I have to believe that anyone reading this blog has heard of Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff. The book has been a publishing phenomenon. It was announced, and then the author started a tour giving interviews and chapters were excerpted in various publications. But the most effective marketing was by the Trump administration, who tried to stop the book’s publication. This caused the release date to be accelerated by the publisher and sales to soar. I got an early copy. By the time I finished the book, three weeks after release, sales were announced as 1.7 million, of which 1.5 million were hard-cover versions with a list price of $30 (or $18 from Amazon). The other 200,000 were audio books and e-book downloads. I understand they have blown through 22 printings (the printing plates probably actually wear out at these volumes) and there is no slowdown yet.
The Trump White House has criticized the book as fiction and various factual errors have been documented. But outside Trump and his surrogates, no one has denied the basic accuracy of the story. This is especially true of Steve Bannon, who is probably the most visible character in this tale.
The author has been derided as nothing more than a gossip columnist. In fact, he was dispatched by the editors of his employer, The Hollywood Reporter, to first cover Donald Trump. Having read the book with all the historical references and analyses of the various scenarios that took place, maybe I should start reading The Hollywood Reporter. The author comes across as very knowledgeable and sophisticated. The text drove me to Google to look up words and references many times.
Michael Wolff basically sat on a couch in the West Wing of the White House for most of the first year of Trump’s presidency. He observed the comings and goings and spoke with all of the various parties. In his acknowledgements, he thanks the various people in this story for how generous everyone was with their time. He was welcomed because the administration thought he would document an important time in the nation’s history.
That he may have done but it does not reflect well on the parties involved. The portrait is one of the White House in total chaos and internally at war. The internal war was and is a result of the leadership vacuum at the top.
Perhaps the various parties were looking for publication of their various leaks, to undermine their intra-West Wing adversaries. Wolff was a neutral party in this and the warring factions were all leaking to the media in an effort to advance their agendas and undermine the others. The agendas were mostly about who would rule. The three warring factions were:
- The Jarvankas—Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka and their entourage.
- The Bannonites—The circle surrounding Steve Bannon.
- The Party—Refugees from the Republican National Committee.
Each of the three factions had their own press officers! The job of the press officers was to supply leaks to the press in this crazy internal war for power.
You may have noted by now that I haven’t talked about any of Trump’s actual positions on issues. The book really isn’t about policy positions, mostly because it is hard to know what those positions are. Within the administration the three factions advocate very different things and there often isn’t an official position. For example, during the discussion of ‘repeal and replacement’ of Obamacare, Donald Trump (according to the author) asked, “Why can’t Medicare simply cover everybody?” In other words, the same position of Bernie Sanders on healthcare. The PR coming out of the White House was, of course, very different.
Two other claims of the book, again not policy positons, are most noteworthy in my mind. First, the author claims that no one on the Trump team anticipated winning. For each of them, it was a brand-building exercise, which would be capitalized upon after losing the election. They were not prepared to govern and were shocked to win. The other odd claim is that Donald Trump does not process information in any conventional sense. He does not read at all, not even skimming, not even a summary. The book calls him ‘post literate.’ What little input he receives mostly comes from cable television. He also doesn’t listen, although he does talk on the phone a lot and a lot of people talk at him during meetings.
Getting back to the issue of the book’s accuracy, I can’t know for sure, of course. But I read skeptically and question everything. Based on what I have observed during the last year via media reporting from every side, I’d venture an estimate that the book is at least 90% accurate. Most of the book is consistent with what one would expect; it’s just that if you thought the ‘governance’ was bad, it is shocking that it is so much worse. If the book were 50% correct, we should all be concerned.
In terms of writing style, the book flows beautifully; like a well written novel. It is a pleasant read. At least until you reset and remind yourself that this is a true story about how the country is being run. And we don’t know how the story ends.
No matter how you voted and, for so many reasons, this is a book I recommend you read. There is a lot of substance here. Plus, if nothing else, you may come away with some new favorite expressions. Sean Spicer’s hourly declaration that “You can’t make this shit up” isn’t original enough. George W. Bush, after hearing the inaugural address by Trump and written by Bannon, commented, “That’s some weird shit.” I’ve used that a few times already. Maybe the best was Steve Bannon’s comment about Jared and Ivanka Kushner’s legal preparations in advance of being questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Bannon said, “They’re sitting on a beach trying to stop a Category Five” (hurricane). I love that one.
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