Trump touts new book by Cubs’ Joe Ricketts

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Sunday boosted the new memoir of Joe Ricketts, the patriarch of the family owning the Chicago Cubs, a mega donor to GOP and conservative causes and the father of Todd, the finance chair of Trump’s re-election campaign.

In a tweet Sunday morning, Trump wrote: “Joe Ricketts, one of our Country’s most successful businessmen, including being the owner of the Chicago Cubs, has just written a great new book, THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE LUCKIER YOU GET. So true! Much can be learned from Joe. Go get the book!”

The publisher, Simon & Schuster, on its website said Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, “shares the epic inside story of how a working-class kid from the Nebraska prairie took on Wall Street’s clubby brokerage business, busted it open, and walked away a billionaire.”

Trump trying to vault the Ricketts’ book to the bestseller charts could be a mixed blessing for the Cubs organization since it serves as a reminder of the uproar Joe Ricketts triggered earlier this year after racist and anti-Muslim emails Ricketts authored were published on the website of splinternews.com.

Barack Obama is “a liar and a cheat,” Ricketts wrote in 2010. “Thank God there are a lot of people like us.” He also wrote, ‘‘Islam is a cult and not a religion,” Ricketts wrote. “Christianity and Judaism are based on love, whereas Islam is based on ‘kill the infidel,’ a thing of evil.’’

In February, after the emails came to light, Cubs president Tom Ricketts said, “He realizes those statements cause pain. But I love him. He’s my dad. He’s a great man.”

Trump was wrong when he wrote that Joe Ricketts owned the Cubs. Joe Ricketts’ fortune bankrolled the purchase of the Cubs. However, the team is controlled by his four children who are on the board. At one stage during the 2016 campaign, Joe Ricketts was a “never Trumper” but eventually came on board.

Todd Ricketts is the finance chair for the combined Trump/Pence and Republican National Committee fundraising committees. Tom Ricketts runs the Cubs, while another brother, Pete, is the GOP governor of Nebraska. Sister Laura is a major Democratic donor and fundraiser.

Earlier this year, fans protested when Todd Ricketts brought GOP donors to Wrigley Field in connection with a fundraiser in a Chicago hotel. Trump, in Chicago last month, raised about $4 million at a Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Joe Ricketts was in Washington last Wednesday to talk about his book at the American Enterprise Institute. At the event, according to the AEI website, Ricketts, asked “What is the most important thing about your story that you want people to know?” said in reply: “Make mistakes,” Ricketts said. “Do something, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake or to lose. Just make sure you don’t do the same thing twice.”

In the book, Ricketts tells the story of how family deal to buy the Cubs came together after Tom approached him.

“He pitched me his proposal, and I said, “That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.” Tom, however, was a natural entrepreneur with an entrepreneur’s optimism. He told me later that he felt my response, harsh though it might have been, was a step forward. Yes! Tom thought to himself. Dad didn’t say no!”