He is a successful businessman in the form of starting a magazine publication and authoring numerous best selling books, but besides that, he's done alright.
As for his general pov on trade, sure he could be right. One can see the obvious results of wage arbitrage via globalization. The middle class in American has been odd result in history, now that 'real' market forces are at play, it will shrink, but that is the nature of current principles.
He’s not a business man, but yes, he has made money on the strength of his political connections - and he has traded on his name recognition - and all of that is fine......but if you think that has a damned thing to do with main street business reality, you don’t know anything about main street business.