Welcome to the Bollowark Podcast. I'm Charlie Sykes. If you listened to yesterday's

episode with Jennifer Senior, you probably already guessed that today's show features Maggie

Haberman, who has had a singular education in New York corruption because of her years

covering City Hall there. Her portrait of Trump, in her book Confidence Man, emphasizes

his ascent in the New York City of the 70s and 80s. The dynamics that define New York

City in the 1980s stayed with Trump for decades, Haberman writes. He often seems frozen in

time there. I also asked Maggie about the critics who accused her of access journalism. Here's

my interview with Maggie Haberman. The book is the Confidence Man, the making of Donald

Trump and the breaking of America. And this is the way that it is described. The book

paints a jarring portrait of Trump. But one that differs in some respects from more common

one-dimensional portraits. As a basically lonely man whose own views and attitudes

are amorphous and situational rather than strategic. He can be charming and cruel, generous

and selfish, tolerant and viciously closed-minded. He has no strategy, no method of leadership.

He does what works at any given moment. He has few personal ties outside his family. Children

he constantly tests and occasionally torments and few real friends. Chaos and uncertainty

dominate. Misery is a common emotion among those in his orbit. To this day, close associates

privately root for his death to free themselves from their bondage to him. Joining me on the

podcast is the author of this blockbuster new best-selling book, Maggie Haberman from

the New York Times. Good morning Maggie. Good morning. Thanks for having me. So, Axios

describes this as the book that Trump fears most. He doesn't read books. Why would he fear

a book? Well, you know, I can't speak for what. My axiom says something, but although I

very much appreciated their interest in it, I think that the issue with Trump in terms

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