New Urban Library- The Tangled Webs We Weave: A Look Inside the Explosive Book News Outlets Are Talking About Around the World: Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury- Inside the Trump White House"

It's the book that's been all over international news this week containing stories that the current presidential administration wants to see disappear: "FIRE AND FURY: INSIDE THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE" hit global booksellers this week to unprecedented response, selling out of hard copies within days and prompting the Trump White House to come out swinging on via private lawyers and on social media.

In this newly released 2018 book by Michael Wolff,  "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" details emerge about problematic, often alarming behavior of U.S. President Donald Trump and the staff of his 2016 presidential campaign - and first 9 months of the Trump White House. What began first as a behind-the-scenes political journal of Donald's unlikely rise to become American president, Wolff's 336-page tome later evolved into what was intended to capture the time honored tradition of documenting the First 100 Days of a new Presidential Administration. However Wolff's journey during "Fire and Fury..." ended up as an 18-month assembly of insider commentary on the Trump Campaign-come-Presidency as a fly on the wall, seated on a sofa in the West Wing- amassing information from over 200 interviews that took place from May 2016 until shortly after the firing of  Trump's controversial White House Chief Strategist,  right wing extremist  Steve Bannon.  

Compiled from interviews with Trump during his candidacy-  and those who worked for him on the campaign trail and as part of the Trump Administration, the books details Trump's completely unpredictable, often startling behavior, chaos among senior White House staffers, as well as stunning commentary made by many of those very senior members in the Trump White House. Attributing direct quotes to those who spoke on the record, and protecting the names of those administration staffers who wished to remain anonymous,  "Fire and Fury..." details a White House where the 45th President of the United States is depicted as being held in such low regard by his staff that Wolff states unequivocally "100% of the people around him" believe Trump is unfit for office. 

The book's title originates from Trump referring to "fire and fury" when discussing U.S. conflict with North Korea. According to  White House insiders, no one on the presidential campaign team expected to win the 2016 presidential election, including Donald Trump himself (who reportedly did not want to win) nor his Slovenian-born wife, Melania Knauss, a former swimwear & lingerie model and popular GQ covergirl. Donald Trump Jr. said his father "looked as if he had seen a ghost" when he realized he had won, and Melania was "in tears – and not of joy".  "In Fire and Fury...", we come to discover a President completely disinterested in, and often irritated by the job he holds and the previous power, profits, and eminence that the office now robs him of. Other alarming, yet somehow not surprising bombshells included the breakdown of warring Trump factions in the White House, and their relentless pursuit to destroy one another a lá  King Lear, The Godfather, and Games of Thrones. Small tidbits included but not limited to the following recollections among Wolff's West Wing interviews include:

Trump's Early Bedtimes and Famous Love of McDonald's
The 45th President of the United States turns in every night at 6:30 pm with his all-time favorite food in bed: McDonald's - which he prefers not only out of habit or craving, but because he wants to thwart any possible attempts on his life by way of food poisoning.

Regarding His Fitness for Office:
Sam Nunberg was a campaign aide given the task of having to explain the Constitution to Trump. 
“I got as far as the Fourth Amendment before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head,” Nunberg is quoted as saying.

This week, Nunberg didn’t dispute his own quotes, but told ABC News, “I wasn’t there to teach the president the Constitution. The president had...understanding of the Constitution, it was good enough". 

Other details emerge that call serious attention to the President's actual mental fitness, including but not limited to having no attention span, becoming irritable at anyone attempting to hold his attention too long, having staffers "game him" into action by way of explaining fundamental  policy or crucial topics through elementary style photo boards and simple charts (which had to be done to prompt the May 2017 U.S. strike on Syria), and other examples of what could possibly be construed as severe short term memory loss.

Regarding The Russia Investigation the Administration Calls "A Big Fat Nothingburger":
 Quotes from Steve Bannon ( Trump’s former chief strategist), called Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer reckless and “treasonous”, also attacking senior campaign officials Paul Manafort and son-in-law Jared Kushner (who is now Trump's senior White House advisor) for attending as well.  Donald Jr. is the Trump child Bannon and others often refer to as "Fredo ", as in Fredo Coleone, the fictional second child in  Francis Ford Copolla's "The Godfather",  whose dubious dealings and eagerness to get in the fray backfire and cause major damage to the crime family. In interviews, Trump's former right-hand man also Bannon speculates that Trump himself may have met the lawyer and other Russians.

Regarding Jared & Ivanka, a.k.a. "Javanka":
Ivanka, along with her husband Jared Kushner, “had made an earnest deal with themselves: if Dad goes down, the former socialites and Democrats-now-moderate Republicans are OUT. And if the opportunity arose in the future, she would be either the one to run for president  - or at least the first one of them to try. In Ivanka's mind, "the first female President would not be Hillary Clinton, it would be Ivanka Trump.”

On The Man We've Always Known as "The Donald", Melania, and Women:
Not surprisingly, the Trumps maintain a very mysterious relationship, not necessarily unlike many wealthy, high powered society couples leading separate lives with a respectful distance and understanding of the other's role in the marriage.  Those surrounding the couple state Melania's often not known where her husband is or what he's been doing during their 13 year marriage,  as she has concentrated primarily on her life as a socialite in Manhattan and devoted mother to their son Barron.

Also not surprising from a man who has been long recognized as one of New York's most infamous playboys,  Wolff's book states that , “Trump liked to say that one of the things that made life worth living was getting your friends’ wives into bed.”    From the man who believes that being rich enables you to kiss and grab women by the genitals when you want to...nope. No surprises here.

Below, author Michael Wolff details how "Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House" came to be, and why it's important in examining how the current White House is being run, and why there is serious reason for concern:

On January 4th, Trump's lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to Wolff and the publisher of "Fire and Fury...". Legal experts assessed the impact this action may have as precedence for a president to threaten freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights. According to legal experts and historians, Trump's threats legal action against the author and publisher were unprecedented for a sitting president attempting to silence criticism. On January 8, the lawyer representing Wolff and his publisher issued a legal letter defying the cease and desist order and defamation claim, stating "my clients do not intend to cease publication, no such retraction will occur, and no apology is warranted". The CEO of the publishing company for Wolff's book informed his employees that "as citizens, we must demand that President Trump understand and abide by the First Amendment of our Constitution".

"Fire and Fury- Inside the Trump White House" can be purchased via amazon.com here: FIRE & FURY HARDCOVER. 

The book is currently sold out at the time of publishing writing this blog post, but a waiting list appears to be available.  You can order the book digitally and hear it free with an Amazon  free one-month trial AUDIBLE membership here:  Fire & Fury AUDIBLE  

Or, great audio clips can be found here: FIRE & FURY AUDIO Clip#1, and  FIRE & FURY AUDIO Clip #2