This article appeared late in 2019 in Esquire, but it should be read again today as we head into the most crucial point in the election season, with Donald Trump is running scared. Trump is a cornered animal, and very dangerous. The rest of his life hangs upon what happens in the next four months, and he has tremendous power at his finger-tips. All of the problems, all of the stress, all of the possible consequences, and all that power, it is all funneled down into someone described as “the most purely evil human being I’ve ever met,” by the man who wrote a book with Trump, the book about how he does business. Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter for “The Art of the Deal,” a man uniquely qualified to make the observation, says he’s never met anyone more purely evil.

Esquire had an article drawn up from answers that Schwartz provided on a question-answer session on Reddit:

“I believe deeply that most people are better than their worst behaviours,” he wrote. “I also believe there are some who are simply irredeemable and evil. [Psychiatrist and author] Scott Peck called them ‘People of the Lie’. They lack any conscience, as Trump does, and so they’re almost purely evil. Trump is the most purely evil human being I’ve ever met, and also the most insecure.”

That sounds exactly like the type of man who would stand in front of a crowd and claim to be a stable genius, and the type of man who, while calling into a news station on 9-11 twice mentioned that, now that the towers had fallen, his building was the tallest in New York. Sick as it was, it was also a lie.

The worst thing about working with Trump? “The shortness of his attention span and his utter lack of interest in anything but himself.”

This is where things get especially dangerous. In the midst of a pandemic that is ruining our lives, our kids’ education, and our economy, it is also ruining Trump’s chances at reelection. His attention span – which was always focused on himself – will narrow considerably on one particular part of himself. While we suffer a national catastrophe, he will be consumed with how to politically survive the next four months. Nothing is off the table, including resignation if he believes he’ll get a better “deal” by resigning than running again. But we can’t discount war, either. Trump is already positioning federal “troops” throughout cities and has already said he doesn’t care if the mayors or governors don’t want them. Who says the war has to be in foreign lands? Remember, this man is “purely evil” according to the guy who wrote the book on him.

The only thing we might have going for us is that Trump isn’t some evil genius, indeed, he’s an evil idiot:

Any more for any more? “I never saw him read a book, and other than The Art of the Deal, I suspect he’s never read a book in his adult life,” Schwartz said. “As for comprehension for what he does read, I’d say it’s early high school level. To judge his writing level, read his tweets, particularly the angrier ones, which is most, and which he writes himself. His way of communicating is very primitive.”

Very primitive, early high school level? We went from Barack Obama, editor of Harvard Law Review (for non-law school grads, just understand, one doesn’t accidentally become editor of the law review), to a guy who writes and thinks at an “early high school” level. But it makes him that much more easily manipulated. Perhaps there is an evil genius behind him. Sometimes it sure seems like it.

It seems to just be setting in now, the dangers we face over the next four to five months. Trump’s interview yesterday sent shivers down our spine when he wouldn’t give a direct answer about accepting a loss. If a president cannot give a straight answer as to accepting a loss, that person is no longer a “president,” he is a dictator. When asked if he’d step aside if he loses, he only said “We’ll see,” twice. That isn’t a president, that’s someone focused only on himself and purely evil.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom