Trump boasted about writing many books - his ghostwriter says otherwise

Donald Trump has never been shy about his purported abilities or skills - whether it is cutting business deals, triumphing on the golf course or single-handedly making America great again.

Yet, the president was recently knocked back over a claim that he is a skilled writer, who had personally authored many books.

“After having written many best selling books, and somewhat priding myself on my ability to write, it should be noted that the Fake News constantly likes to pore over my tweets looking for a mistake,” Mr Trump tweeted.

“I capitalise certain words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be capitalised!”

During the course of his career, Mr Trump has put his name on as many as 19 books, including one novel, Trump Tower, which was published in 2011. Almost all of them have involved the work of a ghost writer, some of whom were identified, others who were not.

After Mr Trump made the boast about his writing skills, a man who knows the president better than many, Tim O’Brien, author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald, questioned his claims.

“Another one of those tweets that sure seem staff-written,” wrote Mr O’Brien. “Regardless: President Trump didn’t write any of his books. Ghostwriters on all of them.”

Mr O’Brien’s 2005 book claimed Mr Trump was only worth $150-250m, not the billions the reality TV star claimed. It incensed the man who now occupies the White House, and he launched a defamation lawsuit against the then New York Times reporter, seeking $5bn in damages. The case was thrown out.

Mr O’ Brien’s response to Mr Trump’s tweet has received more than 900 likes and has been retweeted 300 times.

Mr O’Brien, who now Executive Editor of Bloomberg Opinion, is not the only writer associated with Mr Trump to question the president’s skills as an author.

Tony Schwartz, who ghostwrote Mr Trump’s first book, 1987’s Trump: The Art of the Deal, has long raised doubts about his abilities. In the summer of 2016, Mr Schwartz told The New Yorker Mr Trump’s glowing portrait was in truth a work of fiction and that he “put lipstick on a pig”.

“I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is,” he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the extent to which Mr Trump was involved in writing his books.

On Wednesday, Mr Schwartz suggested to the The Independent that his view of Mr Trump had not changed.

“Trump didn’t write a word of The Art of the Deal and I doubt he wrote a word of any of the other books that carry his name as an author,” he said in an email sent from Europe. “He doesn’t read books and he doesn’t write them.”