SIEGE

Yet more clear evidence of a highly dysfunctional administration.

Wolff (Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, 2018, etc.), who admits a “train-wreck fascination with Trump,” begins the new installment of his gossip-filled exposé in February 2018, as Trump embarks on his second year. Anticipating questions about his often inflammatory assertions, the author writes that he has provided anonymity to sources who requested it and tried to confirm information with multiple sources, but he still expects some individuals—as they did in response to his previous book—to “disavow the truth they have told.” One, though, “stood by his remarks in Fire and Fury without complaint, quibble, or hurt feelings”: Steve Bannon, who Wolff claims is “the most clear-eyed interpreter of the Trump phenomenon I know.” Although Bannon left the administration in 2017, the author portrays him as a master manipulator with wide-ranging connections, “the best soldier in Trump’s army” during the midterm campaigns; the “primary purveyor of the caravan narrative” that Trump brought out to fire up his base, with direct influence on Sean Hannity, Trump’s confidant. In fact, Wolff reports, Bannon saw himself heading a presidential ticket with Hannity in 2020. The author solicits Bannon’s views on everything, including Robert Mueller, Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort; Trump’s performance abroad, including the humiliating aftermath of his meeting with Putin; the choice of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court; Ivanka and Jared, whom Bannon disparages as “grifters”; and Nikki Haley’s decision to leave her post as U.N. ambassador, which Bannon deems “a precursor to the party’s loss of just about everyone with an education.” Overall, the author presents a portrait of the president that will come as no surprise to readers. Trump is ignorant of how government works, “incapable of admitting vulnerability,” a “compulsive, persistent” liar, easily distracted, and unable to absorb information from briefings. Wolff’s dismal report confirms the assessment that the Trump world contains “the greatest concentration of ignominious lowlifes, scammers, and con artists ever seen in national politics.”

A dispiriting, often sordid, page-turner.