Ah. Missed that one. Thx.
I have a copy of “Fire and Fury” via Kindle and it’s a horrifying page turner. Even if it’s only 10% accurate, it’s managed to cause Trump to lose his shi! on Twitter and caused a split between Trump and Bannon that hopefully will never be fixed, and that’s worth more than a wholly accurate book. Even outside of Wolffe’s book, it’s obvious this administration is likely the most whacked-out in history
The odd thing about this is that we’ve already known how this White House functions for at least a year. It was a reality TV drama, or as I read somewhere, a “Halloween presidency” from day one. I’ve been wondering why this story continues to stay right at the top of my Google News feed three days running, pretty much 24-hours a day. The rift with Bannon is really and truly the only newsworthy item this book produces.
I’m assuming it’s partly that Trump won’t shut up about it, partly the split with Bannon and the ensuing fallout, and partly because it’s great juicy gossip with quotes
Assuming at least some truth, I learned Ivanka and Jared are worse people than I ever thought possible (and I was starting to think that before the book came out). They were supposedly the golden couple, the “father whisperer” liberals who would keep Trump in check. Now their reputation is in tatters, they’ve given up on trying to steer and influence Trump, and the book makes them look even worse
It shouldn’t be too surprising, however, that abnormally awful people produce abnormally awful children.
The trouble with this book is that this is what passes for “reporting” these days. There are hundreds of factual articles and reports published each week documenting the psychosis in the White House, and yet what finally gets a national conversation going is a saucy book that seems to be put together sloppily and in a manner that doesn’t really conform to professional journalistic ethics. Yes, there are probably dozens of corroborated facts in this book, but if five or ten other claims turn out to be inaccurate or just plain wrong, then the book has actually inflicted damage. Right now, we’re shocked and awed by the content, but when the news cycle settles, it’s possible (I think likely) that we will begin to question the veracity of some of the reporting - the author doesn’t seem to enjoy a healthy reputation among his colleagues.
As entertaining as this spectacle is, and as much as we would like to think it’s shining the light on the administration’s dark space, this could end up having a very detrimental impact in the longer term. It will end up giving the ammunition his critics need to claim that the news is “fake.” Sure, the Washington Post and New York Times are commenting on the excerpts with all of the requisite disclaimers - that’s all well and good. But the way that people consume information - news for instance - makes it very, very easy for ordinary people to conflate different sources and attribute falsities to outlets who thought they were doing their due diligence. In this day and age of linking and sharing gathered facts, there’s guilt by association. Imagine a society in which the National Enquirer is treated like legitimate news, and this is probably what that society would look like.
Meanwhile, to the rest of the world, America continues to look increasingly like a caricature rather than a functioning, stable society.
I read the book yesterday. It was interesting enough, but there wasn’t really anything new in it. If you’ve been following the news for the last couple of years, or the threads on this board, you already knew all that is in the book. It was interesting to see it all put down in one place though.
I think the most significant thing about the book will be the affect it has on Trump, and his “administration.”
I have to agree. This will fire up his supporters more than those that already know what a mess the White House is.
I won’t be reading the book. No need to.
I have a very good friend that hates trump as much as I. She’s well read and IMHO very intelligent. She said that trump can’t be impeached for obstruction of justice. She heard it somewhere. (that claim was brought up by the trump admin a month or two ago)
I had to send her some citations showing otherwise. trump can be impeached for pretty much anything congress wants to impeach him for. Obstruction of Justice by the head of the executive branch is nearly as bad as treason IMHO.
Since when did anyone on the far right need “ammunition” to brand something they don’t like as “fake news”? They’re already characterizing the book that way in the Echo Chamber. Do you honestly think anyone from Fox or Breitbart are going to diligently fact-check the book and distinguish any part as true or fake?
I wasn’t going to read the damn thing, but there it was on Amazon for $15 Kindle edition, and with one click, boom! I had it. I’ve read about half so far and as others have said, there’s nothing really new there for those who are already paying attention. But that argues in favor of its accuracy, doesn’t it? Wolff isn’t making any new, unknown claims. He’s simply compiled what was already known into a very readable format.
We’ve always loved palace intrigue-type missives in this country, as evidenced by the peculiar American obsession with All Things British Royal. Wolff’s book captures the same allure. If its publication entices some Americans to read and get a better understanding of what’s actually going on in the White House, I don’t see a down side.
One thing worth noting: There’s not exactly a chorus of denial coming from anywhere other than places that will already lie to protect Trump, such as Fox “News” talking heads and Breitbart. Have you seen any of Trump’s administration giving full-throated denials to anything in the book? Where’s Mike Pence? John Kelly? Steve Mnuchin? Other than Trump himself and his family members, all I see is a lot of pearl clutching and little to factually refute anything noted in the book. Wolff had 200+ sources and most of them members of Trump’s own administration. He claims to have tapes and notes to back up his writing. There may be a whiff of tabloid in the telling of the tale, but it does seem to be well sourced.
Bannon miscalculated, and badly. I think he meant to draw his faction of Trump supporters into the reality of what is coming with the Mueller investigation and to get those people behind Bannon-backed ideologues in 2018. But Bannon has always been a victim of his Messiah complex. Just as he misjudged the power he would wield to get Roy Moore elected, he misjudged the control he personally had over Trump supporters to draw them down his own yellow brick road. Now he just looks like a back-stabbing megalomaniac brought low.
The current scrotus and his administration are a cluster fuck. But after a year I’ve come to believe that this is exactly what the money behind trump wants. Constant chaos while they rape and pillage this country. There isn’t a way to stop them either, they hold the ace in this hand.
Just when we think it can’t get worse, it does, or that the repubs can’t go lower, they do. Money to the rich, and let the poor die.
Yeah, there isn’t much in Fire and Fury that wasn’t reported at the time, it’s an interesting fleshing out of the “behind the scenes” speculation that surrounded the constant controversies.
But it’s actually made me think we shouldn’t impeach a Trump yet. Because I’m thinking if the Dems get a House and Senate majority in 2018 ( later this year! ), he can probably be convinced to sign a UHC bill as well as a lot of other left-leaning legislation. Because he has no ideology, all he wants are WINS! And Jarvanka is a closet liberal anyway and Kushner’s brother owns an ObamaCare dependent health insurance company.
Especially if CNN, etc turn around the tone of their Trump coverage. It’s probably wishful thinking but maybe he could become OUR useful idiot.
Good points. Once the Pubs turn out to be LOSERS!, thump won’t want anything to do with them.
Nm, duplicate post
Until he decides to nuke North Korea because his hands are DEFINITELY NOT TINY AND WAY BIGGER THAN YOURS KIM JONG!
…not a gamble worth taking.
Paul Krugman suggests what he thinks the REAL story is, or ought to be:
Krugman is entirely correct. The Republican party has become a cancer spread throughout our system of government. It must be rooted out and destroyed. They are all now conspiring as a legislative body to obstruct Mueller’s investigation and to leave the door wide open for foreign interference in our elections for as long as it suits those who share common interests to work toward an American plutocracy. They have abandoned all pretense of participation in a democratic republic governed by the rule of law.
To use Trump for Democrats’ own purposes is only to emulate the Republicans’ worst behaviors. In addition to the horror show that remains his cabinet (Really? Leave Pompeo in charge of the CIA? Mnuchin in charge of Treasury? Tillerson as SoS?), which would continue to eat away at our institutional norms and finish the ruination of our global relationships, it would normalize Trumpism for decades to come. It would change who we are as Americans at the most fundamental level.
The most important thing Democrats can do when they retake the House and Senate is to safeguard Mueller, allow him to complete his investigation, impeach Trump and then put as many of the remaining Trump bunch in jail as we can. What they are doing is criminal. If Dems fail to take the Senate in 2018, then they must at least stymie every single thing Trump and his bandits try to accomplish until the Senate can be retaken.
Most here now understand what happened in 2016. More frightening than the Russian interference and the hungry willingness of the Trump crowd to exploit it for their own personal enrichment is the eagerness with which the Republicans have embraced the intrusion and abandoned the entire country to do so. We must fight in every way possible to stop it. And then to ensure it never, ever happens again.
Don’t want a useful idiot. Want a congress that does their job to get rid of the moron that republicans elected. Allow the law to then deal with trump. We’ll worry about the next step if it happens. Anyone like dominos?
I agree with this. The ‘make him our useful idiot’ idea has the appeal of being potentially possible–he WOULD turn to Democrats for praise and validation if the GOP loses badly in the upcoming midterms (and if Democrats can stomach praising him).
But there’s too much harm that will continue to be done by his Cabinet, as others have mentioned. And the nation won’t recover for decades from the harm done by his judicial appointments.
He’s unfit. He must go.
What if we don’t want an idiot no matter what his political leanings are? How about having a President with some dignity again?
These days, Trump’s official schedule starts at 11:00, and he’s attending far fewer meetings than he did in the early days of his presidency. He fills the remaining time, naturally, with television.
I’m not sure how reliable that source is, but the blurb was retweeted by E.J. Dionne, who I generally trust not to spread bullshit.