Donald Trump built his brand on the myth of the self-made billionaire. The man who turned a ‘small loan’ from his father into a global empire. But behind the gold-plated image lies a trail of bankruptcies, bailouts, and creative accounting that kept his empire afloat. Today on The Bunker, Jacob Jarvis is joined by Russ Buettner, journalist and author of Lucky Loser, to take a magnifying glass to Trump’s finances and ask how a serially failing businessman convinced millions he was the ultimate winner?

Buy Russ’s book Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

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Written and presented by Jacob Jarvis. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio editors: Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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