Donald Trump, who publicly touts himself as a “dealmaker-in-chief,” is privately upset at his failure to strike deals to stop the two wars he has promised to end, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
At a closed-door meeting with top donors at Mar-a-Lago last week, Trump admitted that the frustration he feels from his inability to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine keeps him up at night, people in the room told the WSJ.
He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Trump has frequently claimed is negotiating in good faith, has been driving an especially hard bargain. Putin wants “the whole thing,” Trump said, referring to Ukraine.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
The tl, dr is that Trump gave his co-writer full credit and half the profits of the book, which was a lousy deal for Trump. The co-author took the money and ran.