Washington, DC: US president Donald Trump apparently showed reporters a document arguing he held more power than history’s most feared rulers, while also describing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “con man” in a private conversations with aides, a new book by veteran journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan has revealed.
“Regime Change,” is a book that examines the first 14 months of Trump’s second term. It is set for release on June 23, 2026.
Trump allegedly sat down for an interview in March with New York Times reporters Haberman and Swan for their book and showed them a document arguing he was more powerful than some of history’s most feared and treacherous leaders, including Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao and Hitler, the book says.
The conversation began when the authors asked Trump about the power he wielded in his second term and his place in history, which led him to describe a two-page document he said he had received from “a historian” during an event honoring golfer Gary Player, as reported by The Times of India.
It turned out that the document was not what Trump had claimed it to be. It was not a document from a historian but the author was a longtime aide who told Haberman and Swan he had first shared his conclusions with the president before explaining them in writing. The document’s central claim was that each of the historical figures named, however fearsome in his time, had no global reach, with their power confined locally, unlike Trump’s.
Trump’s shifting attitude toward Netanyahu, particularly around the question of going to war with Iran, has also been detailed in the book. Trump had apparently told an Israel skeptic in the early months of his administration that he did not want “any part” of a Netanyahu war with Iran, Haberman and Swan wrote.
Trump also told another adviser that Netanyahu was a “con man,” which the authors describe as one of the harshest insults in Trump’s vocabulary.
The book also reconstructs a February gathering in the White House Situation Room involving Trump, Netanyahu and a handful of senior US and Israeli officials, where Netanyahu laid out Israel’s case for war with Iran, a course of action Trump ultimately decided to support.
Haberman and Swan have also documented Trump’s wavering stance on Ukraine. The book describes Trump’s skepticism toward Ukraine and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as Russia’s war in Ukraine continued into Trump’s second year despite his campaign promise to resolve it quickly.
Following a confrontation between Trump, Zelenskyy and US vice president J D Vance at the Oval Office of the White House last February, the US president reportedly told an adviser the exchange was “Better than The Apprentice.”
The book also notes how Trump made changes in the Oval Office after returning to power. According to participants cited in the book, Trump personally directed the addition of numerous gold elements to the room’s interior, including gilded cornices, figurines, medallions, mirrors and gold detailing on doors, along with cherub decorations brought over from Mar-a-Lago.
