fire and fury epilogue

BANNON AND TRUMP
n a sweltering morning in October 2017, the man who had more or less single-handedly brought
about the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, stood on the steps of the Breitbart
town house and said, with a hearty laugh, “I guess global warming is real.”
Steve Bannon had lost twenty pounds since his exit from the White House six weeks before—he
was on a crash all-sushi diet. “That building,” said his friend David Bossie, speaking about all White
Houses but especially the Trump White House, “takes perfectly healthy people and turns them into
old, unhealthy people.” But Bannon, who Bossie had declared on virtual life support during his final
days in the West Wing, was again, by his own description, “on fire.” He had moved out of the
Arlington “safe house” and reestablished himself back at the Breitbart Embassy, turning it into a
headquarters for the next stage of the Trump movement, which might not include Trump at all.
Asked about Trump’s leadership of the nationalist-populist movement, Bannon registered a not
inconsiderable change in the country’s political landscape: “I am the leader of the national-populist
movement.”
One cause of Bannon’s boast and new resolve was that Trump, for no reason that Bannon could
quite divine, had embraced Mitch McConnell’s establishment candidate in the recent Republican runoff
in Alabama rather than support the nat-pop choice for the Senate seat vacated by now attorney
general Jeff Sessions. After all, McConnell and the president were barely on speaking terms. From
his August “working holiday” in Bedminster, the president’s staff had tried to organize a makeup
meeting with McConnell, but McConnell’s staff had sent back word that it wouldn’t be possible
because the Senate leader would be getting a haircut.
But the president—ever hurt and confused by his inability to get along with the congressional
leadership, and then, conversely, enraged by their refusal to get along with him—had gone all-in for
the McConnell-backed Luther Strange, who had run against Bannon’s candidate, the right-wing
firebrand Roy Moore. (Even by Alabama standards, Moore was far right: he had been removed as
chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for defying a federal court order to take down a
monument of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama judicial building.)
For Bannon, the president’s political thinking had been obtuse at best. He was unlikely to get
anything from McConnell—and indeed Trump had demanded nothing for his support for Luther
Strange, which came via an unplanned tweet in August. Strange’s prospects were not only dim, but he
was likely to lose in a humiliating fashion. Roy Moore was the clear candidate of the Trump base—
and he was Bannon’s candidate. Hence, that would be the contest: Trump against Bannon. In fact, the
president really didn’t have to support anyone—no one would have complained if he’d stayed neutral
in a primary race. Or, he could have tacitly supported Strange and not doubled down with more and
more insistent tweets.
For Bannon, this episode was not only about the president’s continuing and curious confusion
about what he represented, but about his mercurial, intemperate, and often cockamamie motivations.
Against all political logic, Trump had supported Luther Strange, he told Bannon, because “Luther’s
my friend.”
“He said it like a nine-year-old,” said Bannon, recoiling, and noting that there was no universe in
which Trump and Strange were actually friends.
For every member of the White House senior staff this would be the lasting conundrum of dealing
with President Trump: the “why” of his often baffling behavior.
“The president fundamentally wants to be liked” was Katie Walsh’s analysis. “He just
fundamentally needs to be liked so badly that it’s always . . . everything is a struggle for him.”
This translated into a constant need to win something—anything. Equally important, it was
essential that he look like a winner. Of course, trying to win without consideration, plan, or clear
goals had, in the course of the administration’s first nine months, resulted in almost nothing but losses.
At the same time, confounding all political logic, that lack of a plan, that impulsivity, that apparent
joie de guerre, had helped create the disruptiveness that seemed to so joyously shatter the status quo
for so many.
But now, Bannon thought, that novelty was finally wearing off.
For Bannon, the Strange-Moore race had been a test of the Trump cult of personality. Certainly
Trump continued to believe that people were following him, that he was the movement—and that his
support was worth 8 to 10 points in any race. Bannon had decided to test this thesis and to do it as
dramatically as possible. All told, the Senate Republican leadership and others spent $32 million on
Strange’s campaign, while Moore’s campaign spent $2 million.
Trump, though aware of Strange’s deep polling deficit, had agreed to extend his support in a
personal trip. But his appearance in Huntsville, Alabama, on September 22, before a Trump-size
crowd, was a political flatliner. It was a full-on Trump speech, ninety minutes of rambling and
improvisation—the wall would be built (now it was a see-through wall), Russian interference in the
U.S. election was a hoax, he would fire anybody on his cabinet who supported Moore. But, while his
base turned out en masse, still drawn to Trump the novelty, his cheerleading for Luther Strange drew
at best a muted response. As the crowd became restless, the event threatened to become a hopeless
embarrassment.
Reading his audience and desperate to find a way out, Trump suddenly threw out a line about
Colin Kaepernick taking to his knee while the national anthem played at a National Football League
game. The line got a standing ovation. The president thereupon promptly abandoned Luther Strange
for the rest of the speech. Likewise, for the next week he continued to whip the NFL. Pay no attention
to Strange’s resounding defeat five days after the event in Huntsville. Ignore the size and scale of
Trump’s rejection and the Moore-Bannon triumph, with its hint of new disruptions to come. Now
Trump had a new topic, and a winning one: the Knee.
* * *
The fundamental premise of nearly everybody who joined the Trump White House was, This can
work. We can help make this work. Now, only three-quarters of the way through just the first year of
Trump’s term, there was literally not one member of the senior staff who could any longer be
confident of that premise. Arguably—and on many days indubitably—most members of the senior
staff believed that the sole upside of being part of the Trump White House was to help prevent worse
from happening.
In early October, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s fate was sealed—if his obvious ambivalence
toward the president had not already sealed it—by the revelation that he had called the president “a
fucking moron.”
This—insulting Donald Trump’s intelligence—was both the thing you could not do and the thing—
drawing there-but-for-the-grace-of-God guffaws across the senior staff—that everybody was guilty
of. Everyone, in his or her own way, struggled to express the baldly obvious fact that the president
did not know enough, did not know what he didn’t know, did not particularly care, and, to boot, was
confident if not serene in his unquestioned certitudes. There was now a fair amount of back-of-theclassroom
giggling about who had called Trump what. For Steve Mnuchin and Reince Priebus, he
was an “idiot.” For Gary Cohn, he was “dumb as shit.” For H. R. McMaster he was a “dope.” The
list went on.
Tillerson would merely become yet another example of a subordinate who believed that his own
abilities could somehow compensate for Trump’s failings.
Aligned with Tillerson were the three generals, Mattis, McMasters, and Kelly, each seeing
themselves as representing maturity, stability, and restraint. And each, of course, was resented by
Trump for it. The suggestion that any or all of these men might be more focused and even tempered
than Trump himself was cause for sulking and tantrums on the president’s part.
The daily discussion among senior staffers, those still there and those now gone—all of whom had
written off Tillerson’s future in the Trump administration—was how long General Kelly would last as
chief of staff. There was something of a virtual office pool, and the joke was that Reince Priebus was
likely to be Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff. Kelly’s distaste for the president was open
knowledge—in his every word and gesture he condescended to Trump—the president’s distaste for
Kelly even more so. It was sport for the president to defy Kelly, who had become the one thing in his
life he had never been able to abide: a disapproving and censorious father figure.
* * *
There really were no illusions at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Kelly’s long-suffering antipathy toward
the president was rivaled only by his scorn for the president’s family—“Kushner,” he pronounced,
was “insubordinate.” Cohn’s derisive contempt for Kushner as well as the president was even
greater. In return, the president heaped more abuse on Cohn—the former president of Goldman Sachs
was now a “complete idiot, dumber than dumb.” In fact, the president had also stopped defending his
own family, wondering when they would “take the hint and go home.”
But, of course, this was still politics: those who could overcome shame or disbelief—and, despite
all Trumpian coarseness and absurdity, suck up to him and humor him—might achieve unique
political advantage. As it happened, few could.
By October, however, many on the president’s staff took particular notice of one of the few
remaining Trump opportunists: Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador. Haley—“as ambitious as Lucifer,”
in the characterization of one member of the senior staff—had concluded that Trump’s tenure would
last, at best, a single term, and that she, with requisite submission, could be his heir apparent. Haley
had courted and befriended Ivanka, and Ivanka had brought her into the family circle, where she had
become a particular focus of Trump’s attention, and he of hers. Haley, as had become increasingly
evident to the wider foreign policy and national security team, was the family’s pick for secretary of
state after Rex Tillerson’s inevitable resignation. (Likewise, in this shuffle, Dina Powell would
replace Haley at the UN.)
The president had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One
and was seen to be grooming her for a national political future. Haley, who was much more of a
traditional Republican, one with a pronounced moderate streak—a type increasingly known as a
Jarvanka Republican—was, evident to many, being mentored in Trumpian ways. The danger here,
offered one senior Trumper, “is that she is so much smarter than him.”
What now existed, even before the end of the president’s first year, was an effective power
vacuum. The president, in his failure to move beyond daily chaos, had hardly seized the day. But, as
sure as politics, someone would.
In that sense, the Trumpian and Republican future was already moving beyond this White House.
There was Bannon, working from the outside and trying to take over the Trump movement. There was
the Republican leadership in Congress, trying to stymie Trumpism—if not slay it. There was John
McCain, doing his best to embarrass it. There was the special counsel’s office, pursuing the president
and many of those around him.
The stakes were very clear to Bannon. Haley, quite an un-Trumpian figure, but by far the closest of
any of his cabinet members to him, might, with clever political wiles, entice Trump to hand her the
Trumpian revolution. Indeed, fearing Haley’s hold on the president, Bannon’s side had—the very
morning that Bannon had stood on the steps of the Breitbart town house in the unseasonable October
weather—gone into overdrive to push the CIA’s Mike Pompeo for State after Tillerson’s departure.
This was all part of the next stage of Trumpism—to protect it from Trump.
* * *
General Kelly was conscientiously and grimly trying to purge the West Wing chaos. He had begun by
compartmentalizing the sources and nature of the chaos. The overriding source, of course, was the
president’s own eruptions, which Kelly could not control and had resigned himself to accepting. As
for the ancillary chaos, much of it had been calmed by the elimination of Bannon, Priebus,
Scaramucci, and Spicer, with the effect of making it quite a Jarvanka-controlled West Wing.
Now, nine months in, the administration faced the additional problem that it was very hard to hire
anyone of stature to replace the senior people who had departed. And the stature of those who
remained seemed to be more diminutive by the week.
Hope Hicks, at twenty-eight, and Stephen Miller, at thirty-two, both of whom had begun as
effective interns on the campaign, were now among the seniormost figures in the White House. Hicks
had assumed command of the communications operation, and Miller had effectively replaced Bannon
as the senior political strategist.
After the Scaramucci fiasco, and the realization that the position of communications director
would be vastly harder to fill, Hicks was assigned the job as the “interim” director. She was given
the interim title partly because it seemed implausible that she was qualified to run an already battered
messaging operation, and partly because if she was given the permanent job everyone would assume
that the president was effectively calling the daily shots. But by the middle of September, interim was
quietly converted to permanent.
In the larger media and political world, Miller—who Bannon referred to as “my typist”—was a
figure of ever increasing incredulity. He could hardly be taken out in public without engaging in some
screwball, if not screeching, fit of denunciation and grievance. He was the de facto crafter of policy
and speeches, and yet up until now he had largely only taken dictation.
Most problematic of all, Hicks and Miller, along with everyone on the Jarvanka side, were now
directly connected to actions involved in the Russian investigation or efforts to spin it, deflect it, or,
indeed, cover it up. Miller and Hicks had drafted—or at least typed—Kushner’s version of the first
letter written at Bedminster to fire Comey. Hicks had joined with Kushner and his wife to draft on Air
Force One the Trump-directed press release about Don Jr. and Kushner’s meeting with the Russians
in Trump Tower.
In its way, this had become the defining issue for the White House staff: who had been in what
inopportune room. And even beyond the general chaos, the constant legal danger formed part of the
high barrier to getting people to come work in the West Wing.
Kushner and his wife—now largely regarded as a time bomb inside the White House—were
spending considerable time on their own defense and battling a sense of mounting paranoia, not least
about what members of the senior staff who had already exited the West Wing might now say about
them. Kushner, in the middle of October, would, curiously, add to his legal team Charles Harder, the
libel lawyer who had defended both Hulk Hogan in his libel suit against Gawker, the Internet gossip
site, and Melania Trump in her suit against the Daily Mail. The implied threat to media and to critics
was clear. Talk about Jared Kushner at your peril. It also likely meant that Donald Trump was yet
managing the White House’s legal defense, slotting in his favorite “tough guy” lawyers.
Beyond Donald Trump’s own daily antics, here was the consuming issue of the White House: the
ongoing investigation directed by Robert Mueller. The father, the daughter, the son-in-law, his father,
the extended family exposure, the prosecutor, the retainers looking to save their own skins, the staffers
who Trump had rewarded with the back of his hand—it all threatened, in Bannon’s view, to make
Shakespeare look like Dr. Seuss.
Everyone waited for the dominoes to fall, and to see how the president, in his fury, might react and
change the game again.
* * *
Steve Bannon was telling people he thought there was a 33.3 percent chance that the Mueller
investigation would lead to the impeachment of the president, a 33.3 percent chance that Trump would
resign, perhaps in the wake of a threat by the cabinet to act on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (by which
the cabinet can remove the president in the event of his incapacitation), and a 33.3 percent chance that
he would limp to the end of his term. In any event, there would certainly not be a second term, or even
an attempt at one.
“He’s not going to make it,” said Bannon at the Breitbart Embassy. “He’s lost his stuff.”
Less volubly, Bannon was telling people something else: he, Steve Bannon, was going to run for
president in 2020. The locution, “If I were president . . .” was turning into, “When I am president . . .”
The top Trump donors from 2016 were in his camp, Bannon claimed: Sheldon Adelson, the
Mercers, Bernie Marcus, and Peter Thiel. In short order, and as though he had been preparing for this
move for some time, Bannon had left the White House and quickly thrown together a rump campaign
organization. The heretofore behind-the-scenes Bannon was methodically meeting with every
conservative leader in the country—doing his best, as he put it, to “kiss the ass and pay homage to all
the gray-beards.” And he was keynoting a list of must-attend conservative events.
“Why is Steve speaking? I didn’t know he spoke,” the president remarked with puzzlement and
rising worry to aides.
Trump had been upstaged in other ways as well. He had been scheduled for a major 60 Minutes
interview in September, but this was abruptly canceled after Bannon’s 60 Minutes interview with
Charlie Rose on September 11. The president’s advisers felt he shouldn’t put himself in a position
where he would be compared with Bannon. The worry among staffers—all of them concerned that
Trump’s rambling and his alarming repetitions (the same sentences delivered with the same
expressions minutes apart) had significantly increased, and that his ability to stay focused, never
great, had notably declined—was that he was likely to suffer by such a comparison. Instead, the
interview with Trump was offered to Sean Hannity—with a preview of the questions.
Bannon was also taking the Breitbart opposition research group—the same forensic accountant
types who had put together the damning Clinton Cash revelations—and focusing it on what he
characterized as the “political elites.” This was a catchall list of enemies that included as many
Republicans as Democrats.
Most of all, Bannon was focused on fielding candidates for 2018. While the president had
repeatedly threatened to support primary challenges against his enemies, in the end, with his
aggressive head start, it was Bannon who would be leading these challenges. It was Bannon
spreading fear in the Republican Party, not Trump. Indeed, Bannon was willing to pick outré if not
whacky candidates—including former Staten Island congressman Michael Grimm, who had done a
stint in federal prison—to demonstrate, as he had demonstrated with Trump, the scale, artfulness, and
menace of Bannon-style politics. Although the Republicans in the 2018 congressional races were
looking, according to Bannon’s numbers, at a 15-point deficit, it was Bannon’s belief that the more
extreme the right-wing challenge appeared, the more likely the Democrats would field left-wing
nutters even less electable than right-wing nutters. The disruption had just begun.
Trump, in Bannon’s view, was a chapter, or even a detour, in the Trump revolution, which had
always been about weaknesses in the two major parties. The Trump presidency—however long it
lasted—had created the opening that would provide the true outsiders their opportunity. Trump was
just the beginning.
Standing on the Breitbart steps that October morning, Bannon smiled and said: “It’s going to be
wild as shit.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Janice Min and Matthew Belloni at the Hollywood Reporter, who, eighteen months
ago, got me up one morning to jump on a plane in New York and that evening interview the unlikely
candidate in Los Angeles. My publisher, Stephen Rubin, and editor, John Sterling, at Henry Holt have
not only generously supported this book but shepherded it with enthusiasm and care on an almost
daily basis. My agent, Andrew Wylie, made this book happen, as usual, virtually overnight.
Michael Jackson at Two Cities TV, Peter Benedek at UTA, and my lawyers, Kevin Morris and
Alex Kohner, have patiently pushed this project forward.
A libel reading can be like a visit to the dentist. But in my long experience, no libel lawyer is
more nuanced, sensitive, and strategic than Eric Rayman. Once again, almost a pleasure.
Many friends, colleagues, and generous people in the greater media and political world have
made this a smarter book, among them Mike Allen, Jonathan Swan, John Homans, Franklin Foer, Jack
Shafer, Tammy Haddad, Leela de Kretser, Stevan Keane, Matt Stone, Edward Jay Epstein, Simon
Dumenco, Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough, Piers Morgan, Juleanna Glover, Niki Christoff, Dylan
Jones, Michael Ledeen, Mike Murphy, Tim Miller, Larry McCarthy, Benjamin Ginsberg, Al From,
Kathy Ruemmler, Matthew Hiltzik, Lisa Dallos, Mike Rogers, Joanna Coles, Steve Hilton, Michael
Schrage, Matt Cooper, Jim Impoco, Michael Feldman, Scott McConnell, and Mehreen Maluk.
My appreciation to fact-checkers Danit Lidor, Christina Goulding, and Joanne Gerber.
My greatest thanks to Victoria Floethe, for her support, patience, and insights, and for her good
grace in letting this book take such a demanding place in our lives.
INDEX
Abbas, Mahmoud, 231, 299
Abe, Shinzō, 106
Abraham Lincoln, USS, 182
Abramovich, Roman, 80
Adelson, Sheldon, 6, 141–43, 178, 289, 309
Afghanistan, 42, 263–68, 275–76
Agalarov, Aras, 254
Agenda, The (Woodward), 116
Ailes, Beth, 1, 4, 223–24
Ailes, Roger, 1–8, 11, 24, 26, 57, 59–60, 147, 164, 178–79, 195–98, 210, 212, 222–23
Alabama, 301–3
Al Shayrat airfield strike, 193–94
alt-right, 59, 116, 121, 128–29, 137–38, 174, 180, 296
American Prospect, 297
Anbang Insurance Group, 211
anti-Semitism, 140–44, 296
Anton, Michael, 105–6, 185, 229
Apprentice, The (TV show), 30, 76, 92, 109, 200
Arif, Tevfik, 100
Armey, Dick, 81
Arthur Andersen, 278
Art of the Deal, The (Trump and Schwartz), 22
Assad, Bashar al-, 183, 190
Atlantic City, 30, 99, 210
Atwater, Lee, 57
Australia, 78
Ayers, Nick, 240
Azerbaijan, 254
Bahrain, 231
Baier, Bret, 159–60
Baker, James, 27, 34
Baker, Peter, 277
Bannon, Steve, 185, 209, 247
Afghanistan and, 263–68
agenda of, in White House, 115–21, 275–77
agenda of, post-firing, 301–10
alt-right and, 137–38
background of, 55–60
campaign and, 3, 12–13, 17–18, 55, 86, 112–13, 201
Charlottesville and, 294–96
China and, 7–8, 297
Cohn and, 144, 146, 186
Comey firing and, 169–70, 211–15, 217–18, 232–33, 245–46, 261
CPAC and, 126–34
eve of inauguration and, 4–10
first weeks of presidency and, 52–55, 60–65, 67–70
Flynn and, 95, 103, 106
immigration and, 61–65, 77, 113
inauguration and, 42–43, 148
influence of, 70, 85, 108–10, 188
isolationism of, 227
Israel and, 140–43
Ivanka and, 146–48, 186–87, 211, 218–19, 221, 257
Jarvanka vs., 140, 174–82, 235–39, 243, 257, 261–62, 272, 274, 277, 280–81, 289–91
Kelly and, 287–91, 294–97
Kushner and, 69–70, 72, 77, 87, 110, 132, 134, 140–48
Kuttner call and firing of, 297–300, 307
media and, 38, 90–91, 93, 195–97, 206–9, 222
NSC and, 103, 176, 190–92
Obamacare and, 165–67, 170–72, 175
Paris Climate Accord and, 238–39
Pence and, 124
Priebus and, 33–34, 110
role of, in early presidency, 31–35
Russia investigation and, 7, 95, 97, 101, 154–55, 157, 170, 211, 233–46, 254–55, 257, 260–62, 278–81, 308
Ryan and, 161–63
Saudi Arabia and, 229–30
Scaramucci and, 268, 271, 274, 277, 281–85
Sessions and, 155, 241–42, 277–78
Syria and, 190–94
Trump on, 122–23
Trump pressured to fire, 173–82
Trump’s personality and, 21, 23, 35, 45, 47–48, 148–49, 158
Trump’s Times interview and, 277–78
White House appointments and, 4, 36, 86–87, 89, 189, 285
Barra, Mary, 88
Barrack, Tom, 27–29, 33, 42, 85, 233, 240
Bartiromo, Maria, 205
Bass, Edward, 56
Bayrock Group, 100–102
Bedminster Golf Club, 165, 213–14, 216, 287–94, 297, 302, 307
Beinart, Peter, 297
Benghazi, 97
Berkowitz, Avi, 143
Berlusconi, Silvio, 100
Berman, Mark, 78
Best and the Brightest, The (Halberstam), 53–54
Bezos, Jeff, 35
Biosphere 2, 56
Blackstone Group, 35, 78, 87, 298
Blackwater, 265
Blair, Tony, 156–58, 228
Blankfein, Lloyd, 144
Bloomberg, Michael, 117
Boehner, John, 26, 161
Boeing, 88
Bolton, John, 4–5, 189
border wall, 77–78, 228, 280, 303
Bossie, David, 58, 144, 177, 234, 237, 301
Bowles, Erskine, 27
Boyle, Matthew, 298–300
Boy Scouts of America, 284
Brady, Tom, 50
Brand, Rachel, 279
Breitbart, Andrew, 58–59
Breitbart News, 2, 32, 58–59, 62, 121, 126–29, 138, 160–62, 167, 179–80, 196, 207–8, 237, 266, 275, 297–98, 309
Brennan, John, 6, 41
Brexit, 5
Britain, 70, 157
Brooks, Mel, 15
Bryan, William Jennings, 45
Brzezinski, Mika, 66–69, 121, 176, 247–49
Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 66
Buckley, William F., 127
Bush, Billy, 10, 13–14, 34, 86, 96, 161
Bush, George H. W., 26, 27, 34, 126
Bush, George W., 16, 27, 44, 82, 90, 126, 128, 138, 182, 184, 199, 205, 225, 227, 264
Bush, Jeb, 21, 56, 138
business councils, 35, 87–88, 239, 298
Camp David, 84
Canada, 107, 228
Card, Andrew, 27
Carlson, Tucker, 140, 205
Carter, Arthur, 74–75
Carter, Graydon, 74, 199
Carter, Jimmy, 27, 66
Caslen, Robert L., Jr., 189
Celebrity Apprentice (TV show), 22
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 6, 17, 42, 48–51, 65, 102, 104, 263, 265, 267
Charlottesville rally, 292–96, 298
chemical weapons, 183–84, 190–93, 265
Cheney, Dick, 27
China, 6–8, 39, 100, 193–94, 211, 226, 228, 258, 267, 269–70, 297
Chopra, Deepak, 80
Christie, Chris, 16, 24–25, 30–31, 210, 242, 279
Christoff, Niki, 78
Churchill, Winston, 50
Circa news website, 159, 257
Clapper, James, 41, 214–15
Clinton, Bill, 23, 27, 54, 58, 90, 116, 123, 128, 158, 225, 228
impeachment of, 201, 233, 280
Clinton, Hillary, 3, 11–12, 18, 35, 69, 76, 87, 94, 97, 112, 134, 141, 144, 164, 204, 206, 233, 253, 269
Comey and, 169, 213, 216, 220, 245
Russian hacking of emails, 254, 259–60
Clinton Cash (Schweizer), 309
CNBC, 143, 207
CNN, 37, 39, 92, 159, 237, 298
Cohen, Michael, 278–80
Cohn, Gary, 89, 143–46, 170–71, 176, 186–87, 190, 229, 235, 258, 261, 270, 276, 285, 290, 296, 304–5
Cohn, Roy, 73, 141
Collins, Gail, 92
Comey, James, 6, 11, 168–70, 211–20, 223–24, 229, 232–33, 237, 242–45, 261–62, 280, 307
Commerce Department, 133
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), 126–39
Conway, George, 201–2
Conway, Kellyanne, 9–10, 12, 18, 20, 33, 37, 39, 43, 45, 48, 60, 64, 81, 84, 86–87, 91, 93, 96–97, 107, 109, 112, 122, 127, 129, 132, 134,
146, 170, 175–76, 185, 188, 198–203, 205, 207, 209, 261, 269, 291
Corallo, Mark, 238, 257, 259–60, 280–81
Corker, Bob, 43
Corzine, Jon, 56, 144
Coulter, Ann, 29, 128, 138, 201, 205
Couric, Katie, 203
Cruz, Ted, 12, 201
DACA, 280
Daily Mail, 15, 308
Daley, Bill, 27
Davis, Lanny, 233, 238
Dean, John, 212–13
Defense Intelligence Agency, 101
Democratic National Committee (DNC), 101
Democratic Party, 37, 97, 212, 310
Deripaska, Oleg, 17, 101, 240
Devil’s Bargain, The (Green), 276, 289
DeVos, Betsy, 21, 129
DeYoung, Karen, 105–6
Dickerson, John, 209
Digital Entertainment Network, 56
Director of National Intelligence, 86, 214
Disney, 42, 88
Dowd, Mark, 281
Dubai, 39
Dubke, Mike, 208, 273
Duke, David, 141
Dunford, Joseph, 182
Egypt, 6, 81, 227, 231
elections
of 2008, 62, 111
of 2016, 18, 101–2, 309
of 2017, 301–2
of 2018, 171, 309–10
of 2020, 308–9
Emanuel, Rahm, 27
Enron, 278
environmental regulation, 182, 295
Epstein, Edward Jay, 102
Epstein, Jeffrey, 28
Europe, 5, 142
European Union, 99
executive orders (EOs), 120, 133
climate change, 182
immigration and travel ban, 61–65, 68, 70, 78, 95, 113, 117
executive privilege, 245, 278
Export-Import Bank, 271
Facebook, 21
Farage, Nigel, 275
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 6, 11, 42, 96, 98, 101–2, 156, 159, 168–70, 210–20, 235, 244–46, 255, 281
Federalist Society, 86
Federal Reserve, 276
Fields, James Alex, Jr., 293
Financial Times, 278
First Amendment, 136
Five, The (TV show), 273
Florida, 60
Flynn, Michael, 4, 16–17, 95–96, 101–7, 154–55, 172, 176, 188–89, 191, 210, 220–21, 225, 227, 244, 280
Foer, Franklin, 99–102
Ford, Gerald, 27, 90
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court, 95
Fourth Amendment, 16
Fox Business Channel, 205, 268, 270
Fox News, 1–3, 8, 24, 127–28, 140, 159, 195–97, 205, 217, 223, 237, 272, 284, 298
Franken, Al, 151–52
Freedom Caucus, 161, 171
Fusion GPS, 37, 99
G20 summit, 257
Gaddafi, Muammar, 270
Gamergate, 59
Gawker, 308
Gaza, 6
Gazprom, 101
Geffen, David, 12, 178
General Electric (GE), 88
General Motors, 88
Georgia (post-Soviet), 226
Gingrich, Newt, 177
Giuliani, Rudy, 16, 30, 86–87, 210, 242, 279
Glover, Juleanna, 78
Glover Park Group, 203
Goldman Sachs, 55–56, 81–82, 119, 143–49, 174, 179, 184, 270, 305
Goldman Sachs Foundation, 82
Goldwater, Barry, 127
Gore, Al, 123
Gorka, Sebastian, 129
Gorsuch, Neil, 85–87, 133
Grimm, Michael, 310
Guardian, 276
Guilfoyle, Kimberly, 223, 272–73, 284
H-1B visas, 36
Haberman, Maggie, 91–92, 206–7, 277
Hagin, Joe, 186, 229
Hahn, Julia, 236
Haig, Alexander, 27
Halberstam, David, 53–55
Haldeman, H. R., 27
Haley, Nikki, 305–6
Hall, Jerry, 19
Halperin, Mark, 217
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, king of Bahrain, 231
Hanley, Allie, 127, 139
Hannity, Sean, 68, 195–96, 222–24, 309
Harder, Charles, 308
Haspel, Gina, 157
Health and Human Services Department (HHS), 166
Hemingway, Mark, 38
Heritage Foundation, 162
Heyer, Heather, 293
Hicks, Hope, 13, 26, 109, 150–54, 158, 160, 185, 188, 198–201, 203–9, 213, 216–17, 229, 235, 247, 258–59, 261–62, 271, 277, 279, 281,
297, 307
Hiltzik, Matthew, 203–4, 207
Hitler, Adolf, 127
HNA Group, 269
Hogan, Hulk, 22, 308
Homeland Security Department, 63, 86, 133, 218, 285, 288
Hoover, J. Edgar, 219
Hubbell, Webster, 97
Hull, Cordell, 105
Hussein, Saddam, 27
Hutchison, Kay Bailey, 81
IBM, 88
Icahn, Carl, 20, 141, 211
Iger, Bob, 88, 238
immigration and travel ban, 36, 62–65, 68, 70, 78, 95, 113, 116–17, 138, 288
infrastructure, 224, 295
Ingraham, Laura, 201, 205, 222
intelligence community, 6–7, 41–42, 98, 101–2, 104, 153, 159, 219
Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE), 56–57
In the Face of Evil (documentary), 58
Iran, 4, 191, 225–27
Iraq, 42, 49, 128, 138, 182
ISIS, 7, 49, 219
isolationism, 118, 174, 184, 191, 227
Israel, 4, 6, 140–43, 211, 219, 227, 230, 265, 281, 289
Jackson, Andrew, 44, 67, 158
Jackson, Michael, 28, 42
Japan, 39, 106
Jarrett, Valerie, 129
Jefferson, Thomas, 293
Jerusalem, 6
Jews, 73, 140–45, 157, 293
John Birch Society, 127
Johnson, Boris, 70
Johnson, Jamie, 79–80
Johnson, Lyndon B., 6–7, 53, 66, 158, 167
Johnson, Woody, 12
Jones, Paula, 201
Jordan, 6
Jordan, Hamilton, 27
Jordan, Vernon, 78
Justice Department (DOJ), 94–96, 98, 105, 151, 154–56, 168–69, 210, 216–17, 242
Kaepernick, Colin, 303
Kalanick, Travis, 88
Kaplan, Peter, 74–76
Kasowitz, Marc, 238, 259–60, 280–81
Kazakhstan, 281
Keaton, Alex P., 128
Kelly, John, 4, 63, 109, 188, 218, 285, 287–91, 294–97, 299–300, 304–7
Kennedy, John F., 53, 84
Kent, Phil, 92
Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack, 183–84, 188–93
Kim Jong-un, 293
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 50–51
Kirk, Russell, 127
Kislyak, Sergey, 95, 106, 151, 154–55, 218, 236
Kissinger, Henry, 41, 77, 142, 145, 193, 226–28
Koch brothers, 178
Kudlow, Larry, 143, 207
Ku Klux Klan (KKK), 294–95
Kurtz, Howard, 217
Kushner, Charlie, 17, 31, 72, 210–11, 257, 281
Kushner, Jared
background of, 28, 71–76, 80–81
Bannon and, 8, 12, 52–53, 68, 110, 115, 132–34, 140, 145–47, 154, 173–74, 176, 179–82, 187, 191, 207–8, 235–36, 238–39, 243, 245–47,
274, 276, 281, 289, 291, 297
business affairs of, 17–18, 102, 211, 256, 281
business council and, 35, 87–88
Charlottesville rally and, 294
China and, 193, 211, 228
Christie and, 31
Comey and, 168–70, 210–14, 216–18, 232, 243, 245, 280, 307
CPAC and, 132–34
electoral victory and, 10, 12, 18–19, 45, 60, 103, 112
intelligence community and, 41–42, 48, 156–57
Kelly and, 288–91, 294, 305–6
McMaster and, 176, 189, 192–93, 235, 266, 289
media and, 68–69, 76, 146, 202–3, 207, 277–79
Mexico and, 77–78
Middle East and, 70, 140–43, 145, 157, 182, 192, 194, 211, 266, 268
Murdoch and, 73, 156, 179
Obamacare and, 72, 166–68
Office of American Innovation and, 181, 207
policy and, 115–25, 226, 228
role of, in White House, 29–30, 40–41, 64, 69–72, 77, 93, 109, 172, 285
Russia and, 24, 106, 154–56, 170, 236, 239, 253–58, 261, 271, 273, 278, 280, 283–84, 307–8
Saudi Arabia and, 225–29
Trump’s speech to Congress and, 149–51
White House staff and, 33, 110, 121, 140, 143–49, 186, 253, 268, 271–74, 282–83, 286
Kushner, Josh, 69, 166
Kushner Companies, 256
Kuttner, Robert, 297–98
labor unions, 67–68
Ledeen, Michael, 104
Lee, Robert E., 293
Lefrak, Richard, 27
Le Pen, Marine, 100
Lewandowski, Corey, 11–13, 17, 26, 28–29, 204, 234, 237–38, 252–53, 255
Lewinsky, Monica, 233
Libya, 6, 42
Lighthizer, Robert, 133
Limbaugh, Rush, 128, 222
Lowe, Rob, 42
Luntz, Frank, 201
Manafort, Paul, 12, 17, 28, 101, 210, 240, 253–56, 278, 280
Manhattan, Inc., 74
Manigault, Omarosa, 109
Mar-a-Lago, 4, 69, 99, 106, 159, 189, 193–94, 210, 228, 248–49
Marcus, Bernie, 309
Mattis, James, 4, 21, 103, 109, 188, 264–65, 288, 296, 304–5
May, Theresa, 258
McCain, John, 112, 306
McCarthy, Joe, 73
McConnell, Mitch, 32, 117, 301–2
McCormick, John, 167
McGahn, Don, 95, 212–14, 217
McLaughlin, John, 10
McMaster, H. R., 109, 176, 185, 188–93, 211, 235, 258, 263–68, 276–77, 288–89, 298–99, 304–5
McNerney, Jim, 88
Meadows, Mark, 161, 163, 171
Medicare, 165
Melton, Carol, 78
Mensch, Louise, 160
Mercer, Rebekah, 12, 58–59, 121, 127, 135, 139, 177–80, 201, 208, 309
Mercer, Robert, 12, 58–59, 112, 177–80, 201, 309
Mexico, 39, 62, 77, 93, 228
Middle East, 29, 70, 140, 145, 157, 190, 211, 224–33, 242, 264
Mighty Ducks, The (TV show), 56
military contractors, 265, 267
Miller, Jason, 234, 237–38, 299
Miller, Stephen, 61, 64–65, 89, 133, 148, 209, 213, 229, 258, 307
Mnuchin, Steve, 13, 133, 290, 296, 304
Mohammed bin Nayef, crown prince of Saudi Arabia (MBN), 228, 231
Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia (MBS), 224–31
Moore, Roy, 302–4
Morgan, Piers, 22
Morning Joe (TV show), 32, 66–67, 121, 189, 247–48
MSNBC, 66, 106, 247
Ms. Universe contest, 38–39
Mueller, Robert, 220–21, 223, 229–30, 232–33, 238–41, 243, 256, 258, 261–62, 277–80, 306, 308
Mulvaney, Mick, 116, 171, 185, 285
Murdoch, Chloe, 156
Murdoch, Grace, 156
Murdoch, Rupert, 2, 8, 19–20, 32, 36, 60–61, 73–74, 80–81, 93, 121, 147, 156–57, 178–79, 195–98, 223, 289, 298
Murdoch, Wendi, 19, 80, 156
Murphy, Mike, 56
Musk, Elon, 35, 78, 88, 238
National Economic Council, 89, 143–44
National Environment Policy Act (1970), 182
National Football League, 303–4
nationalists, 133–34, 138, 174, 276, 293, 301–2
National Policy Institute, 127
National Republican Senatorial Committee, 112
National Security Advisor
Brzezinski as, 66
Flynn as, 4, 17, 95, 101–7, 191
McMaster as, 176, 188–89
Rice as, 6, 41
National Security Agency (NSA), 102, 223
National Security Council (NSC), 42, 103, 105, 176, 185–86, 190–91, 193, 265, 267
Navarro, Peter, 133
Nazi Germany, 7
NBC, 66, 92
neoconservatives, 4, 128, 227
neo-Nazis, 137, 292–95
Netanyahu, Benjamin, 6, 142, 231
New Republic, 98, 297
Newsom, Gavin, 272
New Yorker, 37, 56, 151, 154, 215, 284–85
New York magazine, 74
New York Observer, 72–76, 141
New York Post, 15, 74, 113, 207
New York Times, 37, 51, 90–92, 96, 151–53, 196, 205, 207, 211, 236, 237, 257, 259–60, 266, 271, 277
Nixon, Richard M., 2, 8, 26–27, 41, 54, 90, 93, 212–13, 222
Nooyi, Indra, 88–89
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 77
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 99
North Korea, 291–93, 297
Nunberg, Sam, 11, 13, 16, 22, 144, 237–38, 248, 282, 291, 300
Nunes, Devin, 170
Obama, Barack, 27, 35–36, 41–45, 54, 61–63, 67, 90, 101, 104, 128, 164, 187, 215, 250, 269, 295
birth certificate and, 62, 295
DOJ and, 94–96, 210, 279
executive orders and, 61
farewell speech, 36
Flynn and, 101
immigration and, 63
Middle East and, 6–7, 42, 183, 190, 225, 227, 231, 263–66
Russia and, 95, 151–54, 156
Trump inauguration and, 43–44
White House Correspondents’ Dinner and, 198
wiretapping and, 157–60
Obamacare repeal and replace, 72, 116–17, 164–67, 170–71, 175, 224, 283, 285, 290
Office of American Innovation, 180–81, 207
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 116, 185, 285
O’Neill, Tip, 167
opioid crisis, 291
O’Reilly, Bill, 195–96, 222
Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 271
Oscar insurance company, 72
Osnos, Evan, 154
Page, Carter, 101
Palestinians, 227, 230–32
Panetta, Leon, 27
Paris Climate Accord, 182, 238–39, 301
PayPal, 21
Pelosi, Nancy, 78
Peña Nieto, Enrique, 77–78, 228
Pence, Karen, 124, 209
Pence, Mike, 92, 95, 106–7, 123–24, 171, 209, 218, 240
Pentagon, 7, 55
Perelman, Ronald, 73, 141
Perlmutter, Ike, 141
Petraeus, David, 263–64
Pierce, Brock, 56–57
Planned Parenthood, 117
Playbook, 171
Podesta, John, 27
Politico, 171
Pompeo, Mike, 49, 51, 157, 306
populists, 6, 24, 31, 100, 113, 118, 142, 174–75, 177, 276, 301
Powell, Dina, 81–82, 145–46, 176–77, 184–88, 190, 192–94, 229, 235–36, 258, 261, 265–67, 276, 279, 285, 296, 306
Preate, Alexandra, 1, 32, 130, 207–8, 238, 249, 275, 278–79, 299
Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act (2010), 24
Price, Tom, 165–66, 171, 291
Priebus, Reince, 77, 86, 144, 146, 150, 166, 171–73, 176, 203, 205, 207, 209, 229, 238, 257, 296, 304
business councils and, 89
campaign and, 9–10, 13, 18, 112–13
chief of staff appointment and, 26, 32–34, 60, 64–65, 67–70, 109–10, 117–24, 243–44, 305
CPAC and, 127, 130–34
Flynn and, 95, 106
inauguration and, 45, 52
Obama wiretapping story and, 159–60
resignation of, 282–85, 307
Russia investigation and, 171, 211–14, 216–17, 232–34, 261–62
Scaramucci and, 270–72, 282–85
Prince, Erik, 265, 267
Private Eye magazine, 74
Producers, The (film), 15–16
Pruitt, Scott, 21
Putin, Vladimir, 7, 8, 24, 37–38, 99–102, 153, 155
Qatar, 230–31
Raffel, Josh, 142, 207, 258–59, 279
Reagan, Ronald, 26, 27, 34, 58, 90, 126–27, 144, 201, 222
Remnick, David, 154
Renaissance Technologies, 58
Republican National Committee (RNC), 10–11, 13, 26, 28, 30, 32–33, 52, 112, 119, 172, 205
Republican National Convention, 21, 26, 28, 253
Republican Party, 2, 18, 30, 40–41, 81, 86, 98, 111–12, 117–21, 128, 161–67, 171–72, 201, 290, 303
fracturing of, 179–80, 253, 283, 306, 309–10
Rhodes, Ben, 41, 154, 159, 185, 215
Rice, Susan, 7, 41, 153
Rometty, Ginni, 88
Rose, Charlie, 309
Rosen, Hillary, 78
Rosenstein, Rod, 212, 214, 216–21, 279
Ross, Wilbur, 78, 133, 229–30
Roth, Steven, 27, 141
Rove, Karl, 57, 238
Rumsfeld, Donald, 27
Russia, 24, 37–39, 92, 151–56, 160, 190–91, 236–46, 273, 303, 307–8
Bannon on, 6–7, 238–40, 278–83
Comey and, 168–70, 210–20, 242, 244–45
Don Jr. Trump Tower meeting and, 253–61, 271–72, 307
Foer’s theories on, 99–102
Flynn and, 17, 95, 102–7, 154–56
investigations begun, 41, 94–107
Kushner and, 41–42, 80, 102, 154–56, 168–70, 210–14, 218, 226, 236–37, 245–46, 254–56, 273, 278, 281, 283–84, 307–8
money trail and, 278–83
Mueller appointed special counsel, 220–21, 223, 229–30, 232–33, 238, 239, 241, 243, 261–62, 278–80
Obama wiretapping story and, 157–60
sanctions and, 105–7, 226
Sessions and, 151–52, 155–56, 245–46
Syria and, 190–91, 226
Steele dossier and, 37–39, 92–93, 102, 151, 156
Russian oligarchs, 17, 81, 100–101, 254
Ryan, Paul, 32, 117–21, 159–67, 170–72, 224
Sandberg, Sheryl, 187, 236
Sanders, Bernie, 5
Sanders, Sarah Huckabee, 229
Sater, Felix, 100–101, 278
Saturday Night Live (TV show), 89, 91, 93, 208, 276
Saudi Arabia, 6, 224–32, 236
Saval, Nikil, 276
Scaramucci, Anthony, 268–74, 277, 281–86, 288, 307
Scarborough, Joe, 32, 47, 66–69, 81, 121, 147, 176, 247–49
Scavino, Dan, 229
Schiller, Keith, 217, 229
Schlapp, Matt, 127, 129, 131–33
Schlapp, Mercedes, 129
Schmidt, Michael, 277
Schwartz, Arthur, 249, 298–300
Schwartz, Tony, 22
Schwarzman, Stephen, 35, 78, 87–88, 298
Secret Service, 84
Seinfeld (TV series), 56
Sekulow, Jay, 281
Sessions, Jeff, 4, 59, 61–62, 64, 94, 138, 151–52, 155–56, 170, 212, 214, 216–18, 220, 241–42, 245–46, 261, 277, 279–80, 302
Sinclair organization, 159
Sisi, Abdel Fattah el-, 231
60 Minutes (TV show), 309
666 Fifth Avenue, 211, 281
Skybridge Capital, 269–70
Slate, 98–99
Slovenia, 15
Smith, Justin, 78
Snowden, Edward, 42, 95
Soros, George, 178
Special Operations, 265
Spencer, Richard, 127, 129–30, 137–39, 292–94
Spicer, Sean, 10, 47–48, 64, 91, 96, 122, 132, 160, 205–7, 211, 217–18, 223, 229, 251–52, 257–58, 261, 272–73, 282, 286, 296, 307
Spy magazine, 74
Starr, Ken, 233
State Department, 63, 86, 228–29, 231
Steele, Christopher, 37, 99
Steele dossier, 37–39, 92–93, 102, 151, 156
steel industry, 67–68
Steinmetz, Benny, 211
Stone, Roger, 13, 17, 55, 288
Strange, Luther, 302–4
Strategic and Policy Forum, 87–89
Suzy magazine, 15
Swan, Jonathan, 299
Syria, 42, 183–84, 188–93, 219, 226, 265
Taliban, 267
tax reform, 87, 167, 224, 290
Tea Party, 5, 18, 26, 33, 58–59, 128, 161–63
Thiel, Peter, 21, 222, 309
Thrush, Glenn, 91, 277
Tillerson, Rex, 4, 21, 86, 211, 225, 229, 265, 267, 296, 304–6
Time magazine, 50, 56, 93, 130, 147, 276
Time Warner, 78, 92
trade, 116, 174, 276
transgender ban, 284
Treasury Department, 133
Trotta, Liz, 223
Trudeau, Justin, 107, 228
Truman, Harry, 61
Trump, Barron, 14
Trump, Don, Jr., 17–18, 27, 204, 252–61, 271, 278–79, 307
Trump, Donald
Abe meeting at Mar-a-Lago and, 106
Afghanistan and, 263–68
Ailes on, 2–8
Ailes’s funeral and, 222–24
Alabama GOP Senate run-off, 301–4
Apprentice and, 30, 76
Bannon and, 1–8, 31–32, 35, 52–53, 59–65, 93, 122, 146–47, 158, 187, 190–91, 232–37, 289, 301, 308–10
Bannon firing and, 173–83, 298–300
Billy Bush tape and, 13–14, 34
business and finances of, 17–18, 36–37, 39, 99, 100, 102, 240, 252–53, 277–79
business councils and, 87–89, 298
cabinet appointments and, 4–5, 86
campaign and, 3, 12–18, 59–60, 66–67, 99, 101, 112, 114, 134, 157, 201–4
Canada and, 228
chaotic leadership style of, 108–24
Charlottesville and, 293–96, 298
China and, 193–95, 228, 297–98
Comey and, 168–69, 210–20, 224, 232–33, 242, 244–46
Congress and, 116–18
Conway and, 146–47, 200–203
CPAC and, 126–39
DOJ and, 155–56, 168–69
electoral victory of, 3, 9–20, 24, 34–39
executive orders and, 61–65, 120
fake news and, 39, 48, 135–36, 152, 168, 215, 237
Flynn and, 103–4, 106–7
foreign policy and, 184, 226–28
future of presidency of, 308–10
Gorsuch nomination and, 85–87
Haley and, 305–6
Hannity interview and, 309
Harrisburg trip and, 209
immigration and, 61–65, 68, 117
inauguration and, 1, 40–44, 47–51, 251
information and influences on, 70–71, 108–9, 113–16, 188, 192–93
intelligence briefings and, 115
intelligence community and, 41–42
Israel and, 231
Ivanka and, 69–71, 79–80, 181, 187, 237, 252, 257–58, 290
Jews and, 140–44
Kelly as chief of staff and, 285–91, 294–97, 304–7
Kislyak meeting in Oval Office and, 218–19
Kushner and, 40, 69–73, 93, 122, 126, 142, 145, 179, 181–82, 211, 252–53, 290
McMaster and, 188–90, 193, 289
media and, 34–35, 39, 46–47, 51, 74–76, 89–93, 96–99, 195–209, 215, 224, 247–51, 260
Melania and, 14–15, 43
Mercers and, 178–80
Mexico and, 77–78, 228
Mueller investigation and, 220–21, 223, 229–30, 232–33, 238–41, 243, 256, 258, 261–62, 277–80, 306, 308
Murdoch and, 19–20, 60–61
New York Times interview of, 277
NFL controversy and, 303–4
nightly phone calls and, 85, 92, 121–23, 158, 188, 210, 215, 230, 279
normalizing influences on, 138, 179, 183–88
North Korea and, 106, 291–93, 298
Obamacare and, 164–71, 175, 224, 283
Obama wiretapping accusation and, 157–60
O’Reilly and, 196–97
pardon power and, 256
Paris Climate Accord and, 238–39
Pence and, 123
personality and behavior of, 21–24, 35, 54–55, 70–73, 83, 114, 158, 232, 242–31, 248, 303
phone calls with foreign leaders, 78
political style of, 45–48, 249–51
popular vote and, 34
press secretary and, 110, 205–6, 272–74
Priebus as chief of staff and, 26–34, 109–10, 122, 146, 187, 243, 285
Republican Party and, 112, 163
right wing and, 196–97, 222–23, 237
Russia and, 24, 37–39, 41, 95–107, 151–54, 168, 190–91, 212, 218–21, 236–42, 244–45, 253–62, 271–72, 278–79, 283, 303, 307–8
Saudi Arabia and, 224–32
Scaramucci and, 269–71, 273–74, 282–84
Scarborough and Brzezinski and, 66–69, 247–49
Sessions and, 155–56, 241–42, 245, 277, 284
sexual harassment and, 23, 238
sons and, 252–53
speaking style of, 135–37
speech at Huntsville for Strange, 303–4
speech to Boy Scouts, 284
speech to CIA, 48–51, 65
speech to joint session of Congress, 147–50
staff doubts about, 186, 232–33, 242–43, 304–5
staff infighting and, 122–23
Syria and, 183–84, 188–93
tax reform and, 224
tax returns and, 18, 278
television and, 113, 150, 188, 197
transition and, 24–36, 103, 110, 112, 144
White House Correspondents’ dinner and, 198–99, 208–9
White House living quarters and, 70, 83–85, 90–92
women as confidants of, 199–200
Yates and, 94–96, 98, 214–16
Trump, Eric, 17, 27, 252–53
Trump, Freddy (brother), 72
Trump, Fred (father), 72, 90, 295
Trump, Ivanka, 13, 15, 17–19, 64
Afghanistan and, 266–68
background of, 73, 75, 78–81, 141, 179
Bannon and, 145, 147, 174, 176, 179–81, 187, 208, 235–39, 243, 261–62, 267, 274, 276, 280–81, 289, 291, 297
Charlottesville rally and, 294
China dinner and, 194
Christie and, 31
Comey and, 170, 210–13, 216–17, 233, 237, 245, 261–62
Haley and, 305
Kelly and, 288–90, 306
media and, 156, 202–3, 207, 272–73, 277–79
Obamacare and, 166
Paris Climate Accord and, 239
Powell and, 81–82, 140, 145–46, 186–88
Russia and, 239, 256–58, 261–62, 273, 307–8
Saudi Arabia and, 229, 231
Syria and, 190, 192
White House role of, 68–71, 78–81, 118–19, 181, 187, 200, 252, 285
White House staff and, 124, 146–48, 202–3, 268, 272–73, 282–83, 286, 289
Trump, Melania, 14–15, 18, 29, 43–44, 84, 229, 231, 291, 308
Trump International Hotels, 43, 200–201, 298, 300
Trump SoHo, 210
Trump Tower, 25, 35–37, 60, 83–84, 100, 108
Don Jr. meeting with Russians at, 253–61, 271–72, 307
Kislyak meeting with Kushner and Flynn at, 154
surveillance of, 158–59
Turkey, 104, 226
Twenty-Fifth Amendment, 297, 308
Uber, 78, 88
Ukraine, 101, 226, 240
U.S. Congress, 41, 61, 98, 120, 147–49, 152, 163, 165, 166, 216–17, 238–39, 244, 306, 310
U.S. Constitution, 16
U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, 162
Intelligence Committee, 168, 170
Obamacare repeal and, 161–62, 171–72
Ways and Means Committee, 162
U.S. Senate, 59, 94
Judiciary Committee, Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee, 214–15
Foreign Relations Committee, 43
Intelligence Committee, 242, 244–45
Obamacare and, 283, 285
US Steel, 67
U.S. Supreme Court, 85–86, 251
University of Virginia, “Unite the Right” rally at, 293–94
unmasking, 96, 160
Vanity Fair, 74, 75, 199
Venezuela, 293
Vietnam War, 53, 264
Vogue, 35
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, 201, 269
Walker, Scott, 33
Wall Street 2 (film), 270
Walsh, Katie, 10, 18, 52, 64, 110–17, 119–25, 144, 161, 163, 168, 171–72, 181–82, 187, 239, 303
Washington Post, 35, 37, 56, 78, 95–97, 105–6, 151–52, 155, 206, 211, 236, 237, 266
Washington Times, 129
Watergate scandal, 212–13, 278
Weekly Standard, 38
Weinstein, Harvey, 203
Weissmann, Andrew, 278
Welch, Jack, 88
West Bank, 6
White House communications director
Dubke as, 208
Hicks as, 297, 307
Scaramuccci as, 273–74, 281–86
White House Correspondents’ Dinner, 198–99, 208
White House ethics office, 270
White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, 270–71
white supremacy, 127, 138, 293–96
Whitewater affair, 58, 97
WikiLeaks, 153, 254
Wintour, Anna, 35–36
Wirthlin, Richard, 201
Women Who Work (Ivanka Trump), 79
Woodward, Bob, 54, 116
World Bank, 257
World Wrestling Entertainment, 22
Wynn, Steve, 30
Xi Jinping, 193, 228, 258
Yaffa, Joshua, 154
Yahoo! News, 37
Yanukovych, Viktor, 101
Yates, Sally, 94–96, 98, 104, 214–16
Yemen, 6
Yiannopoulos, Milo, 128–28, 138
Zhukova, Dasha, 80
Zucker, Jeff, 92

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL WOLFF has received numerous awards for his work, including two National Magazine
Awards. He has been a regular columnist for Vanity Fair, New York, The Hollywood Reporter,
British GQ, USA Today, and The Guardian. He is the author of six prior books, including the
bestselling Burn Rate and The Man Who Owns the News. He lives in Manhattan and has four
children.