8 key insights from Trump's book 'The Art of the Deal' reveal how the president thinks

Eric Schultz/AP

When President Donald Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015, he proclaimed, "We need a leader that wrote 'The Art of the Deal."

Though Trump's ghostwriter, now-HR-consultant Tony Schwartz, has since renounced his ties to the president, there are clear elements of "The Art of the Deal" that Trump continues to use as talking points.

The book shows how his career as a real estate developer in the '70s and '80s created his approach to business and leadership, including why, in his campaign, he would portray his deal-making in New York City as a miniature version of how he would approach the US.

While there is still much to learn about Trump's management style as president of the United States, the highlights he chose from his early career offer some insight into his approach to making deals.

His biggest influence growing up was his father.

Trump portrays his father Fred as a tough, stern figure who was difficult to get along with. The son of German immigrants, Fred created a profitable real estate collection of single-family homes in Queens and low-income housing developments in Queens and Brooklyn.

Trump joined his father's business in 1968, at age 22, and eventually forayed into the world of high-end Manhattan real estate, since, as he writes in "The Art of the Deal," he wanted to be part of a luxury market. Fred would help start his son on this journey with a loan of $1 million, and with millions of dollars more in loans in the late '70s and early '80s, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Trump suggests he was able to have a stronger relationship with his father than his four siblings did, since he and Fred had a similar "business-like" approach to life. "I was drawn to business very early, and I was never intimidated by my father, the way most people were," Trump writes. "I stood up to him, and he respected that."

He said that his father taught him the importance of efficiency and toughness, and that his mother Mary Ann, a Scottish immigrant, imparted his famous flair for the dramatic that his father lacked.

And he came to believe you should work with family whenever possible.

Trump's three oldest children — Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric — were key advisers during his presidential campaign, and Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner is an adviser in the White House. As he explains in "The Art of the Deal," Trump likes to work with family whenever possible. 

In a section about working with his brother Robert on an Atlantic City deal in 1980, Trump writes, "There is nothing to compare with family if they happen to be competent, because you can trust family in a way you can never trust anyone else."

When he closed a deal in Atlantic City in 1985, he put his wife Ivana in charge of the Trump Castle casino rather than hiring a manager from outside, since he prioritized trust over casino experience.

Working with family is also beneficial when coupled with his general management approach, which is having his people report directly to him rather than go through bureaucracy.

"In our organization, anyone with a question could bring it directly to me and get an answer immediately," he writes. "That's precisely why I've been able to act so much faster than my competitors on so many deals."

He learned how to be a force in the public arena from Roy Cohn.

After graduating Wharton in 1971, Trump moved to Manhattan to begin making deals on his own, though with the financial support of his father. He writes that he got to work schmoozing his way to a membership at the exclusive Le Club. It was here in 1973 he met Roy Cohn, a man who would become a mentor.

Cohn rose to prominence in the '50s as the chief counsel of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, during McCarthy's hunt for Communists within the US. After McCarthy, Cohn developed a reputation as a ruthless attorney in New York, with clients ranging from Mob boss Tony "Fat Tony" Salerno to the New York Yankees. He was also a socialite "who could be charismatic and witty," the Washington Post reported.

When Trump sat next to Cohn in Le Club, he told him about the Justice Department's civil rights case brought against him and his father, accusing them of violating the Fair Housing Act. He asked for Cohn's take. "My view is tell them to go to hell," Trump writes Cohn said, adding that it was on them to prove the allegations. Trump hired Cohn to fight the case and they agreed to a settlement without admitting guilt.

Trump writes that Cohn most valued toughness and loyalty, which he admired. 

In addition to being his lawyer, Cohn introduced Trump to influential people across New York and Washington, D.C., including one of President Richard Nixon's strategists, Roger Stone, a man who would help him get elected president in 2016.