Donald Trump took a swing at the ghostwriter for his best-selling book The Art of Deal, after the writer suggested this week that the Republican nominee “wants to be a dictator.”
In a pair of tweets early Saturday morning, Trump addressed “[D]ummy writer” Tony Schwartz, whom he claims has wanted to work on a second book with him for years — a proposition which Trump turned down.
Dummy writer @tonyschwartz, who wanted to do a second book with me for years (I said no), is now a hostile basket case who feels jilted!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2016
After calling him a “hostile basket case who feels jilted,” Trump tweeted that he hasn’t seen the writer in many years, and that Schwartz “hardly” knows him.
“Never liked his style. Super lib, Crooked H supporter. Irrelevant dope!” Trump finished.
I havn’t seen @tonyschwartz in many years, he hardly knows me. Never liked his style. Super lib, Crooked H supporter. Irrelevant dope!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2016
Trump’s pointed tweets followed an interview Schwartz did on CNN’s “New Day” Thursday, where he panned the candidate for saying nice things about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I mean, just the fact that last night he said so many complimentary things about Vladimir Putin ought to be a sign to his supporters that this is a man who wants to be a dictator,” Schwartz said. “He wants to be able, like Putin, to declare the equivalent of martial law. We can’t have that person be president.”
Schwartz, who supports Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, expressed his regret for helping Trump write his 1987 memoir in a story published by the New Yorker in July in which he said, “I put lipstick on a pig.”
“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,” Schwartz said. “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.”
Schwartz has also taken to Twitter to attack Trump, whom he has described as a “bully,” and even offered to donate his Art of the Deal royalties to people Trump has insulted.
Schwartz tweeted Wednesday that a remark made by Trump during a televised forum that Putin is a better leader than President Obama should “disqualify him from being commander in chief.”
