WASHINGTON—A new book depicts Donald Trump as wildly unequipped to be president: an ignoramus who doesn’t read and doesn’t understand, a narcissist and a sexist, mentally deteriorating, unable to sit still, a “child.”Trump’s opponents have been saying all of this for a long time. What’s new in Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, now scheduled for release on Friday morning, is that the accusations are coming from within the Trump tent.Former chief strategist Steve Bannon. Former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. National security adviser H.R. McMaster. Top economic adviser Gary Cohn. Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Even daughter Ivanka Trump. All of them are quoted by Wolff mocking or insulting the president.The book has seized the attention of the Washington media, stealing headlines from such weighty matters as major Thursday changes to policy on marijuana, Pakistan and offshore drilling. It has created a significant rift among key Trump supporters. And it has rocketed to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list — in part, fittingly, because of Trump’s furious attempt to make it go away.Trump had his lawyer send a Thursday letter to the book’s publisher demanding that the company not publish the “defamatory” book at all. The day prior, his lawyer sent Bannon a letter threatening “imminent” legal action for alleged defamation and alleged breach of a confidentiality agreement. Some of the book — such as Ivanka Trump’s colourful description of her dad’s unique hair — can be dismissed as tabloid gossip. Bannon’s remarks are far more important. Among other things, Bannon told Wolff that it was “treasonous” that Donald Trump Jr. held a Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign. His accusation undercuts the Trump narrative that there is nothing to the Russia story at all.Wolff has a rep ...
|
