Mark Singer's Warning

In 1996, a magazine writer named Mark Singer got an assignment from his boss that he didn't want to do.

Hang around with Donald Trump and write a story about it.

I don't blame him for not wanting to hang around with Trump or write about him. Till then Singer had made his reputation for crafting charming and insightful profiles of oddball characters who could teach you a thing or two about life, if you could get past their eccentricities.

And Trump was far from eccentric or colorful. Instead, he was, then as now, a self-absorbed grifter, in love with himself, with nothing remotely interesting to say. Other than--look at me, I'm rich! Which isn't interesting at all.

But he was a celebrity. And as such, Tina Brown, Singer's boss, figured they could win over some readers who might not ordinarily pick up The New Yorker.

And so it was that, like writers everywhere, Singer had no choice but to do as the boss commanded. And he spent a few weeks hanging around with Trump and writing up what he'd discovered.

This was in Trump's pre-TV show days when it was inconceivable that he'd ever get elected to anything much less the presidency. Twice!

A raging egomaniac, Trump welcomed Singer's presence because he needed publicity anywhere he could find it to help build his brand.

The story Singer wrote was remarkably prescient--dude must have been a soothsayer.

No, he did not predict that the voters would be foolish enough to elect Trump president--twice!! But Singer concluded that Trump “had aspired to and achieved the ultimate luxury, an existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul.”

Trump hated the story because it made him look like the soulless douchebag that the whole world now knows that he is. 

Eventually, Singer included the Trump profile in Character Studies, a compilation of stories he published as a book. It was favorably reviewed by The New York Times. Prompting Trump to fire of an angry letter to the editor that included these lines…

”I’ve read John Updike. I’ve read Orhan Pamuk. I’ve read Philip Roth. When Mark Singer enters their league, maybe I’ll read one of his books.”

The great Mr. Singer… 

As a historical document the letter is fascinating. Though I think we can all agree that Trump probably didn’t write it. As I doubt he'd ever heard of Orhan Pamuk—the great Turkish novelist—much less read anything written by him. 

Probably never read anything by Updike or Roth either—though I suspect he had at least heard of them.

Give Singer credit. He had fun with it. He wrote Trump a note of appreciation for calling attention to the book and jacking up sales.

He also sent him a royalty check of $37.82 as “a small token of my enormous appreciation.”

Trump returned the letter to Singer, with a note, written in all caps at the bottom…

”Mark—you are a total loser…”

I doubt Trump had to hire a ghost writer to come up with that sentence. As that sounds like the President Donnie we’ve all come to know so well.

However, Trump did not return the check. Of course, he didn’t. The greedy cheapskate cashed it. 

And Singer kept a framed photocopy of the check in his apartment. 

Anyway, I write all this with much appreciation for Mark Singer, who died the other day. Age 75. Cancer.

Singer wrote many other articles and books. But his profile of Trump will perhaps be his most relevant, considering voters, one more time, felt compelled to elect him as president. Twice.

"Unmolested by the rumbling of a soul." Great line. Great writer. And a bit of a prophet.

We had our warnings about Trump.  We had to know what we were getting into when we elected him. And yet we got into it.

Don't blame Mark Singer. He told us. But we didn't listen. And now we're paying the price.