Fire and Fury - My review and speculation.
Fire and Fury is a sloppy book, but likely true.
I finished Fire and Fury yesterday and have been thinking about it.
It's a messy book with a rich patina of Republican assumption and a loose sense of attribution. Throughout, issues are generally framed from the Republican perspective. This could be because Wolff sought no sources outside the cozy circle of Bannon's access. The place where it really jumped out was the media. First, that is the way the media is almost always discussed, "the media," an anonymized collective. Every discussion of the media inside Trumpworld assumes the media's hostility. The loss of the media's favor is a personal injury to Trump who cannot fathom why they have turned on him. Trump's treatment at the hands of the media is repeatedly brought up and compared to previous presidents to show just how unfair the media is. At times, Wolff presents this treatment as anomalous without much specificity or the media's side of this argument. He continues to neglect the framing even when he is specific enough to have found it. For example, Trump is offended by the fact checking and coverage at the New York Times, unprecedented in presidential history. Wolff does not explain why the Times has taken this extraordinary step of adding full-time staff to these tasks. This allows the Republican framing of a hostile media out to get Trump to remain unchallenged.
This is a pro Bannon book. Bannon is the Cassandra sent into the wilderness after predicting Trump's doom. Throughout, Wolff gets very exact and specific when quoting Bannon. I have no doubt he has more hurs of Bannon on tape than any other person. Bannon's opinion, conjecture, reaction, evaluation, and assessment are the bulk of the book. When the Cohen Brothers make their Trump movie based on this book, it will center on Bannon. Wolff has said he based himself out of Bannon's office. The book makes it clear Bannon isn't tainted by Russia, or money laundering, or treason. Not Bannon. The end of the book is much like the destruction of Krypton with Bannon's ouster throwing this nationalist Superman clear of the impending implosion of Trumpworld.
Here is my conspiratorial theory. I think Bannon thought his every word would be accepted as wisdom. I'm betting Bannon's firing from Breitbart this week has come as a shock to him. He really sees himself as a puppetmaster and kingmaker.
Finally, the Trump Whitehouse is the most dysfunctional environment I have read about since Hitler's last days in the bunker. These are some awful, shallow, opportunistic, morons. They breed ignorance like a prize poodle at the dog show, picking out any suspicious experience or capability and ever careful to fluff its fur with propaganda. Trump hates competent people, so there are none around him. At one point, Trump's hostility toward Sally Yates is explained by Trump's suspicion of her very career. Why would anyone stay at a job that tops out at $200,000? She must be an Obama spy. Smart people make money. Only dumb people know things. So out goes anyone who can actually do anything. They bred deliberate incompetence into the very fabric of this Whitehouse.
It is a riveting, horrifying and affirming read that will assure you your worst fears are true. On the other hand, maybe not. After all, these are not competent fascists. It is unlikely they can actually do the worst we imagine. Nobody there can do anything but manage a failing Trump.
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