The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family

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Pulitzer Prizewinning 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 Trumps 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 Trumps 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 hotels 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 arrivedhard up for cash. More than $400 million in debt comes due by 2024, and Trump still lacks the resources to pay it back.

The Big Cheat takes you on a guided tour of how money flowed in and out of Trumps hundreds of enterprises, showing in simple terms how his family and courtiers used his presidency to enrich themselves, 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 Trumps extravagant lifestyle for American taxpayers.

Reviews

Few people are as well positioned to write an expos of the former president as Johnston. . . .The Big Cheatis a guided tour of the Trump circus in 18 colorful vignettes. . . .A good book, full of old-fashioned reporting based on original sources and primary documents, colorfully written and convincingly argued. -- James Kwak * The Washington Post *
"The Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and longtime Trump-watcher Johnston delivers enough charges to fuel a few hundred indictments. . . . Johnston assembles a case thats full of news and startling incidents. . . . Those inclined to despise Trump and Trumpism will find ample reinforcement." * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *
"Adevastating roundup of malfeasance." * Publishers Weekly *
"Refreshing. . . . Rather than simply tsk-tsking about Trumps abuses, Johnston offers common-sense solutions for bringing transparency and integrity back to politics and government." * Booklist *

Author Bio

David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prizewinning investigative reporter and bestselling author ofThe Making of Donald TrumpandIts Even Worse Than You Think.He has lectured on economics, journalism, and tax policy on every continent except Antarctica and is a former president of Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE). Johnston has been a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN, the BBC, ABCWorld News Tonight,Democracy Now!,and NPRsMorning Edition, among other shows, and was a consultant for the Netflix seriesHouse of Cards.