Soon after announcing his first campaign for presidency, Donald J. Trump declared that life “had not been easy for me”, delivering a campaign narrative around his business acumen based on his journey from talented upstart to a multi-billionaire. This narrative was a lie.

Drawing on access to twenty years’ worth of Trump’s confidential tax information, business records and interviews with Trump insiders, reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig won a Pulitzer Prize for the investigations into Trump’s finances – and the deceptions at the core of his claims of business success.

In this episode, Buettner and Craig share insights from the school playground to the set of The Apprentice as well as never-before-seen financial records and intelligence on the relationship with his father Fred Trump, all belying the public image that took Trump all the way to the White House, and demonstrated that a lie will become truth if it is told often enough.

Can a man who has squandered fortune on money-losing businesses continue to be saved by blind luck in the future?And can Trumpism survive beyond Trump? Tune in to find out.

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