Since World War II, US presidents of both parties have relied on an economic hit man strategy. They have used the four pillars of that strategy (fear, debt, anxiety over insufficiency, and divide and conquer) to control other nations and enrich a growing oligarchy. In the groundbreaking Confessions of an Economic Hit Man trilogy, John Perkins exposed the complex, expansive, and clandestine global network that serves the interests of powerful corporate, financial, and political entities. In The Art of the Steal, he reveals its most dangerous evolution. Donald Trump represents a historic shift. He is the first US president to turn the economic hit man strategy into a personal brand and governing style. He has ascended the four pillars, brought the playbook home, and reversed the march toward the American ideal of liberty, equality, justice, democracy, opportunity, and an individualism that supports family and community. At the same time, he has forced what was hidden into the open. This book explains how this happened, why it matters, and what each of us can do to turn things around. Both warning and blueprint, it offers a pathway to renewing the American ideal—and using it to model a new global ideal.