Donald Trump has lost a “great deal mentally” and can no longer inspire enthusiasm, according to the co-author of the former president’s book The Art of The Deal.
Tony Schwartz, a former journalist who is now a vocal critic of Trump, made the claims while speaking to MSNBC‘s Ari Melber on Thursday.
Schwartz said that Trump is now a “very different man” to the one he knew in the late 1980s when he ghostwrote the bestselling The Art of The Deal. Schwartz added that Trump is also lacking the same cognitive abilities he saw when he “somewhat interacted” with him during the 2016 and 2020 election cycles.
“This is a man who’s lost a great deal mentally,” Schwartz said. “This notion he is still capable of exciting a crowd, I’m just not sure that I believe, beyond that 20 or 25 percent that are absolutely the core, is true anymore.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 2024. Tony Schwartz, co-author “The Art of The Deal,” says Trump has lost a “great deal mentally” in recent years.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The remarks came after Vice President Kamala Harris mocked Trump during their debate on September 10, suggesting that his often rambling public speeches mean that people leave the Republican‘s rallies early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Melber also played Schwartz a recent clip of Trump suggesting that President Joe Biden had the “right to run” in the 2024 race, rather than attack Harris, to suggest that Trump has difficulty staying on message.
In response, Schwartz suggested that the clip also shows that Trump “couldn’t put the two sentences together.”
“He loses his train of thought. He doesn’t remember things. You can’t say a person has dementia unless you are a clinician, you know, looking in a way that I can’t, but he sure seems to have lost a step or two,” Schwartz said.
“And of all the people I’ve watched deal with him over the years, Kamala has put him on his back feet more so, starting in the debate, but continuously, he literally cannot get his footing. And I don’t think he will.”
Trump’s office has been contacted for comment via email.
During a recent town hall in Flint, Michigan, Trump denied that his lengthy tirades during public speeches are “rambling” but are “genius” if you “connect the dots.”
“I give these long, sometimes very complex sentences and paragraphs, but they all come together,” he added.
Schwartz is credited for writing the entirety of The Art of the Deal after spending several months conducting interviews with Trump, although is only listed as a co-author.
Speaking in 2016, Schwartz told The New Yorker that he has “a deep sense of remorse” for helping Trump’s star rise in the late 1980s, ultimately resulting in his political career.
“I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes, there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization,” Schwartz said.
