Steve Bannon, who was once an integral part of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and was among the most influential White House advisers during the initial months of the Trump presidency, has lost his mind, according to the president. On January 5, the White House issued a statement disowning Bannon completely. In a stinging rebuke, Trump said his former aide had nothing to do with his presidency. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” said the statement, referring to the August dismissal of Bannon from the White House. “Steve had little to do with our historic victory.... Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a senate seat in Alabama held for more than 30 years by Republicans.”
What made Trump so angry was the publication of a book called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by longtime media writer Michael Wolff. The book contains anecdote after juicy anecdote about the Trump campaign and the Trump White House, and Bannon is believed to be the most prominent source who spoke extensively to Wolff. The Trump legal team is working on stopping the sales of the book and has already sent a cease-and-desist notice to the publisher. However, the book, which was scheduled to be released on January 9, was released on January 5 after excerpts it became hugely popular and also because of the threat of legal action.
Political commentators are yet to ascertain the veracity of some of the wild anecdotes that pepper the book. But the book sure has the potential to damage the president's credibility further.
The book reveals a presidential campaign which was eagerly waiting for a loss. A week before the elections, Trump told Roger Ailes, who headed Fox News till July 2016, “I don’t think about losing, because it isn’t losing. We've totally won.” Trump was hoping to be famous all over the world with the presidential campaign. Losing to “crooked Hillary” would permanently ensure his superstardom and would launch for him a new career, or possibly a television network. In fact, many of his supporters and advisers, too, were convinced that their man would lose. Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump's national security adviser, was a key speaker in several of Trump's campaign events. After he travelled to Russia on a speaking tour, charging $45,000 for a speech, his friends alerted him about its potential pitfalls. “It would only be a problem if we won,” Flynn then told them.
It was then no wonder that according to the book, Trump looked like a ghost when it became clear that he was going to win. His son Donald Trump Junior confirmed it to some of his friends. And, Trump's wife, Melania, was in tears. According to Bannon, as the results came in, he saw “a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump.” In the days to come, the absolute cluelessness about what needs to be done became quite evident, going by the slipshod manner in which the presidential transition was planned. Wolff writes that it was evident even on the day of the inauguration. Trump was angry as he had to stay at the presidential guest house the night before. And, he was having a fight with Melania, who was on the verge of tears. According to Wolff, Trump had promised her that he would never win. “He offered his wife a solemn guarantee. There was simply no way he would win. And even for a helplessly unfaithful husband, this was one promise he seemed sure to keep.” But it was not meant to be. And so, throughout the inaugural day, Trump “wore what some around him had taken to calling his golf face: angry and pissed off, shoulders hunched, arms swinging, brow furled, lips pursed.”
Wolf also describes some of the president's strange quirks, which have made the White House staff go crazy. For the first time since the days of John F. Kennedy, there are separate bedrooms for the first couple. And, Trump prefers to keep his room locked. He, in fact, had a fight with the Secret Service, which wanted access to the room. Trump shouts at the housekeeping staff for virtually everything, even for picking up his shirt from the floor. He would tell them that if the shirt was on the floor, it was because he wanted it there.
Finally, the book reveals that none of his close friends and advisers have any sort of respect for the president. For economic adviser Gary Cohn, Trump is dumb as shit; for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, he is a fucking idiot; for National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, the president is a dope; and for Bannon, Trump is a nine year old and a big, warm-hearted monkey. Trump, meanwhile, thinks Bannon is disloyal and looks like shit. He once called his first chief-of-staff Reince Preibus a midget. And, he thinks his son-in-law Jared Kushner is a suck-up.
Trump's aides are understandably furious about the book. What made many of them all the more upset was the manner in which Wolff was granted access to the White House and its staffers. Trump said he had never met Wolff for the book and tweeted that he had turned down multiple requests for interviews. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wolff was not given unfettered access, but acknowledged that he had visited the White House a number of times, and was seen, most often in Bannon's company. Given the circumstances, it seems unlikely that denials from the White House are going to be effective or that a legal fight against the book will be successful.
