--- title: Donald Trump Ghostwritter: I Have a 'Deep Sense of Remorse' description: Art of the Deal author: "I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is” canonical: https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T12:01:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:19.790Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Ghostwritter: I Have a 'Deep Sense of Remorse' og:description: Art of the Deal author: "I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is” og:url: https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a24959ff6eb0ae/69889c483c1639728b45e129/donald-trump3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Dallas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Ghostwritter: I Have a 'Deep Sense of Remorse' twitter:description: Art of the Deal author: "I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a24959ff6eb0ae/69889c483c1639728b45e129/donald-trump3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Admits 'Deep Sense of Remorse' ## Video: I’ve Photographed Donald Trump More Than Anyone Else [Watch (HLS stream): I’ve Photographed Donald Trump More Than Anyone Else](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z8PqZwEN.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2016-07-14. Photographs by Harry Benson_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 18, 2016 12:01 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2015. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2015.Tom Pennington—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 18, 2016 12:01 PM UTC If [Donald Trump](http://time.com/tag/donald-trump/) needed his 1987 memoir written today, his ghostwriter Tony Schwartz would suggest a different title. “The Sociopath,” Schwartz told the [_New Yorker_](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all) in a recent interview. Schwartz, who was a lauded journalist when Trump tapped him to write the _Art of the Deal_ in the late ’80s, says he’s remorseful about having written the book. “I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” The writer said he hadn’t spoken publicly about Trump until the [2015 launch of the business mogul and reality TV star’s presidential campaign](http://time.com/3922770/donald-trump-campaign-launch/). When the mogul listed _Deal_ as one of his qualifying accomplishments he fired off a pithy tweet: “Many thanks Donald Trump for suggesting I run for President, based on the fact that I wrote ‘The Art of the Deal,’ ” he said at the time. In the _New Yorker_ interview, Schwartz suggested a Trump presidency might not end well for the world. “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,” he said. Read the entire interview at the [_New Yorker_](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Admits 'Deep Sense of Remorse'","datePublished":"2016-07-18T12:01:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:19.790Z","description":"\"I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is”","url":"https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/","keywords":["Donald Trump","republicans","Election 2016","presidential election","2016 Republicans"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a24959ff6eb0ae/69889c483c1639728b45e129/donald-trump3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a24959ff6eb0ae/69889c483c1639728b45e129/donald-trump3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Dallas","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2015.","creditText":"Tom Pennington—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/","name":"Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Admits 'Deep Sense of Remorse'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"I’ve Photographed Donald Trump More Than Anyone Else","description":"Photographs by Harry Benson","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/z8PqZwEN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-14T02:35:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z8PqZwEN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/","duration":"PT2M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4410207/donald-trump-ghostwriter-remorse/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```