Donald Trump’s book author predicts his resignation before year ends

Even Donald Trump’s ghostwriter isn’t a fan of his. Tony Schwartz, the credited co-author of the US president’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” has predicted Trump would step down from office before the year ended but would still claim victory.

On Thursday, Schwartz tweeted a series of posts explaining why he thought Trump would leave office in a few months. The journalist criticised the American leader, calling him a “toddler with reactive attachment disorder” and whose development ended at 7 years old. He said that every time Trump demeans another person, Trump is only projecting his own “deep sense of inadequacy and self-hatred” onto others.

“The circle is closing at blinding speed. Trump is going to resign and declare victory before Mueller and congress leave him no choice,” he tweeted, referring to former FBI director Robert Mueller, who is investigating Trump’s campaign connection with the Russian government. “Trump’s presidency is effectively over. Would be amazed if he survives till end of the year. More likely resigns by fall, if not sooner.”

He added that although the former reality TV star’s time in power is almost over, people must not give up on putting pressure on him. “Trump must be isolated. Resistance every day. The end is near but must keep pressure high.”

Later on, he told CNN presenter Anderson Cooper that Trump’s situation reminded him a lot of the Watergate scandal in the ‘70s, in which then-president Richard Nixon was forced to announce his resignation before he an impeachment process against him started. He said the recent events and Trump’s reactions to them – including the Charlottesville riot and his war of words with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – were closing in on him

“He put himself in an isolated, no-win position. The level of his self-destructiveness is staggering. But what he’s done is he’s pushed away all the potential allies, and they were diminishing in number anyway,” he said. “It’s not that he started lying when he became president or when he started running for president. This is a man who’s been deceitful and manipulative for 50 years plus.”

Cooper pointed out that Trump “hates losers” and he might be concerned that a resignation might make him seem so. Schwartz said Trump would still find a way to blame everyone but himself and claim victor.

“He paints even the most disastrous things he does, including what he said about the events in Virginia over the past week, are evidence of his own brilliance. So what he’ll do is blame it on the Democrats; he’s actually going to blame it on the Republicans; he’s going to blame it on anybody he can; and he’s going to say he did everything he could to save America,” he said. “He is going to try his very best to paint this as his own victory and he’s the ultimate victim. And he is going to do it, of course, to stay out of prison.”

As to where Trump’s moral compass points to regarding racism, Schwartz, who spent more than a year interviewing the future president to ghost-write the 1987 book, said Trump only thought of himself. “The word moral never came up during the 18 months that I spent with Donald Trump. That was not part of his vocabulary. It was: How do I do whatever is best for me or what I perceive is best for me, and how do I get over everybody else.”

Watch Tom Schwartz’s interview with Anderson Cooper: