John Perkins has a remarkable gift for exposing uncomfortable truths. His forthcoming book, The Art of the Steal: Trump and the Economic Hit Man Presidency, may be his most timely work yet.
The obvious subject is Donald Trump. The deeper subject is power.
Perkins asks a question that reaches far beyond any one political figure: How do leaders persuade people to support policies that ultimately enrich the powerful while leaving themselves more divided, insecure, and vulnerable?
His answer is that Trump did not invent these methods. Rather, he has applied techniques that ruthless rulers and empires have relied upon for centuries.
Perkins writes with unusual authority. As readers of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man know, he once served inside the very system he now critiques. His work took him into confidential negotiations with political leaders around the world, where he witnessed firsthand how economic dependency, fear, manipulation, and division were used to secure wealth and power for corporate and geopolitical interests. In The Art of the Steal, he turns that same lens toward America itself.
Perkins identifies four processes used by would-be dictators to gain power. I call them the Four Forces of Division: fear, debt, the anxiety of never having enough, and the ancient strategy of divide and conquer. These are not merely political tactics. They are psychological tools that encourage people to distrust one another while looking to powerful leaders or institutions for protection. Throughout history they have enabled elites to concentrate wealth and power while weakening the capacity of ordinary people to act together in their own common interest.
Reading Perkins’s latest book led me to reflect on a larger historical pattern. Human societies have always depended on gifts that belong to us all: the living Earth that sustains every form of life, and the social bonds, public institutions, and democratic traditions that make civilization possible. Together they are known as the Commons. Most people may never use that term, but everyone understands the reality it describes. None of us created these shared inheritances, yet all of us depend upon them.
The Four Forces of Division are ultimately tools for separating us from those shared inheritances. They persuade us to sacrifice the long-term health of our communities, our democracy, and the living Earth in pursuit of private wealth, political advantage, or the illusion of security. When we become divided against one another, we become easier to manipulate—and less capable of protecting what truly sustains us all.
That is why I see Perkins’s new book as far more than an analysis of Donald Trump or contemporary American politics. It is an historical account of the methods by which empires have maintained their dominance across centuries. More importantly, it helps us recognize those methods as they are being used against us today.
The encouraging news is that history is not predetermined. The same human capacity for cooperation that built our greatest civilizations can also help us reclaim our future. Every step that strengthens trust, rebuilds community, protects the living Earth, and restores democratic accountability weakens the Four Forces of Division.
The Art of the Steal arrives at a moment when humanity faces a profound choice. We can continue down a path of fear, division, and concentrated power, or we can recognize our shared destiny and strengthen the common foundations on which every healthy society depends.
Whether you approach the book as history, politics, economics, or simply a search for deeper understanding, John Perkins offers a perspective that deserves your careful attention. He has spent a lifetime studying how systems of domination work. His greatest contribution may be showing that once we understand those systems, we are no longer condemned to live within them.
More about the book
The Art of the Steal will be released on September 8, 2026. Pre-order now from your favorite independent bookseller; find more ordering information, watch John’s video introduction, and learn more about the book HERE…
Read John’s letter to the President (with a copy of the book enclosed): “Dear President Trump.”
Dr. David C. Korten is the founder and president of the Living Economies Forum, and co-founder and board chair emeritus of YES! Magazine.He is best known for his seminal books framing a new economy for the Ecological Civilization to which humanity must now transition. Learn more at https://davidkorten.org/