In 2005, Donald Trump flew to Colorado to give a motivational talk. Accompanying him were his wife, Melania, and a violent convicted felon and swindler named Felix Sater, who was helping Trump make two major development deals in Denver. Trump and Sater gave interviews to the Rocky Mountain News — interviews that would prove to be significant a few years later. The three took a limousine an hour north to Loveland, solidly Republican territory where more than a thousand people had paid to hear Trump’s advice on how to succeed in life and business.

Motivational speakers like Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins work up audiences with carefully crafted talks. They make lofty appeals to people about vanquishing inner demons so a better self can flourish and dreams of success can morph into reality.

Trump’s talk was nothing like that.

So begins an excerpt from David Cay Johnston’s indispensable The Making of Donald Trump, which ran yesterday on the homepage of truth-out.org. If you haven’t yet got your copy, do yourself—and your country—a favor: read the excerpt, then buy the book. (Go ahead; we’ll wait.)

Oh, and if you’re heading to your trusted local indie bookseller to get a copy, we’ve got a little earbud-candy while you’re waiting in line: here’s David’s appearance yesterday on Sirius XM radio with Joe Madison, who calls the book “mind-blowing,” and has some exceedingly smart questions:

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