It’s a common question every presidential candidate is asked: What are your favorite books? It’s more than just a curiosity about a candidate’s personality; the answers tend to shed light on a would-be president’s interests and intellect.With this in mind, I was fascinated to see Donald Trump’s answer to this question yesterday.
Donald Trump has high praise for the author behind his two favorite books: himself.When asked this week what his two favorite books are by A.J. Calloway of “Extra,” the GOP presidential nominee replied, ” ‘The Art of the Deal,’ ‘Surviving at the Top.’”
It’s one of the most Trump-like answers Trump has delivered all year. Asked to name his favorite book, the Republican candidate used to say the Bible. Now, he’s dropped the pretense: Trump’s favorite books are the ones that have his face and name on the cover. Because for Donald J. Trump, everything is always about Donald J. Trump.In the same interview, he added, “I love books. I love reading when I get a chance to.”Whether or not one believes this is a matter of perspective. I, for example, find it difficult to see Trump as a voracious reader. Several months ago, asked to name the last book he read, the Republican candidate said, “I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don’t have the time.”But even for those inclined to accept Trump’s claims at face value should pause to appreciate the narcissism that goes into a perspective like this. A couple of years ago, BuzzFeed had an interesting report on this, which noted, “Whenever President Obama is asked about his all-time favorite books, he often lists quite a few titles and usually a different group of titles each time, but two books that have consistently been listed by the president are Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.”Note, Obama does not mention the books he wrote as his favorites.Complicating matters, let’s not forget that Trump’s first book was ghostwritten by Tony Schwartz, who has since come forward to tell voters the Republican presidential hopeful has “no heart and no soul.”I mention this because, in Trump’s mind, one of his two favorite books of all time was the autobiography that he wrote — but didn’t actually write.”I love books.” Sure, Donald, sure you do.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."