Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump's Women

Summary

New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist, Nina Burleigh, explores “the stark details of the forces that shaped [Donald] Trump’s thinking about women” (The New York Times) in this comprehensive, provocative, and critical account of the six women who have been closest to Trump.

Has any president in the history of the United States had a more fraught association with women than Donald Trump? He flagrantly cheated on all three of his wives, brushed off multiple accusations of sexual assault, publicly ogled his eldest daughter, bought the silence of a porn star and a Playmate, and proclaimed his now-infamous seduction technique: “grab ’em by the pussy.”

Golden Handcuffs is a provocative and “comprehensive exposé” (Kirkus Reviews) of Trump’s relationship with the women who have been closest to him—his German-immigrant grandmother, Elizabeth, the uncredited founder of the Trump Organization; his Scottish-immigrant mother, Mary, who acquired a taste for wealth as a maid in the Andrew Carnegie mansion; his wives—Ivana, Marla, and Melania (the first and third of whom are immigrants); and his eldest daughter, Ivanka, groomed to take over the Trump brand from a young age. Also examined are Trump’s two older sisters, one of whom is a prominent federal judge; his often-overlooked younger daughter, Tiffany; his female employees; and those he calls “liars”—the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.