If anyone recognizes the fundamental con behind the nearly 10 years of Trump tax figures leaked to the New York Times, it’s New Jersey. It’s just a larger projection of what we saw up close in Atlantic City.

While running for president, Donald Trump bragged, “I made a lot of money in Atlantic City. And I’m very proud of it.” It was all a lie.

From 1985 to 1994, while cannibalizing casinos and passing himself off as a master deal-maker, he was losing a mind-boggling sum: More than one billion dollars.

He lost more money than virtually any other American, at the same time that he was writing “The Art of the Deal.”

His co-author on that 1987 memoir, Tony Schwartz, tweeted on Wednesday: “Given the Times report on Trump’s staggering losses, I’d be fine if Random House simply took the book out of print. Or recategorized it as fiction.”

And while Trump caused huge losses, don’t assume all this money was ever really his. He could have exploited tax loopholes to claim his lenders’ or partners’ losses as his own, to reduce his tax bill.

He kept his gold-plated lifestyle, thanks to his father’s money. So he was still able to trick others into loaning him even more money. Then he’d invest in another doomed project. And so on.

To gin up quick cash, Trump also spread false rumors that he was about to take over companies, just to reap the stock market rewards -- until everyone stopped believing him.

All of which further validates Rep. Bill Pascrell’s fight for Trump’s complete tax returns. We now know that Trump was one of America’s worst businessman, Pascrell notes. We know his entire campaign was a lie.

What we don’t know is this: “How did he keep getting more money, and where on earth was it all going?”

It’s not just about the honest subcontractors he scammed, like George Jenkins, who ultimately earned only 30 cents on the dollar for the work of his building company on the Trump Taj Mahal Casino.

Or the MAGA-hats, who still see him as the rich guy “campaigning on the trail with his plane behind him that’s as big as a Delta jet, with his name on it,” as a Fox News pundit was quick to reassure.

Now it’s about all of us. When Trump makes deals as President, he says he’s putting America first – just like he assured all those investors who believed in him. Are we still going to just take him at his word?

Given the Times report on Trump's staggering losses, I'd be fine if Random House simply took the book out of print. Or recategorized it as fiction. — Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) May 8, 2019

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