The Art of the Deal author Tony Schwartz stopped by CNN’s New Day to chat with Alisyn Camerota about a decidedly different book about Donald Trump, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. As someone who spent a significant amount of time with Trump in 1987 to adapt the former tome, Camerota asked Schwartz if he had any questions as to the now-president’s mental stability — despite the fact that he fancies himself a “very stable genius.”
As it turns out, Schwartz does have some thoughts about that! After the most perfect, chef fingertips-kissing sigh, the author let it spill:
“You know, he was not under any kind of intense stress, and this whole phrase ‘mental stability’ is such a tough one. Did I think he was a deeply narcissistic guy? Yes. I mean, most of the diagnosis you can do of Donald Trump, any layperson can do. Do I think he was mentally unstable then? Yes, I do. In other words, had he been subjected to intense stress, do I think he would have behaved in ways that are scary? I do think that. At that time, it simply wasn’t the case. Now that he’s president and the pressure is ratcheting up, not only in terms of just being president, but all the controversy and pressure around him, I think it does contribute to his instability, and that instability is significant. And frightening.”
And, again, that was 30 years ago that Schwartz worked with Trump. Frightening, indeed.