Authors Demolish 1 Of Trump's Biggest Myths About His Own Success

Two New York Times journalists says Donald Trump isn’t the big business success he claims to be, as he “appropriated” much of his cash from his father, Fred Trump .

And he wasn’t nearly as good with that money as his father was.

“Donald became a black hole for Fred’s money eventually,” Susanne Craig said on MSNBC on Tuesday.

Craig and her Times colleague, Russ Buettner, are authors of the new book, “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”

Buettner said the elder Trump was a careful businessman with projects that ultimate made money.

“Donald is just the opposite story,” he said.

Much of the former president’s money instead came from luck ― including the luck of being born into a wealthy family, the luck of inheriting much of his father’s fortune, and the luck of becoming a massive star on reality television.

“And there is no evidence that in fifty years of labor Donald Trump added to his lucky fortunes,” the two write in their book. “He would have been better off betting on the stock market than on himself.”

See their full conversation with MSNBC’s Alex Wagner below: