Lucky Loser

How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

By: Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

“A first-rate financial thriller . . . Lucky Loser is one of those rare Trump books that deserve, even demand, to be read.”–Alexander Nazaryan, The New York Times

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters behind the 2018 bombshell New York Times exposé of then-President Trump’s finances, an explosive investigation into the history of Donald Trump’s wealth, revealing how one of the country’s biggest business failures lied his way into the White House

Soon after announcing his first campaign for the US presidency, Donald J. Trump told a national television audience that life “has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me.” Building on a narrative he had been telling for decades, he spun a hardscrabble fable of how he parlayed a small loan from his father into a multi-billion-dollar business and real estate empire. This feat, he argued, made him singularly qualified to lead the country. Except: None of it was true. Born to a rich father who made him the beneficiary of his own highly lucrative investments, Trump received the equivalent of more than $500 million today via means that required no business expertise whatsoever.

Drawing on over twenty years’ worth of Trump’s confidential tax information, including the tax returns he tried to conceal, alongside business records and interviews with Trump insiders, New York Times investigative reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig track Trump's financial rise and fall, and rise and fall again. For decades, he squanders his fortunes on money losing businesses, only to be saved yet again by financial serendipity. He tacks his name above the door of every building, while taking out huge loans he’ll never repay. He obsesses over appearances, while ignoring threats to the bottom line and mounting costly lawsuits against city officials. He tarnishes the value of his name by allowing anyone with a big enough check to use it, and cheats the television producer who not only rescues him from bankruptcy but casts him as a business savant–the public image that will carry him to the White House.

A masterpiece of narrative reporting, Lucky Loser is a meticulous examination spanning nearly a century, filled with scoops from Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, Atlantic City, and the set of The Apprentice. At a moment when Trump’s tether to success and power is more precarious than ever, here for the first time is the definitive true accounting of Trump and his money–what he had, what he lost, and what he has left–and the final word on the myth of Trump, the self-made billionaire.

©2024 Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Combining the groundbreaking reporting of its authors with details unearthed throughout the years by other journalists and financial analysts, Lucky Loser is comprehensive, persuasive, and packed with damning anecdotes.”—The New Yorker

“A first-rate financial thriller . . . Lucky Loser is one of those rare Trump books that deserve, even demand, to be read. In good part, that’s because it applies the proper lens through which to view Trump’s career. In this telling, his story lies at the intersection of business and media, with politics arriving only as a secondary concern.”—Alexander Nazaryan, The New York Times

“This is a page turner, with spectacular anecdotes . . . [Lucky Loser] shows in meticulously documented detail how 'even when Trump appeared to be at his best, he was failing,' with massive losses on his core business. The authors prove that without his father’s support, Trump would have been nothing. The book also raises a bigger question about the 'fake it ‘til you make it' ethos of modern America. In a world that conflates the 'trappings of wealth with expertise and ability,' where 'fame, detached from any other marketable talent or skill,' is 'a highly compensated vocation,' does it even matter if you never actually make it? The backbone of the book is the numbers. Because Buettner and Craig have such a trove of documents, they are able to prove, in incontrovertible detail, the reality under the hype that is Donald Trump . . . The heartbreaking thing about reading Buettner and Craig’s work is realizing how many passes Trump has gotten over the years, how thoroughly he is a creation of the media, which as the authors write, 'rarely revisited his claims and afforded credibility to everything he said.”—Bethany McLean, The Washington Post

Arrogant Jerk Revealed Again. And Again.

I didn’t think I could stand to listen to a whole book about this guy, but it was a fascinating exploration of his lifetime of impulsivity and failing up.
Talk about being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple! An entire lifetime without introspection, self reflection or self doubt. This book is an important piece of the record of his life for history. But it was also a compelling peek inside a lifetime of his bank accounts, borrowing, bluster, lying, incompetency, rudeness and unbelievable privilege.

A down to the daccounting unting of what makes Trump....Trump.

The level of research and effort required to produce a book of this level of detail is truly impressive. Highly illuminating , extremely informative, but told in a way that is interesting enough to make you read the next chapter.

Facts!

This is the truth. The evidence is presented with the assertions, exactly the opposite of what we've heard. Bravo!

Great story and reporting

Essential book to understand current and recent history and a portrait of historic bewildering dysfunction also excellent narration

Must read!

Excellent, in-depth history of the Trump family. Provides helpful context to the lifelong behaviors exhibited by Donald Trump: He was a bully as a kid and is still a bully. He mismanages every aspect of his business, loses money, and blames others for his own failures. He has always misled and/or lied to others in order to serve no one else but himself. This book reveals a toxic pattern of behaviors.

All an illusion

No surprise, DJT is all a lie…….. the depth of the illusion is shown in full

Must listen!

Great narrator. Meticulously researched and easy to follow!
I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Bigly recommended.

Fascinating review of facts!

While I was aware of some of the ways Donald Trump had lied about his so-called accomplishments, I was so pleased to learn much more. This was easy to follow and I thoroughly enjoyed this well-researched book! And I am grateful.

The Quantified Sham

A great view in the house of financial mirrors. OMG the amount of money DJT has burned through and squandered is criminal. In truth, his burning through cash is marked with the ashes of disregard for the rule of law. Epic view of a sick man that has no positive qualities to offer anyone.

More collector prize material

This book is important. I suppose the people who need to read it the most will not read it. This detailed financial history of the Trump family reveals the actual truth about their acclaimed cleverness and achieving great wealth.