The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family

Written by David Cay Johnston

Narrated by Danny Campbell

Pulitzer Prize­–winning reporter and dean of Trumpologists David Cay Johnston reveals years of eye-popping financial misdeeds by Donald Trump and his family.

While the world watched Donald Trump’s presidency in horror or delight, few noticed that his lifelong grifting quietly continued. Less than forty minutes after taking the oath of office, Trump began turning the White House into a money machine for himself, his family, and his courtiers.

More than $1.7 billion flowed into Donald Trump’s bank accounts during his four years as president. Foreign governments rented out whole floors of his hotel five blocks from the White House while lobbyists conducted business in the hotel’s restaurants. Payday lenders and other trade groups moved their annual conventions to Trump golf resorts. And individual favor seekers joined his private Mar-a-Lago club with its $200,000 admission fee in hopes of getting a few minutes with the President. Despite earning more than $1 million every day he was in office, Trump left the White House as he arrived—hard up for cash. More than $400 million in debt comes due by 2024, and Trump still lacks the resources to pay it back.

“Few people are as well positioned to write an exposé of the former president as Johnston” (The Washington Post), and The Big Cheat offers a guided tour of how money flowed in and out of Trump’s hundreds of enterprises, showing in simple terms how a corrupt president used our government for his benefit, even putting national security at risk. Johnston details the four most recent years of the corruption that has defined the Trump family since 1885 and reveals the costs of Trump’s extravagant lifestyle for American taxpayers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781797130200

David Cay Johnston

David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter and bestselling author of The Making of Donald Trump and It’s Even Worse Than You Think. He has lectured on economics, journalism, and tax policy on every continent except Antarctica and is a former president of Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE). Johnston has been a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN, the BBC, ABC World News Tonight, Democracy Now!, and NPR’s Morning Edition, among other shows, and was a consultant for the Netflix series House of Cards.

Reviews for The Big Cheat

[Nick Quick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A tragic reminder of how low the USA has stooped. This is a story of how a slightly above average conman with a well-below average intelligence was able to achieve his version of the "American dream" simply by lying his ass off and encouraging the worst behavior in his supporters. This book won't erase the embarrassing orange stain left on American politics, but it will inform you of the depth of corruption that took place while we stood by and did nothing.

[Pádraig Ó BEIRN · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Had to stop listening because I couldn't stand the narrator. Danny Campbell sounds like he can't wait to go to the toilet as he narrates. Rating is for the narrator, not the content.

[DiannaJohnson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

RUBBISH. IF YOU BELIEVE THIS CRAP, MOVE TO CHINA. GET OUT OF MY WAY.

[Dax · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Why are people on the left so ridiculously afraid of the truth being revealed to them? Trump has many flaws, being a human it comes wuth the package. But the left's obedient hate of him is definitely cult level psychosis.

[Steven Stankevitz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I could not believe all the swindling that happened through this coward. Thanks