分节阅读 Table of contents

• 1.Why this book?

  • Donald   John Trump is an American business magnate, investor, author, television   personality, and candidate for President of the United States in the 2016   presidential election. He is the chairman and president of The Trump   Organization and founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's career,   branding efforts, lifestyle, and outspoken manner helped make him a celebrity   for years, a status amplified by the success of his NBC reality show The   Apprentice.
        
    This book makes up a part of Donald Trump’s presidency campaign; according   to him, this book was harder to write than other things he’s done. He uses   clear and explicit language to tell people how he would rebuild America into   a great country again. In this book, you will hear his scathing comments   about how career politicians have messed up America, and with brutal candor,   why his bold and often highly controversial plans are necessary to put   America back on track again. All proceeds from the book will be donated to   charities.

• 2.What does "Happiness" mean?

  • The one   question Trump got asked all the time was, “Mr. Trump, how do I get rich?”   But Trump thought what they were really asking was, “How do I become happy?”   Most people believed that once they were rich, they would automatically   become happy. Trump also agreed that being rich definitely offered a lot of   wonderful opportunities, but it did not necessarily make you happy. He   learned that wealth and happiness were two completely different things. As a   famous politician, he knew the richest people in the world. Many of them were   great negotiators and great businesspeople. But they were not necessarily   nice people, nor were they the happiest people. They were rich, they were   smart—Trump would hire them to negotiate for him anytime—yet their personal   lives left something to be desired. The happiest people he knew were those   people who had great families and real values. People who had a loving spouse   and children they really loved were happy people. Religion also played a very   large factor in happiness. People who had God in their lives received a   tremendous amount of joy and satisfaction from their faith.
       
    Trump’s father and mother were a huge influence on his life. Donald Trump’s   father, Fred Trump, was a rich man, but he made sure his kids worked hard.   Trump recalled, “he didn’t hand us anything—we had to work for what we got.   He would drag me around with him while he collected small rents in tough   sections of Brooklyn. It’s not fun being a landlord. You have to be tough.   I’d see him ring the bell and then stand way over to the side of the   door.”  Trump worried about his   father’s safety very much and always doubted about the way he collected rent.   In his opinion, people who had no money for rent would probably shoot right   through the door. But his father had been doing this for years. His work   ethic came from father. Trump believed he was the hardest worker in the   world. He said, “I don’t know anybody who works harder than I do. I’m working   all the time. It’s not about money—I just don’t know a different way of life,   and I love it.”
       
    Trump raised his own kids the same way his parents raised him. He had five   great kids. While his older ones were growing up, he would have dinner with   them almost every night. Whenever the kids needed him, he was always there   for them. Truthfully, Trump considered himself a much better father than a   husband, partly because he was working too much and barely had time for his   wife. He blamed himself. He was making a mark in real estate and business,   and it was very hard for a relationship to compete with that aspect of his   life.
       
    It’s well-known that Trump was not fond of President Obama. He thought   Obama had been an awful president, because his inexperience and arrogance   have been very costly to this country. Trump listed several big problems   Obama created for the country, “He’s weakened our military, alienated our   allies, and emboldened our enemies. He’s abused his power by taking executive   actions that he had no right to take.” Trump was confident that if he was   elected the next president, he was going to have to reverse and repeal many   of the actions Obama had taken.

• 3."Unbiased" political media

  • For a   long time, Trump had been the man the media simply loved to hate. During the   second Republican debate, virtually every contender was attacking Trump   because most of their poll numbers were sinking while Trump’s were surging.  He said, “I’m perhaps a controversial   person. I say what’s on my mind. I don’t wait to hear what a pollster has to   say because I don’t use pollsters.” However, the media loved his candor: all   the media outlets knew he was not going to dodge or ignore their questions.  
       
    Normally, these presidential debates would have attracted a couple million   viewers, but on the first night, Trump had 24 million viewers tune in, and   the second debate drew a similar number. These were the largest audiences in   Fox News’ and CNN’s history— bigger than the NBA Finals, the World Series,   and most NFL telecasts.
    
    Trump confessed that he didn’t mind being attacked. He used the media the   way the media used him— to attract attention. Once he had that attention, it   became his decision how to use it to his advantage.
       
    He learned a long time ago: If you’re not afraid to be outspoken, the media   will write about you or beg you to come on their shows. If you do things a   little differently, if you say outrageous things and fight back, then they   will love you. So sometimes Trump made outrageous comments and gave them what   they wanted— viewers and readers—in order to make a point. From his   standpoint, he was a businessman with a brand to sell. He was merely using   his talents, honed through years of tremendous success, to inspire people to   think that our country could get better and be great again, and that we could   actually turn things around.
       
    When Trump announced he was running for president on June 16 in New York,   he spoke at great length about a lot of different topics. He listed a lot of   the problems the country was facing, such as: illegal immigration,   underemployment, a shrinking gross domestic product, an aging nuclear   arsenal, and Islamic terrorism. However, the media concentrated on the fact   that Trump had said that Mexico was sending its worst people over the   American southern border. The original remark Trump made was “they’re sending   people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to   us.” The next thing the audience heard was that Trump had labeled all   immigrants as criminals. That wasn’t actually what Trump had said at all, but   it made a better story for the media. It gave them big headlines. What Trump   had actually said was that among all the illegal immigrants coming from   Mexico, there were some pretty bad people; some of them were rapists, some of   them were drug dealers, some of them were coming here to live off the welfare   system, and Americans must take immediate and tough measures to close its   borders to “illegals.” But people who knew Trump personally knew he would   never insult Hispanics or any group of people.
       
    To run a full-page ad in the New York Times can cost more than $100,000.00.   But when they wrote a story about one of Trump’s deals, it didn’t cost him a   single cent, and he also got much more effective publicity that way. Trump   had a mutually profitable two-way relationship with the media—they gave each   other what they needed. And now he was using that mutually beneficial and   powerful relationship to talk about the future of America.

• 4.Education: a failing grade

  • Trump’s   father did not graduate from college. He was too busy working and building   his business, but he understood and appreciated the value of an education. He   had great respect for people with college degrees, even though he had built a   large real estate business and earned many times more than most of them. With   his father’s financial assistance, his younger brother, John, earned his   master’s degree in physics from Columbia University and a PhD degree from the   Massachusetts Institute of Technology, two of the most prestigious   universities in America. John became a noted professor at MIT and invented   one of the first million-volt X-ray generators that was used to save the   lives of cancer patients. During World War II, he also played an important   role in the development of radar. President Truman awarded him the   President’s Certificate of Merit, and he was a recipient of the National   Medal of Science.
       
    From his father and uncle, Trump learned the value of hard work as well as   the value of a good education. From his own experience he learned what   happened when you put these two together. Trump went to the Wharton School of   Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, which was, in his opinion, the   best business school in America—and arguably the hardest there is to get   into. There was one thing he knew that even the professional politicians   would support—education was good. It was the easiest statement for a   politician to support. But the question was how to make the best possible   education available to all American kids?
       
    Trump observed that many teachers and school administrators were more   concerned about hurting their students’ feelings or about hearing complaints   from parents than they were of being too tough. Instead of becoming more   competitive, the American public school system was actually eliminating   competition. That was incredible—and wrong. Anyone who had succeeded in   business had survived a lot of failure—but they were tough enough to get back   up and try again and again. Kids needed to learn that success requires   persistence. Self-esteem should come from overcoming challenges and surviving   the hard knocks of trying to be better. Competition was precisely why Trump   was very much in favor of school choice: Let schools compete for kids.
       
    Trump saw another major flaw within the American educational system: a lot   of good teachers weren’t paid enough. Parents entrusted their kids to   teachers for most of the day, where these teachers could have a really huge   impact on how their students would grow up. But schools and governments were   not paying enough to attract the best people to the profession.   Unfortunately, teachers were not being paid based on their performance. The   standard for advancement was mostly the number of years of service—seniority.   The really good and inspirational teachers burned out under the painful   conditions found in too many schools. The bad teachers tended to hang around   since they had nowhere else to go. Thus, the paychecks tended to be bigger   for the less capable. According to Trump, the future potential of the country   was presently being determined in the classrooms of today: Let schools   compete for the best teachers and let us treat teachers well.

• 5.It's still the economy, stupid

  • Trump   firmly believed that the free market worked—it just needed leadership, not   dictatorship. The US government needed to strongly adhere to the   Constitution, maintain social programs that inspired and rewarded   achievement, and be constantly accountable for its spending and outcomes.   Trump said he was very concerned about the 46.5 million people living in   poverty, and the great majority of middle-class Americans who could barely   afford their homes.
       
    When it came to creating jobs and straightening out the American economy,   Trump believed he was the only presidential candidate who wasn’t talking   merely about “theory.” He had spent his entire life not just making money   but, more importantly, learning how to manage his resources and share them   with the thousands who had worked for him. To solve the overall economic   problem, Trump stated that Americans had to start rebuilding their industries   to meet the challenge from foreign competitors and create real jobs.   Government statistics could be made to look very positive, but in real life   the situation was terrible. When you looked at the American unemployment   situation, what was very significant was the percentage of people who had   given up and dropped out of the labor market. They weren’t included in the   unemployment rate. The so-called labor participation rate—those who had   stayed in the job market—was the lowest it had been in almost 40 years. It   hadn’t been this low since President Jimmy Carter was running the country,   and he presided over a period of runaway inflation in which interest rates   exceeded 20 percent.
       
    The entire myriad of businesses that Trump was involved in had this in   common: They had all created jobs for people. When Trump constructed a   building or developed a golf resort, it created jobs for construction workers   and for all the companies supplying the materials, from the flooring to the   lighting fixtures. When a building was finished and occupied, or when people   were playing on one of his golf courses, or staying at a hotel, Trump   supplied the service personnel who kept these businesses running. This was   how Trump had created tons of jobs for American people.
       
    So what was Trump’s answer for America to get back the jobs it had lost to   other countries? Trump said America could begin by “negotiating better trade   agreements with our ‘friendly’ partners.” The American automaker Ford had   recently announced that it was building a $2.5 billion plant in Mexico.   Nabisco was moving a big plant from Chicago to Mexico. A German auto company   had originally planned on building a plant in Tennessee, but then it changed   its mind and was now building it in Mexico instead. How did that happen? How   many good jobs did Americans lose in just those two deals? Hundreds, maybe   even thousands! Trump said that the American labor force was the best in the   world, as workers competed and fought for the best jobs. However, many people   did not know the importance of competing and fighting. In Trump’s companies,   they fought for every deal. They fought for the best price on cleaning   materials for their restaurants and the best price for the printing of the   labels on their wine bottles. He fought for his people every day. Now he was   fighting for America.

• 6.Into the future

  • Trump   was twenty-eight years old in 1974 when he got involved with his first major   construction project. The once great Commodore Hotel, located right next to   Grand Central Station, was a total mess. There had been a time when the   Commodore was one of the greatest hotels in the world, but the hotel and the   whole neighborhood had become run-down. A lot of the buildings in the area   were already in foreclosure, and many of the stores were boarded up. The   exterior of the Commodore was filthy, and the inside was so dark and dingy   that it felt like the building was on the verge of becoming a welfare hotel.   When he looked at the Commodore, he saw its potential—it would become the   largest hotel renovation in New York City during the latter part of the   twentieth century. More importantly, Trump believed in himself and was super   confident. The hotel, the Grand Hyatt, had been successful since the day it   opened in 1980. It became the foundation for the restoration of the entire   Grand Central neighborhood as well as his calling card—introducing the Trump   quality brand to the people of New York. Just as he had experienced with his   business ventures, he firmly believed that “Crippled America” could also   achieve greatness once again.
       
    For Trump, it should begin by creating millions of good jobs for   hardworking Americans. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that Americans   had lost more than five million jobs since 1997 because of terrible trade   deals. Those jobs would be coming back home if Trump became president. A   great wall at the country’s southern border must be built. It needed   beautiful doors to welcome LEGAL immigration, but the flood of illegal   immigrants must end. The American educational system needed to better prepare   children and retrain adults to succeed in the new digital marketplace. No one   knew how to do that better than local the communities. The federal government   should not be telling local schools how to educate children. Obamacare needed   to be repealed and replaced with a sensible health care system that created a   competitive marketplace, which would reduce costs while providing for the   medical needs of all Americans. More importantly, America must create tens of   thousands of new jobs by rebuilding collapsing infrastructure. America could   be struggling, it could be crippled, but with expert leadership and the right   strategy, it could rise again. Trump concluded that Americans were standing   at a critical turning point in history. People should not wait any longer;   now was the best time to restore America’s greatness.

关于本书 About the book

In the  book, Trump clarifies his position on illegal immigrants, claiming that the  vast majority have come to improve their futures and the futures of their  children. He also writes that despite his past affiliation to the Democratic  Party, he has always held Conservative values. Trump informs the reader that  despite his previous support for single-payer health care, a position held  mostly by liberals in America, he has changed his position because "It  works incredibly well in Scotland, for example, and maybe it could have  worked here at a different time. But not anymore."

本书金句 Key insights

● I use the media the way the media uses me—to attract attention. Once I have  that attention, it’s up  to me to use it to my advantage.
   
● President Obama is big on playing golf. But  he doesn’t play with  the right people. He should be playing with those smart people who can help  our country, establishing bonds to get things done—and not just his friends.
   
● Some readers may be wondering why the picture  we used on the cover of this book is so angry and so mean looking. I had some  beautiful pictures taken in which I had a big smile on my face... But I  decided that it wasn’t  appropriate. In this book we’re talking about Crippled America... So I wanted a picture  where I wasn’t happy,  a picture that reflected the anger and unhappiness that I feel, rather than  joy.