Lucky Loser

A masterpiece of narrative reporting and an explosive investigation into the history of Donald Trump's wealth, from two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters—revealing how a man once thought to be too rich to fail became the biggest loser of all.

Lucky Loser is an explosive investigation into the history of Trump's wealth, drawing on over twenty years' worth of Trump's confidential tax information, business records, and interviews with Trump insiders.

Soon after announcing his first campaign for the U.S. presidency, Donald J. Trump declared that life "has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me." Building on a decades-old narrative, he spun a fable of how he turned a small loan from his father into a multibillion-dollar empire. This feat, he argued, made him singularly qualified to lead the country. Except, none of it was true. Born to a rich father, Trump received the equivalent of more than $500 million today.

The story of Trump's finances is one of a rise and fall, and another rise and fall, as he squanders fortunes on money-losing businesses, only to be saved by blind luck. He places 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. He tarnishes the value of his name by allowing anyone with a big enough cheque to use it. He makes side deals to cut out the television producer who not only rescued him from bankruptcy but cast him as a business guru—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. 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.