Much of what is in Michael Wolff‘s book about the Donald Trump presidency is stuff we all knew. We mean, no one is more effective at showing how bad a president Trump is than Trump himself on his Twitter account!
But for the first time we’re finally getting detailed descriptions of what’s going on behind the scenes!
Video: Wolff Stands By ‘Absolutely Everything’ After Trump Says Book Is ‘Full Of Lies’
Thanks to the White House letting a journalist hang around and interview, record, and take notes for months, we have the best picture yet of Trump.
And, shockingly, it’s worse than we thought.
Here are the five biggest revelations from Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House:
1. Trump Didn’t Want To Win
Not only did Trump not want to be president — it was always his plan to lose! Hence all that “rigged” talk just before Super Tuesday.
He may even have been planning to launch that widely reported Trump TV as a Fox News-like channel dedicated to slamming everything done by President Hillary Clinton.
That would explain why — after telling the public he would spend a billion dollars of his own money to win if necessary, he would only loan $10 million to the campaign, and on the strict condition that he get it back as soon as they had more donors.
As Wolff describes it, losing was a win for everyone:
“Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities. Steve Bannon would become the de facto head of the tea-party movement. Kellyanne Conway would be a cable-news star. Melania Trump, who had been assured by her husband that he wouldn’t become president, could return to inconspicuously lunching. Losing would work out for everybody. Losing was winning.”
IMPORTANT NOTE: If Trump planned to lose the election, everything he said on the campaign — EVERYTHING — was a lie.
He never intended to be president, so he never intended to do ANY of what he said.
2. Really Seems Like Trump Cheats On His Wife
We’ve already heard about numerous inappropriate advances — and we believe the women — not to mention the more recent claim that Trump bragged about coercing his friends’ wives into sleeping with him.
So it’s been pretty obvious he’s not faithful to Melania. Like much of what’s in the book, obvious — but not confirmed…
There is no new direct evidence of infidelity, only the words of everyone around Trump — and the POTUS himself — but Wolff does spill the tea while describing how the woman Trump proudly calls his “trophy wife” wanted him to lose the election even more than he did:
“He offered his wife a solemn guarantee: there was simply no way he would win. And even for a chronically ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ he would say helplessly ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ unfaithful husband, this was one promise to his wife that he seemed sure to keep.”
So Melania didn’t want to be First Lady. Like we said, obvious but never before confirmed.
3. Trump Can Barely Read
OMG, Samantha Bee was right.
Apparently Trump shocked his staff with his inability to read even single-page memos, much less full reports or books. Wolff writes:
“He didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-├é┬¡literate.”
Trump also couldn’t pass a high school civics course. Wolff writes about Trump’s team trying to teach him about the U.S. Constitution before the debates:
“Early in the campaign, Sam Nunberg was sent to explain the Constitution to the candidate. ‘I got as far as the Fourth Amendment,’ Nunberg recalled, ‘before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head.'”
The single most important document in our government, and he can’t focus long enough to even be TOLD about it, much less read it.
And those on his team knew it. Wolff says “100%” of those around him think he’s unfit for office:
“For Steve Mnuchin and Reince Priebus, he was an ‘idiot.’ For Gary Cohn, he was ‘dumb as shit.’ For H.R. McMaster he was a ‘dope.’ The list went on.”
This isn’t late night hosts. These are his own people.
4. Trump Supporters May Deny Crimes, But His Own Team Know Different
According to Wolff, Trump seems to be the only one who doesn’t know how much trouble he’s in.
For instance, Wolff says the reason spokesman Mark Corallo quit was actually that even he thought Trump was obstructing justice by lying to the public about Don Jr.’s meeting:
“Mark Corallo was instructed not to speak to the press, indeed not to even answer his phone. Later that week, Corallo, seeing no good outcome ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ and privately confiding that he believed the meeting on Air Force One represented a likely obstruction of justice ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ quit.”
His former closest adviser Steve Bannon called the meeting between Jr., Kushner, Manafort, and Russian agents “treasonous” but seems to think the Robert Mueller investigation will come down to money laundering schemes.
And you wonder why Trump wouldn’t show his taxes. Well, that and he thought it wouldn’t matter because he wouldn’t win.
5. Trump May Have Severe Memory Issues
Trump is the oldest President in U.S. history. This is not something to joke about, but it seems he may actually suffer from the kind of memory problems that often plague the elderly.
Wolff writes that as a party at Mar-A-Lago before the New Year, Trump “failed to recognize a succession of old friends.”
According to Wolff’s notes, aides say Trump tells them a story then just a few minutes later tells it again.
Again, this is no laughing matter. It is time for Congress to talk about the 25th Amendment.
More may come out over the next few days as journalists continue to comb through the book; we’ll keep you up to date on any scandals!
[Image via Macmillan.]
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