Review: Trump You by Art Cohen with Dan Good

Capturing the deceitful nature and history of greed that has long defined America’s 45th president, Trump You: Promises, Lies, and Corruption: My Battle with Donald Trump’s Fake University by Art Cohen is a scathing personal memoir of one man’s titanic struggle against a capitalist giant.

Not only functioning as a fascinating, and at times painful-to-believe legal thriller, this book is also a detailed unraveling of the Trump University fraud – a clumsy yet lucrative scheme to cheat thousands of people with empty promises. The name “Trump” alone has become synonymous with a great many things in recent years, but this book argues that “TrumpU” should be synonymous with scams, predatory capitalism, and toxic privilege run wild, and Cohen certainly makes a powerful case.

The author is impeccably positioned to write this story – once aspiring to be a real estate mogul like Trump, Cohen signed up and paid for one of the secret-revealing seminars of Trump University, determined to make it big. However, it did not take long for him to realize that it was a hollow and manipulative ploy. Thus began this writer’s involvement in the TrumpU lawsuit and court proceedings that would eventually land the worst legal black eye in Donald Trump’s career.

As Cohen’s unbelievable battle unfurls, one shocking step at a time, readers will be struck by how convoluted the search for justice can be, and how even a victory can be soured by the long journey to get there. The details of this education scheme’s torrential fallout are particularly powerful, given the charlatanism of the last American president; this book offers a lens into the disdain, selfishness, and penchant for deception that had marked the future leader of the free world for years.

Rather than a traditional telling, this mild version of gonzo journalism is entertaining and edgy, fearlessly digging into the fragile psyche and floundering mind of a reality TV star. That said, the journalistic tone in certain parts of the book doesn’t always match with the clear personal frustration and anger in other sections. Emotional investment in these proceedings is entirely understandable, but some readers might find the author to be unfairly biased in his account of this intense story.

On a technical level, there are a few basic errors and sloppy mistakes that a final proofreading edit could adjust, along with some slips in the formatting and syntax. There are a few inconsistencies in quotes versus narration, and it isn’t always clear if a conversation is verbatim or the author’s recounted memory of an exchange. That vaguely blurred line of storytelling and truth-telling is also what makes this entire criminal saga so interesting; the book ultimately takes a swing at the justice system as a whole – at the level of privilege and protection money can buy.

As the author states in the introduction, he sought to tell this tale “as truthfully and unflinchingly as possible.” Without adulteration, this is an important story to understand for any American who lived under that presidency, or who had ever been guided by the moral compass of Donald Trump. This work is a stunning slam dunk of an indictment, a bold confession, and a jaw-droppingly readable piece of real-world reporting.

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