9 million. Trump is free to use the money however he likes. Trump's blatant money grab continues to this day.
The author closes the book with several suggestions for improving campaign finance laws and other regulations dealing with business and political service.
How he manages to stay relevant is beyond me. Trump's shameless overcharging, backdoor transactions, and use of his real estate holdings to conduct government business is astounding. But Trump was not alone in his unethical practices. You can add to the list of scam artists the entire Trump family and a host of sycophants like Flynn, Bannon, Manafort, Gates, Ross, and many more.
However, the biggest scam of all is the one mentioned in the book's closing pages. It has to do with Trump's incessant fundraising efforts. During Trump's four years in office, I wanted to see the nonsense they were pushing on their supporters. So, I clicked on a Facebook ad and got placed into the Trump conspiracy spin cycle. Towards the end of 2020, as the election neared, the Trump emails and text messages were nonstop. It wasn't unusual to receive as many as fifteen or twenty requests for money a day. They usually came with a poll. Do you agree that Trump is the best president in history? Do you think Joe Biden would be a disaster for our country? Do you want the radical democrats to turn our country into a socialist nation? Stupid stuff like that. I tried unsubscribing. For a while, they had an actual link to unsubscribe. It didn't do anything. Eventually, they just removed the unsubscribe link. But for the Trump loyalists who gave them their credit card number, that's where the big cheat really happened. The donation page had a check box that said, "make this a monthly donation." It was hard to see if you weren't looking for it. It was only after people (Trump supporters) started noticing recurring charges on their credit card bills. Trump eventually had to refund $121 million of ill-gotten funds. How many people didn't catch the theft?
Once Trump left office, his money train came to an end, or at least you would have thought. Not so for Trump. Only Trump could come up with a way to steal even more money from supporters. His new money-making scheme was to form a Political Action Committee called Save America. The pitch this time was that Trump needed cash for his Stop the Steal efforts. A former president, twice impeached, raised $255 million. Once again, he required donors to uncheck the recurring donation checkbox. Trump told his unsuspecting donors that he needed the money to pay lawyers to prove election fraud. So, how much of that $255 million went for lawyer fees? How about less than $9 million. Trump is free to use the money however he likes. Trump's blatant money grab continues to this day.
The author closes the book with several suggestions for improving campaign finance laws and other regulations dealing with business and political service.
February 5, 2022
Mind-blowing
My head is still spinning. The double-dealing, nepotism, dirty tricks , cheating, lying, and knee deep old-fashioned corruption that this con artist brought to the White House is sickening on too many levels to imagine. Mr. Johnston did a phenomenal job collecting so much information and then presenting it all in very readable form. Warning: Some of what the author reveals about the Trump operation is so incredible you will find yourself rereading complete pages to ensure you understand the twisted ways they operated. It's just amazing and even more disgusting.
My head is still spinning. The double-dealing, nepotism, dirty tricks , cheating, lying, and knee deep old-fashioned corruption that this con artist brought to the White House is sickening on too many levels to imagine. Mr. Johnston did a phenomenal job collecting so much information and then presenting it all in very readable form. Warning: Some of what the author reveals about the Trump operation is so incredible you will find yourself rereading complete pages to ensure you understand the twisted ways they operated. It's just amazing and even more disgusting.
February 10, 2022
Obviously, it's time for America to move past Trump. But not without holding the Big Cheater accountable for his crimes, which are MANY.
David Cay Johnston knows the lay of the land and how to trace the sinister doings of TFG better than anyone alive, in my opinion. Not everything Johnston sets forth in his latest book on Trump will result in criminal charges and convictions... though, if DOJ, Letitia James (NY atty gen) and Fulton County (Georgia) DA Fani Willis had unlimited resources and followed up on everything Johnston set forth in the Big Cheat, I suspect Trump would be put away for many lifetimes.
David Cay Johnston knows the lay of the land and how to trace the sinister doings of TFG better than anyone alive, in my opinion. Not everything Johnston sets forth in his latest book on Trump will result in criminal charges and convictions... though, if DOJ, Letitia James (NY atty gen) and Fulton County (Georgia) DA Fani Willis had unlimited resources and followed up on everything Johnston set forth in the Big Cheat, I suspect Trump would be put away for many lifetimes.
March 19, 2022
Shockingly detailed
When I read the description for this book I never imagined the depths of the author's investigation into the many ways Trump and his family "fleeced" the American people. Some of the information was similar to that found in other books on Trump. However, this book revealed, in great detail,the alarming ways that the Trump presidency (including his children) took advantage of every loophole and bonus (whether legal or not). The best part of this book, in my opinion, was the final chapter where the author suggested ways to prevent future "fleecings" involving the highest offices in our country.
When I read the description for this book I never imagined the depths of the author's investigation into the many ways Trump and his family "fleeced" the American people. Some of the information was similar to that found in other books on Trump. However, this book revealed, in great detail,the alarming ways that the Trump presidency (including his children) took advantage of every loophole and bonus (whether legal or not). The best part of this book, in my opinion, was the final chapter where the author suggested ways to prevent future "fleecings" involving the highest offices in our country.
June 19, 2022
This book completes a trilogy that began with the author's 2016 biography of Trump and continued with his 2018 assessment of his first year in office (which I didn't read). So many factoids of corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, conflicts of interest, etc -- it makes your head swirl. Lots of detailed legal issues which I found a bit tedious (there are just SO many examples that it becomes overwhelming). OK. I am done reading about Trump. It was like a car crash - I couldn't look away and kept reading about his exploits. He is not a good person and doesn't deserve anymore of my time.
December 29, 2022
I have always had my own opinion of who and what Donald Trump is … but … holy moly!! This book should be required reading in every high school civics class. Every United States of America citizen should read this book … the reader will learn of the unbelievable corruption, misdirection and outright lies that were widespread within the Trump Administration. I never understood his following … if one reads … how can you get swallowed up by an obvious con man? Read this book my friends … we the people must get involved and insure that an individual of such incompetence never steps into our White House again!
November 19, 2023
There is so much packed into this book that I really didn't know. From hiring stand-in actors to boost his crowd when he made his Presidential running announcement in 2015, to the way he exorbitantly gained from his charities and campaign funds, to the hiding of inaugural donors, the list is endless and exhausting. I have been to the Trump Hotel in DC for lunch but didn't know how many deals got done there, like the T-Mobile Sprint Merger yielding $26 billion to Soft Bank's Masayoshi son. The bar alone made $25 MM per year and officials from at least thirty-three countries came there. Since this hotel was a government lease of the Old Post Office, he was in violation of the emoluments clause and this was an impeachable offense, but by the time lawsuits made there way through the courts the clock had run out, a trick that Roy Cohn had taught him a long time ago. Although Trump has moved his personal interests into a trust and relinquished his management, is that really the case if his own family is running it?
I found the details on his hotels deals run by Don Jr. and Eric in Dominican Republic, India and Indonesia fascinating, especially the purchase of his Beverly Hills Mansion by for $13.5 MM (valued at $6 MM) by a front organizations for Hary Tanoesodibjo, an Indonesian real estate baron who was planning several massive scale Trump projects in Indonesia, one near Jakarta and one in Bali. This same man was in the US seeking $15 billion in infrastructure improvements and obviously that would help get the projects done.
David goes into great detail on the next tax law passed which hurt middle income wage earner and benefited the wealthy. Even when the CARES Act passed in 2020 also benefited the Trump family where there was no longer a $500K limit on taking losses on their real estate holdings against earned income. This had allowed Trump to not pay any taxes for 15 years and $750 in each of two other years in this century.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 also provided a one-time forgiveness of a significant potion of corporate taxes that multi-national corporations owed back as far as 1987 but had not paid because they moved their profits offshore. According to David, Apple would only have to pay $38 billion of the $88 billion owed in taxes.
I found the discussion on Bill Koch and how he was let off the hook for potentially $1 billion in taxes and penalties during the Trump administration, even though the Koch Papers revealed the Oxbow elaborate tax scheme involving sham overseas operations. David devotes a whole chapter the border wall scam and then another on the PPP loan program where the Trump-Kushner connected or owned firms took $3.6 MM of the 7 MM PPP loans totaling $771 billion. Under the Trump Administration the program was poorly controlled with over 50% of the forgivable loans, totaling $522 billion, going to the largest companies. He points out the massive fraud in the program with over 6K loans going to businesses that were newly created and only existed on paper.
The conflicts of interest continue with the loans and forgiveness deals between SoftBank's Fortress group and the Trump-Kushner families in exchange for the Executive Order to allow "bomb trains" transporting NG from the newly developed fracking areas in Norther PN to ports near Philadelphia ports for the SoftBank's New Fortress Energy. His dismantling of the FERC governance on the electricity pricing market manipulators further drove up electricity costs to the benefit of the consortium of WSJ controlled power generating plants. Trump's commissioners came up with a plan to double the prices for wind and solar while favoring coal. The author also mentioned the environmental damage from relaxing regulations on toxic coal ash ponds and sulfur dioxide pollution. More conflicts show up with a whole chapter devoted to Elaine Chao, Transportation Secretary, and the increased business to her family shipping company under Trump. The last chapter is devoted to Jared Kushner and the bailout by Saudi Arabia of his 666 Fifth Avenue $1.8 billion purchase as well as the funding he received for his company, Cadre, all appearing to be huge conflicts of interest.
The fact that one man, David Cay Johnston, could spend a good part of his life chronicling the fraud perpetuated by the Trump Family and keep it all straight is an amazing feat in itself. I do like the proposals he makes at the end of the book on what can be done in the future to stop this from happening in the future. Just don't know how these suggestions are going to become law given who has to vote them in.
I found the details on his hotels deals run by Don Jr. and Eric in Dominican Republic, India and Indonesia fascinating, especially the purchase of his Beverly Hills Mansion by for $13.5 MM (valued at $6 MM) by a front organizations for Hary Tanoesodibjo, an Indonesian real estate baron who was planning several massive scale Trump projects in Indonesia, one near Jakarta and one in Bali. This same man was in the US seeking $15 billion in infrastructure improvements and obviously that would help get the projects done.
David goes into great detail on the next tax law passed which hurt middle income wage earner and benefited the wealthy. Even when the CARES Act passed in 2020 also benefited the Trump family where there was no longer a $500K limit on taking losses on their real estate holdings against earned income. This had allowed Trump to not pay any taxes for 15 years and $750 in each of two other years in this century.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 also provided a one-time forgiveness of a significant potion of corporate taxes that multi-national corporations owed back as far as 1987 but had not paid because they moved their profits offshore. According to David, Apple would only have to pay $38 billion of the $88 billion owed in taxes.
I found the discussion on Bill Koch and how he was let off the hook for potentially $1 billion in taxes and penalties during the Trump administration, even though the Koch Papers revealed the Oxbow elaborate tax scheme involving sham overseas operations. David devotes a whole chapter the border wall scam and then another on the PPP loan program where the Trump-Kushner connected or owned firms took $3.6 MM of the 7 MM PPP loans totaling $771 billion. Under the Trump Administration the program was poorly controlled with over 50% of the forgivable loans, totaling $522 billion, going to the largest companies. He points out the massive fraud in the program with over 6K loans going to businesses that were newly created and only existed on paper.
The conflicts of interest continue with the loans and forgiveness deals between SoftBank's Fortress group and the Trump-Kushner families in exchange for the Executive Order to allow "bomb trains" transporting NG from the newly developed fracking areas in Norther PN to ports near Philadelphia ports for the SoftBank's New Fortress Energy. His dismantling of the FERC governance on the electricity pricing market manipulators further drove up electricity costs to the benefit of the consortium of WSJ controlled power generating plants. Trump's commissioners came up with a plan to double the prices for wind and solar while favoring coal. The author also mentioned the environmental damage from relaxing regulations on toxic coal ash ponds and sulfur dioxide pollution. More conflicts show up with a whole chapter devoted to Elaine Chao, Transportation Secretary, and the increased business to her family shipping company under Trump. The last chapter is devoted to Jared Kushner and the bailout by Saudi Arabia of his 666 Fifth Avenue $1.8 billion purchase as well as the funding he received for his company, Cadre, all appearing to be huge conflicts of interest.
The fact that one man, David Cay Johnston, could spend a good part of his life chronicling the fraud perpetuated by the Trump Family and keep it all straight is an amazing feat in itself. I do like the proposals he makes at the end of the book on what can be done in the future to stop this from happening in the future. Just don't know how these suggestions are going to become law given who has to vote them in.
August 19, 2023
David Cay Johnston has been looking at Trump's financial shenanigans for years. I came away with two big reactions to this book:
1. If there is a cheat Trump hasn't used, it hasn't been invented yet.
2. Jared Kushner should be in more legal trouble than he seems to be at this moment. He definitely married into the right family.
The book sometimes gets into financial weeds that I sometimes struggled to understand. The book is heavily footnoted so you can follow up on the ideas presented.
Here is a paragraph I particularly liked in the book:
Self-governance is all about taking responsibility and working to solve our problems and advance our society. Leaving the duties of citizenship to others in the mistaken belief that government won't respond to the people or, in the long wake of Watergate, that politics is dirty and unworthy of our involvement only helps those who grow ever richer by influencing government rules. Instead of acting like renters or, worse, squatters, we need to behave as what we are: the owners of government. None of us will ever get all of what we want, but we can reach accommodations that benefit most and perhaps all of us through compromise. In democratic self-governance, bipartisanship, and the compromise agreements it enables, is a virtue.
1. If there is a cheat Trump hasn't used, it hasn't been invented yet.
2. Jared Kushner should be in more legal trouble than he seems to be at this moment. He definitely married into the right family.
The book sometimes gets into financial weeds that I sometimes struggled to understand. The book is heavily footnoted so you can follow up on the ideas presented.
Here is a paragraph I particularly liked in the book:
Self-governance is all about taking responsibility and working to solve our problems and advance our society. Leaving the duties of citizenship to others in the mistaken belief that government won't respond to the people or, in the long wake of Watergate, that politics is dirty and unworthy of our involvement only helps those who grow ever richer by influencing government rules. Instead of acting like renters or, worse, squatters, we need to behave as what we are: the owners of government. None of us will ever get all of what we want, but we can reach accommodations that benefit most and perhaps all of us through compromise. In democratic self-governance, bipartisanship, and the compromise agreements it enables, is a virtue.
January 1, 2023
There are two ways to look at this book - as a political observation (5 stars) and as a non-fiction work (2 stars).
As a political observation, this work is amazing and down right unbelievable. Chapter after chapter, Johnston describes (in perfect detail) the various and sundry transgressions of Trump, his administration, and/or his family. There is no need, here, to say more than this.
If this is of interest to you, either as a way to understand exactly how ridiculous the Trump administration was, or if you want to understand the evidence against Trump so you won't make the same mistakes when you become a wanna-be-dictator president, then this book is highly recommended.
As a non-fiction work, this book is rather difficult to read. There are many, many names, many, many potential and different crimes described, and usually little to no connection between and among the chapters. Each chapter reads like a feature article on a newspaper (which they sort of are). This gets old after a while. And a bit hard to follow. Also, the final, conclusion chapter could have been written by any number of MSNBC or CNN correspondents, or you, if you are addicted to MSNBC evening broadcasts.
As a political observation, this work is amazing and down right unbelievable. Chapter after chapter, Johnston describes (in perfect detail) the various and sundry transgressions of Trump, his administration, and/or his family. There is no need, here, to say more than this.
If this is of interest to you, either as a way to understand exactly how ridiculous the Trump administration was, or if you want to understand the evidence against Trump so you won't make the same mistakes when you become a wanna-be-dictator president, then this book is highly recommended.
As a non-fiction work, this book is rather difficult to read. There are many, many names, many, many potential and different crimes described, and usually little to no connection between and among the chapters. Each chapter reads like a feature article on a newspaper (which they sort of are). This gets old after a while. And a bit hard to follow. Also, the final, conclusion chapter could have been written by any number of MSNBC or CNN correspondents, or you, if you are addicted to MSNBC evening broadcasts.
January 22, 2023
David Cay Johnson is an investigative reporter, who has written two other books about Trump. This book follows Trump’s career and rise to the presidency of the United States. Johnson describes and documents the justified description of Donald Trump as a cheat and con man, who fed on and fueled the anger of a segment of the American public, who felt they were losing their jobs and power to others. Trump won the Presidency, but immediately began doing to the American public what he had done all of his life — lie, cheat, promise influence and to restore “America” to those who felt marginalized. In the end, he delivered on none of his promises — a border wall paid for by Mexico, to bring jobs back to the U.S., to make prescriptions more affordable and to cut taxes for middle America! He did none of those things, but he did use the power and influence of the presidency to enrich himself, his family, and loyal associates. This is a book that should be read!
December 6, 2021
I love David Cay Johnston's appearances and KGO radio and when I catch him on national TV news shows. He has such a great history and background regarding legal issues.
With the supply chain issues Johnston's book was originally due out in September, then mid-November and finally was released on November 30, 2021. To his credit he updated where possible in that time frame to include current events. It is written in a journalistic style, heavy on facts, but told in a readable manner. A lot of the information are things we already know, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded again.
With the supply chain issues Johnston's book was originally due out in September, then mid-November and finally was released on November 30, 2021. To his credit he updated where possible in that time frame to include current events. It is written in a journalistic style, heavy on facts, but told in a readable manner. A lot of the information are things we already know, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded again.
February 6, 2022
Cay Johnstown’s other two Trump-centric books were quite good to excellent. This last one: not so much. More shrill than solidly grounded; heaps of maybe’s, what-ifs and mightabeens, but few certainties. Don’t get more wrong, I believe Donald Trump is a con man extraordinaire, but he can’t be both wildly incompetent (and he is) and a brilliant criminal too. Hack huckster who bumbles his way from one bankruptcy to the next I’ll agree. Thoughtful planner of his kleptocratic oligarchy I can’t buy. 3 stars
April 11, 2022
I felt ill after reading list after list after list of questionable and straight up unethical behavior. The Trump administration is straight out of a 3rd world country. Trump has a charismatic ability to lie and sell himself and the public continues to blindly follow.
Never mind the money and credibility the US lost with this administration - the results of public completely losing trust in the governing laws is most worrisome. The door has been left open to the next sales person who convinces the population that nepotism is no big deal.
Never mind the money and credibility the US lost with this administration - the results of public completely losing trust in the governing laws is most worrisome. The door has been left open to the next sales person who convinces the population that nepotism is no big deal.
June 21, 2022
This book is detailed and provides numerous examples of the methods that President Trump and his family bent, broke and evaded the rules regarding enriching yourself and your business while serving in the US government. Most examples in the book I had heard before, but David Cay Johnston explains them in great detail, including the impact they made on the American citizen. Informative and a good read for readers seeking to know more about the avenues of deception traveled by Trump and his cohorts.
I borrowed this book from the Berkley MI Library System.
I borrowed this book from the Berkley MI Library System.
November 19, 2022
Thus book is difficult to read in places. The author seems to assume the reader has more knowledge about complex concepts than they may possess. In spite of this, the book is both fascinating and frightening. It is fascinating how Trump supporters and those in the Republican party afraid of Trump managed to cover up and continue to deny even though they must have known about his illicit activities. It is frightening given that Trump plans to run again. This may be one of the mist dangerous elections this country has ever experienced.
July 23, 2024
This is enough. I saw in the inside that it was the last of a trilogy, but I am not particularly interested in reading the other books that the author dedicated his investigative journalism into writing besides this one. While it is useful to know what the author divulged, I will only read the others if I must.
I think it is useful to know what is in between the covers since then you might recognise names of who is around this person and who is said to do such things as tax evasion.
I think it is useful to know what is in between the covers since then you might recognise names of who is around this person and who is said to do such things as tax evasion.
January 2, 2022
Johnston s latest Trump opus A winner's
Excellently researched and written examination of the depredations Trump has visited upon our nation. Trump is a truly despicable individual; his greed and megolamania are delineated in excruciating detail. Johnston gives no quarter to the millions of holdouts in America who have evinced n redeeming qualities in this man, his family and his administration.
Excellently researched and written examination of the depredations Trump has visited upon our nation. Trump is a truly despicable individual; his greed and megolamania are delineated in excruciating detail. Johnston gives no quarter to the millions of holdouts in America who have evinced n redeeming qualities in this man, his family and his administration.
June 1, 2022
What I love about this author is his clear and concise way of telling us things about con man Trump.
I decided that Donald Trump was a spoiled rich brat years ago. Every news account or tabloid story about about him exposed him as a person of no character nor integrity. He is the worst person that voters could have ever elected to be our president. I pray regularly that we won't do that again.
Ron J.
I decided that Donald Trump was a spoiled rich brat years ago. Every news account or tabloid story about about him exposed him as a person of no character nor integrity. He is the worst person that voters could have ever elected to be our president. I pray regularly that we won't do that again.
Ron J.
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