I believe Trump orchestrated this Wolff book in one of his most conniving acts of all time.

[NewsCenter28]

Steve Bannon's downfall is undoubtedly good news for Donald Trump and the GOP. The marriage between Donald Trump and the establishment GOP is now insoluble, they are united against a common enemy, but most importantly, we lost someone who could have tilted the 2018 US Senate map decisively in our direction, by whipping up the base to nominate unelectable morons versus ones the establishment GOP knows can win.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wolff co-ordinated with Trump to release this book, as it:
A) Endears Trump to his base, which is all he has left at this point. They will just view it as picking on "poor old Donald."
B) Rids the establishment GOP of a huge thorn in their side, i.e., Steve Bannon.

Many on DU have wondered why the establishment GOP, including Graham, et al, have suddenly embraced Trump. I would argue that perhaps it was all a smoke screen. That the GOP establishment adores Donald Trump and he adores them right back. What better connivance than to trick those looking to "stick it to the man", than to nominate and have as POTUS someone they think is anti-establishment but is secretly, and perhaps has been all along (?), of, by, and for the GOP "endangered" establishment.

When one sees articles like this one on NBC News of all places, one realizes what the Wolff book is all about. Don't forget Wolff is a died-in-the-wool Reich winger. See the media is falling all over themselves to praise Donald in the wake of this book!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/trump-rises-bannon-s-fall-n834731

Also, what's the only mention CNN has of the book on their webpage, an article saying that Breitbart wants Bannon out:
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/media/bannon-chairman-breitbart/index.html

Not an anti-Trump headline but rather an another hit piece on Bannon.

Two hit pieces on Bannon, one from NBC, one from CNN. Coincidence? I think not.

[Kirk Lover]

1. If anything I think Bloated Bannon orchestrated this and set trashbag up. n/t

[Takket]

2. i think bannon wants to destroy trump so he can annoint himself that true hero of the deplorables

and run for president

[NewsCenter28]

3. The problem is it's not working.

The media isn't focusing on the substance of the book, but rather on taking Bannon down.

This is insane. Of all the things in this book that should be discussed, all the media wants to talk about is how much Bannon helped Trump. That's why I think it's some sort of ploy.

Politico is yet another. They have a Bannon's last stand article.

[Kaleva]

30. The media is very much focused on the substance of the book

Trump’s “Fire and Fury” Nightmare Keeps Getting Worse

5 Bombshell Revelations About Donald & Melania's Relationship From New, Behind-the-Scenes Book

There’s No Way Trump Can Stop Wolff From Publishing His Book

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Started Blaming the President in Order to Save Themselves, Wolff's Book Claims

I could do this for a long time posting links to articles about the book and its contents but it's late.

[NewsCenter28]

36. Yeah Yahoo and MSN are somewhat fair but get a load of the headlines on CNN.com

If Sarah Huckabee Sanders were writing CNN.com's headlines, she wouldn't do a better job of propaganda for Trump:

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/donald-trump-michael-wolff-book/index.html

Trump: Wolff book 'full of lies' and author had 'zero access'
'Hard push' at Breitbart to oust Bannon
Stelter: This is bigger than Trump vs. Bannon.

Now, buried are these headlines, but they are not the lead:
Bannon blasts President and first family
Psychiatrist says she spoke with members of Congress on Trump's mental fitness
Spicer: We didn't hear a denial from Bannon
Sean Spicer explains inaugural crowd size remarks
Analysis: Trump chaos at frightening level.

Now, we can be thankful that the NYT came out with a bombshell report that CNN is leading with tonight about Sessions. Otherwise, they would probably be leading with a sympathetic article about how Trump says the book is full of lies.

Look at Rachel Maddow. She doesn't trust this book anymore than I do I bet. She led with the NYT story tonight, I heard, even though I couldn't watch, and didn't hyperventilate about the book. I think she knows that this book is a rabbit hole we don't want to go down either.

[JonLP24]

44. Rachel Maddow had a copy of the book with her

And cited excerpts which detail potential obstruction of justice.

[Chemisse]

4. That makes more sense to me.

Trump is too stupid and too self-involved to think of anything but the simplest things.

I think his inner dialogue probably sounds like the speech of a Neanderthal ('me want food', 'look at me', 'me bigger and better than you').

[smirkymonkey]

29. LOL! I think that is exactly what his inner dialogue looks like.

Maybe a few more tidbits, but that is pretty much the gist of it.

[heaven05]

5. COULD BE TRUE

all this kabuki theater has me very cynical because NOTHING can be put past all these racist nazi clowns including wolfe, huckabee, sessions, ryan, pig man bannon the whole godddamn circus of the RW cabal running this country. These repthugliKKKan snakes will stoop to any level to deceive to hold on to power....

[C_U_L8R]

6. I think Trump got played

and Michael Wolfe is certainly smart enough to pull it off.
He expertly teased Trump and Trump took the bait.

[NewsCenter28]

8. December 12, 2017

I think Trump was humiliated and absolutely enraged by the AL senate loss and blamed Bannon more than we'll ever know for a perceived personal embarrassment. Bet you that night, he called up Wolff and said, let's take down Bannon with this book you have coming out as he's destroying us.

The only problem is how did Trump know that the media wouldn't report the substance of the book and only report how mean Bannon was to poor Donny boy. That's the weird part even to me.

[JonLP24]

45. He wrote a flattering article which is why Trump allowed him access.

[HopeAgain]

7. Trump would never allow unflattering things to be written about him,

especially things that confirm what a large part of the population believes about him. That would be completely inconsistent with his narcissism.

[UTUSN]

9. This

[canetoad]

10. Who said

He allowed it?

[HopeAgain]

13. I thought that was the premises of the OP

conspiracy theory. If not Im totally confused.

[canetoad]

16. I should have said

That I disagreed with the OP's premise; I don't believe that Trump commissioned this book.

[NewsCenter28]

11. No one is reporting the unflattering things except us

Not a mention on CNN, NBC News, or Politico websites at the moment of the book's devastating revelations about the dear Fuhrer. Only how bad Bannon is.

I read earlier today that KCDC on Morning Joe was spouting the line too about how the GOP is all united now against Bannon.

So, we have Politico, KCDC, NBC, and CNN all focusing on how this book helps Trump by destroying Bannon. Not ONE word about how deranged and unfit Trump is for office, as the book shows.

[Gabi Hayes]

22. Huh? You must not be watching cnn or msnbc

Loads of trump contumely

Your premise is possible, as we’ve learned anything seems on Bizarro Planet

https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+bizarro&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=nvi&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5pav0-L_YAhUl2IMKHbcNCgYQ_AUIEygD&biw=768&bih=922#imgrc=94HTPDKUE7gEkM:

[3catwoman3]

42. Great word, contumely.

One of those words that one seldom gets a chance to use.

[NanceGreggs]

31. I've had CNN on for hours ...

... and Steve Bannon is NOT the topic of conversation. They're talking about the revelations about Sessions, Comey, Mueller, the Trump Tower meeting, the "crafting" of the press release on Air Force One describing the meeting as being about adoptions, the disorganization of the WH staff, Trump's mental state, etc.

So where you're getting this "not a mention on CNN" stuff is beyond me.

[NewsCenter28]

37. Hi Nance

First of all, love your posts over the years! Secondly, OK good to hear. I am working 10-12 hours day so don't have time to watch CNN or MSNBC anymore. So, I was going solely by the lead articles on the CNN, Politico, and NBC News websites, which were all about how good Bannon being destroyed was for Trump. None of the revelations you just informed me of can be found in any headlines on the Politico, NBC or CNN websites. It's a weird disconnect.

Hearing that makes me feel better, but why are CNN and MSNBC playing 2 sides of the same coin here. Why is there a different editorial slant on their websites apparently than there is on the cable channels themselves?

I hope that you would agree with me after going to the CNN/MSNBC/Politico websites that they do seem to have pro-Trump headlines, which is what confused me. Again, the NYT story made it impossible for CNN not to have a negative Trump headline, but if the NYT story hadn't broken tonight, what negative articles about Trump would there be on the website based on the book alone?

NYT story shows Mueller is closing in. So, makes this a very bad day for Trump. What would the website headlines be if all we had to talk about was the book though? That's my point.

[ornotna]

34. What are you talking about?

CNN has been hammering Trump. They even touched on the scalp surgery and his hair.

[NewsCenter28]

38. I've only had chances to review websites today since working so hard. Not had TV on.

Just went to ABC News website and found this garbage. THESE are their headlines about the book????? The book is about more important things than Bannon's role at Breitbart for heaven's sake:

Trump probably can't gag Bannon and 'Fire and Fury' author, say legal experts
Jan 4
Bannon’s Breitbart role threatened by Trump feud: Sources
Who is Michael Wolff, author of hotly debated book about the Trump administration.

Mostly neutral articles focusing on process stories around the book rather than the substance.

A proper headline would be "Stunnning new book reveals chaos and turmoil in Trump's first year", not opining on Breitbart's future!

[ornotna]

40. Well on TV they are hitting him hard

I didn't see their websites.

[rzemanfl]

12. Drumpf couldn't "orchestrate" a music box. n/t

[Tikki]

14. I kind of have thought something like that too.

Losers, jokers, thieves all the way around.


Tikki

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. No way. Trump isn't a strategic planner; he reacts to whatever is happening

at a particular moment. This wasn't engineered to cause any particular reaction, and certainly not to help Trump. And if there's anything Trump hates it's criticism of him, no matter who does it. Also, there's no evidence whatsoever that Michael Wolff is a right-winger - to the contrary, he's written for Vanity Fair and New York Magazine, neither of which have ever been Trump supporters. He has been criticized for being a gossip and a sensationalist, but never a right-winger, and he does not seem ever to have written for a conservative publication.

[politicaljunkie41910]

17. Since we're all conspiracy theorists. Here's my version.

As soon as I heard about the book, and all the charges coming from Bannon, my first thought was, "I hope Wolfe has all his ducks lined up in a row, and checked and double checked.

Knowing how Trump likes to sue people, my first thought was that he and Bannon concocted these stories for two reasons; 1) to discredit not just Wolfe but all of the main stream media who were rushing to report it as proveyers of Fake News. Then Trump and his lawyers would rush in and file lawsuits against Wolfe and all those print media who repeated the claims once the 'victims' all started to claim that they had been defamed. That would include of course Ivanka and Jared and all the Staff who's reputations were called into question. Of course Trump wouldn't sue Bannon and he doesn't have to. He could claim he's going after the big fish first, and never get around to it. He would be going after the big fish like the Publisher and the Media Conglomerates like the Print Media and the Cable Networks who reported the "lies" for failing to do any due dilligence before rushing out to repeat the "lies". Of course, Trump doesn't like to litigate, he just likes to sue people and settle so he would file a UUUGGEE suit for a lot of money and then reach a settlement like Melania did because that's what those people do.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Any lawsuit would crash and burn instantly.

He not only wouldn't collect a nickel, he'd be thrown out of court and ordered to pay Wolff's and the publisher's attorneys' fees for commencing litigation in bad faith. Trump is a public figure and therefore would have to prove actual malice (that the author and the publisher knew the statements were false and published anyhow). The case would be dismissed with prejudice at the first pretrial motion. As conspiracy theories go, this one won't fly.

Don't forget Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation is likely to be the correct one.

[politicaljunkie41910]

24. I hope you're right. It's bad enough that he's making money off of this presidency, when he's too

lazy and too stupid to even do any work. When he and his family are gone, we're going to have of to disinfect the White House to get rid of the stench left behind by those grifters.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. More than merely disinfect it - it will need an exorcism.

[politicaljunkie41910]

28. LOL. Exorcism. You got that right.

Trump Ivanka Jared

[A-Schwarzenegger]

18. I would like to hear your ideas on ...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/113511813

[rzemanfl]

47. LOL. n/t

[FSogol]

19. What a bunch of nonsense. Trumpy's a moron, not an evil genius

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. Exactly. Trump couldn't plan a one-float parade

let alone come up with some complicated plot to sabotage Steve Bannon using a book in which Trump himself is described as a moron and/or a lunatic.

[brooklynite]

21. Trashing...

Conspiracy theories belong elsewhere

[Ghost Owl]

26. Nah, I really do think

the loathing the GOP establishment had for Trump was genuine. Especially some of the more conservative and religious Christians who are appalled at his "morals" and behavior [not that you have to be conservative or Christian to be appalled by him]; but even the more moderate and secular Republicans were visibly disgusted and embarrassed by him. But I think they willingly hitched themselves to this burning garbage truck, because they thought it was to only way to maintain power and stack the courts.

Most do not behave like True Believers. They KNOW they're doing something wrong, but many have deluded themselves into thinking it's for (what they consider) The Greater Good.

Or they're being blackmailed.

[shanny]

27. C'mon man! The dotard in chief

couldn't connive his way out of a paper bag.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

32. No way.

You give trump too much credit.

[dchill]

33. N O T. T H A T. S M A R T.

[NanceGreggs]

35. This "theory" has been ...

... run up the flagpole several times today.

In case you haven't noticed, nobody is saluting.

[Baconator]

39. Not that smart...

There is no 6 dimensional chess... Just impulsive decisions flitting from one moment to the next...

[diva77]

41. I think the wingnut media will find a way to manipulate anything -- whatever goes into the

woodchipper will come out with whatever bias they put on it. They don't need a preconceived plan. They already have their well oiled hateful, righteous bloviating spinheads in place. They could turn Mother's Day into something evil.

[MFM008]

43. These things in book

Are not flattering.
He doesn't like being made fun of.
Laughed at.
I don't believe he is behind this.
He's to narcissistic.

[Vinca]

46. I don't think so. I think Don was convinced it was going to be a puff piece.

He's just not bright enough to cook up a plan with more than one angle.