As an author I often meet people who say they don't read very much.
But Donald Trump may be our first President who not only doesn't read books at all, but doesn't care about them. The Washington Post reports that "there are no shelves of books in his office, no computer on his desk."
What is on his desk? Magazines, and "nearly all of them with himself on their covers, and each morning, he reviews a pile of printouts of news articles about himself that his secretary delivers to his desk."
This is nothing new. The man who actually wrote The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwarz, says that in the eighteen months he spent with Trump "he never saw a book on Trump's desk, or elsewhere in his office, or in his apartment."
But you'd think someone running for President might be curious about other Presidents, other campaigns, American history. Not Trump. The only thing he seems to be curious about is how he's perceived in the media. And he claims he doesn't need to read because he has "common" sense and "business ability."
That must be the same common sense that approved the grotesque campaign logo which was probably the most mocked logo in Twitter history:
Or the business ability that launched failures like Trump University, Trump steaks, Trump vodka, and led him to file for bankruptcy three times on his Atlantic City properties.
Who would ever have expected that anyone running for the Presidency would make George Bush look remotely thoughtful? Bush at least read books. Granted, it was as a competitive sport, but he didn't brag about not reading and not having the time to read.
Right now Trump prefers reports of only a few pages. As President he would likely be happy with Post-it notes.
Lev Raphael is the author of 25 books in genres from memoir to mystery which you can find on Amazon.