In a career of trying to pry secrets, gossip, specificity and truth out of media executives, Ailes has been the most forthcoming,… — Michael Wolff Career Copy Share Image
“alarm signals first went off among his new campaign staff: he seemed to lack the ability to take in third-party information. Or… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Trump liked to portray his business as an empire, it was actually a discrete holding company and boutique enterprise, catering more to… — Michael Wolff Bottom line Copy Share Image
“Indeed, in his first weeks in the White House, an inattentive Trump was already trying to curtail his schedule of meetings, limit… — Michael Wolff Habits Copy Share Image
“Trump didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. If it was print, it might as well not exist. Some believed that for… — Michael Wolff Trump Copy Share Image
“The real question, of course, was how Bannon, the fuck-the-system populist, had ever come to think that he might get along with… — Michael Wolff Trump Copy Share Image
“Not only did the president-elect wear his deep and bitter grievances on his sleeve, but it was now clear that the fact… — Michael Wolff Elected Copy Share Image
“The organization therefore needed a set of internal rationalizations that would allow it to trust a man who, while he knew little,… — Michael Wolff Trust Man Copy Share Image
“He sent his new press secretary, Sean Spicer—whose personal mantra would shortly become “You can’t make this shit up”—to argue his case… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Trump, despite his disappointment at Washington’s failure to properly greet and celebrate him, was, like a good salesman, an optimist. Salesmen, whose… — Michael Wolff Failure Copy Share Image
“Each of these interlocutors provided Kushner with something of a tutorial on the limitations of presidential power—that Washington was as much designed… — Michael Wolff Every day Copy Share Image
“The first couple of times when I went to the White House, someone had to say, This is Mick Mulvaney, he’s the… — Michael Wolff Time Copy Share Image
“Early on, before getting down to attacking each other, Bannon and Kushner were united in their separate offensives against Priebus. Kushner’s preferred… — Michael Wolff Cell phone Copy Share Image
“But this sense of duty and virtue involved a complicated calculation about your positive effect on the White House versus its negative… — Michael Wolff White house Copy Share Image
“Once, coming back on his plane with a billionaire friend who had brought along a foreign model, Trump, trying to move in… — Michael Wolff Atlantic city Copy Share Image
“Sean Spicer, whose job was literally to explain what people did and why, often simply could not—because nobody really had a job,… — Michael Wolff Chief of staff Copy Share Image
“To everyone working in media in New York, Donald Trump represented the ultimate shame of working in media in New York: you… — Michael Wolff Donald trump Copy Share Image
Two opposite and instructive figures in U.S. journalism during the Trump years are Gerard Baker, editor of the Wall Street Journal, and… — Michael Wolff Journalism Copy Share Image
“When the president got on the phone after dinner, it was often a rambling affair. In paranoid or sadistic fashion, he’d speculate… — Michael Wolff Paranoid Copy Share Image
“There was, curiously, general agreement in the West Wing that Donald Trump, the media president, had one of the most dysfunctional communication… — Michael Wolff Communication Copy Share Image
I have never heard the word brand used so often as I did around The Guardian. Brand was the magical word, particularly… — Michael Wolff Around Copy Share Image
“A small man with a Mr. Magoo stature and an old-fashioned Southern accent, Sessions was bitterly mocked by the president, who drew… — Michael Wolff Mocked Copy Share Image
“Finally, there was a new rationale that Flynn should be fired not because of his Russian contacts, but because he had lied… — Michael Wolff Chain of command Copy Share Image
“Salesmen, whose primary characteristic and main asset is their ability to keep selling, constantly recast the world in positive terms. Discouragement for… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“the central issue of the Trump presidency, informing every aspect of Trumpian policy and leadership: he didn’t process information in any conventional… — Michael Wolff Leadership Copy Share Image
The rise of Donald Trump established a new ground zero for liberal media, requiring no pretence of balance - better yet, with… — Michael Wolff Balance Copy Share Image
“this was another—and to some quite the ultimate—example of how difficult it was for the president to function in a literal, definitional,… — Michael Wolff Difficult Copy Share Image
“In an age when all successful political candidates are surrounded by, if not at the beck and call of, difficult, even sociopathic,… — Michael Wolff Rich people Copy Share Image
“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… — Michael Wolff Republicans Copy Share Image
Donald Trump doesn't necessarily stay mad for very long. He's a transactional guy. If you can offer him something, he will take… — Michael Wolff Donald trump Copy Share Image
“Frank Sinatra was wrong,” said David Bossie, one of Trump’s longtime political advisers. “If you can make it in New York, you… — Michael Wolff Trump Copy Share Image
“Steve Bannon was running the Steve Bannon White House, Jared Kushner was running the Michael Bloomberg White House, and Reince Priebus was… — Michael Wolff Paul ryan Copy Share Image
Rusbridger's intelligence, personal sense of higher calling and almost other-worldly self-absorption have played no small part in the stories that have most… — Michael Wolff Guardian Copy Share Image
I can hardly tell you how boring it is to interview almost every politician among the multitudes I have ever interviewed (journalists… — Michael Wolff Bald Copy Share Image
“Scaramucci also took on Steve Bannon: “I’m not Steve Bannon. I’m not trying to suck my own cock.” (In fact, Bannon learned… — Michael Wolff Trump Copy Share Image
“He just keeps going,” Ailes had marveled to a friend after the first debate with Hillary Clinton. “You hit Donald along the… — Michael Wolff Friendship Copy Share Image
“Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian strongman, ably stroked the president and said, “You are a unique personality that is capable of doing… — Michael Wolff Trump Copy Share Image
“And yet, the larger truth was that Ivanka’s relationship with her father was in no way a conventional family relationship. If it… — Michael Wolff Family Copy Share Image
I am old enough to think the word 'journalist' is not all that noble a designation. Journalist - that record keeper, quote… — Michael Wolff Ambition Copy Share Image
“Here’s the deal,” a close Trump associate told Priebus. “In an hour meeting with him you’re going to hear fifty-four minutes of… — Michael Wolff Trump Copy Share Image
