Confidence Man

The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America

By: Maggie Haberman

Narrated by: Maggie Haberman

The #1 New York Times bestseller.

“This is the book Trump fears most.” —Axios

“Will be a primary source about the most vexing president in American history for years to come.” —Joe Klein, The New York Times

“A uniquely illuminating portrait.” —Sean Wilentz, The Washington Post

“[A] monumental look at Donald Trump and his presidency.” —David Shribman, Los Angeles Times

From the Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times reporter who has defined Donald J. Trump's presidency like no other journalist, Confidence Man is a magnificent and disturbing reckoning that chronicles his life and its meaning from his rise in New York City to his tortured post-presidency.

Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.

Interviews with hundreds of sources and numerous interviews over the years with Trump himself portray a complicated and often contradictory historical figure. Capable of kindness but relying on casual cruelty as it suits his purposes. Pugnacious. Insecure. Lonely. Vindictive. Menacing. Smarter than his critics contend and colder and more calculating than his allies believe. A man who embedded himself in popular culture, galvanizing support for a run for high office that he began preliminary spadework for 30 years ago, to ultimately become a president who pushed American democracy to the brink.

The through-line of Trump’s life and his presidency is the enduring question of what is in it for him or what he needs to say to survive short increments of time in the pursuit of his own interests.

Confidence Man is also, inevitably, about the world that produced such a singular character, giving rise to his career and becoming his first stage. It is also about a series of relentlessly transactional relationships. The ones that shaped him most were with girlfriends and wives, with Roy Cohn, with George Steinbrenner, with Mike Tyson and Don King and Roger Stone, with city and state politicians like Robert Morgenthau and Rudy Giuliani, with business partners, with prosecutors, with the media, and with the employees who toiled inside what they commonly called amongst themselves the “Trump Disorganization.”

That world informed the one that Trump tried to recreate while in the White House. All of Trump’s behavior as President had echoes in what came before. In this revelatory and newsmaking book, Haberman brings together the events of his life into a single mesmerizing work. It is the definitive account of one of the most norms-shattering and consequential eras in American political history.

©2022 Maggie Haberman (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Confidence Man [is] Maggie Haberman’s much anticipated biography of the president she followed more assiduously than any other journalist. No doubt, there are revelations aplenty here. But this is a book more notable for the quality of its observations about Trump’s character than for its newsbreaks. It will be a primary source about the most vexing president in American history for years to come.” —Joe Klein, The New York Times

“A uniquely illuminating portrait...Haberman’s contribution in Confidence Man [is] much larger than its arresting anecdotes. Later generations of historians will puzzle over Trump’s rise to national power. The best of them will have learned from Haberman’s book that none of it would have been possible but for a social, cultural, political, media and moral breakdown that overtook New York beginning in the 1970s, a fiasco of trusted institutions that, having allowed the Trumpian virus to grow, failed at every step to contain its spread, then profited from, aided and even cheered its devastation." —Sean Wilentz, The Washington Post

“During the Trump presidency, Haberman of the New York Times established herself as the leading Trump-watcher — managing to report unsparingly on the president, while maintaining a relationship with him. Here, she delivered the definitive biography of Trump and his improbable rise from real estate mogul and television personality to president. Her deep understanding of the New York of the 1970s and 1980s helps to explain what makes Trump tick.” —Financial Times

great book

I wasn't surprised by anything she reported. unfortunately we know far too much about trump. I often think, what would a day be like that I never had to hear or read the name Trump. I hope someday that that happens, sooner rather than later. I remember saying to my cousin, don't worry he'll never be elected. after the election I thought well how bad could it be. and then later, I realize that I woke every morning thinking, what has Trump done today to us.

Outstanding

Fair and honest reporting. The author is an exceptional journalist and details Trump’s rise and demise with extreme clarity. Hopefully, we have seen the last of 45 in any capacity other than heating about him cheat at golf.

Excellent Book

The man is a piece of garbage. Complete scumbag. What an absolute disgrace of a human being.

Objective and well delivered

A very fair and objective look into such a complex subject. She eschews hyperbole and lets the reader digest the facts without influence. The book verifies and validates a lot of the stories and themes in Michael Wolfe and Bob Woodward’s books. I highly recommend confidence man.

must read

rich history of trump giving the reader a nuanced view of the NY developer who became our president.

Scariest book ever read

You can’t help thinking how lucky we are to still have some what of a democratic government. He almost destroyed us. Please everyone read and understand this.

BY Times star reporter has the picture but not the whole frame

Maggie Haberman is one of the finest reporters covering politics today. She earned a well deserved Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for her reporting with a NY Times team that revealed Trump’s Russia connection. In this book she carefully lays out Trump from his early days through and beyond the 2020 election. She reveals many new details although much of it has been reported before in earlier books and stories. The disappointment is that what she does not do Is provide a psychiatrists view of why he did what he did. She does not live up to thr promise of explaining why he deserves to be labeled a confidence man - a con artist. It will s not that she did not know. This past week on the Daily Show responding to host Trevor Noah’s questions she provided exactly the kind of context that could have made this Niagra Falls of words and info get to the deeper story. There have been so many books on Trump. It is a shame she did not rise above them with the rich context that explains how this poorly prepared loser rose to president and then self destructed. Trump did so much damage to our democracy. She has the story but it could have been the book that finally unlocks how it pulled it off without morals or empathy for all those he damaged.

Amazing that he kept talking to her

Haberman gets as close as anyone to figuring this guy out. Probably the best book yet on Trump’s life and presidency.

This is the one, if one is all you want.

"Confidence Man" is dry history about Donald Trump's rise and post-Presidental collapse. 'Dry' isn't a bad thing, because in this context it means total objectivity. What adds the excitement and need to read (listen) further is the non-stop bizzarness of Trump. While you might be shaking your head in disbelief, you also know that Trump would be nodding approval of what he did and said. If you're tired of all of the Trump circus books, then stop and put it all into context with this book.

An in-depth look at the Trump years, well sourced

In nauseating detail, you get to plod thru Trump’s ascendancy to power and the consequential/cascading events and effects of four years of incredible dysfunction that he fomented to achieve his wholly self-serving ends one there.