“His departure would return the Trump organization to pure family control—the family and its functionaries, without an internal rival for brand meaning… — Michael Wolff Family Copy Share Image
Along with Trump, there are few people, on either the right or the left, who would defend the system. The system is,… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Anyone studying the position would conclude that a stronger chief of staff is better than a weaker one, and a chief of… — Michael Wolff Chief of staff 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 Politics Copy Share Image
“Finally, it was the right-wing diva and Trump supporter Ann Coulter who took the president-elect aside and said, “Nobody is apparently telling… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Politics had seemed to become, even well before the age of Trump, a mortal affair. It was now zero-sum: When one side… — Michael Wolff Battle between good and evil Copy Share Image
“Bannon described Trump as a simple machine. The On switch was full of flattery, the Off switch full of calumny. The flattery… — Michael Wolff Computers Copy Share Image
“D.C. area colleges being among the most reliable feeders of swamp talent (government is not really an Ivy League profession). Most government… — Michael Wolff Ivy league Copy Share Image
“A close Trump friend who was also a good Bill Clinton friend found them eerily similar—except that Clinton had a respectable front… — Michael Wolff Friendship Copy Share Image
“elected because of those conflicts—his business savvy, connections, experience, and brand—not in spite of them, and that it was ludicrous for anyone… — Michael Wolff Business Copy Share Image
“Bannon was curiously able to embrace Trump while at the same time suggesting he did not take him entirely seriously. He had… — Michael Wolff First met Copy Share Image
“An important aspect of Kaplan’s New York Observer and its self-conscious inside media baseball was that the paper became the prime school… — Michael Wolff Face value Copy Share Image
“Here was a perfect example of an essential Trump paradigm: he acceded to anyone who seemed to know more about any issue… — Michael Wolff Health care Copy Share Image
“Just doing things became a Bannon principle, the sweeping antidote to bureaucratic and establishment ennui and resistance. It was the chaos of… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“The Trump campaign had, perhaps less than inadvertently, replicated the scheme from Mel Brooks’s The Producers. In that classic, Brooks’s larcenous and… — Michael Wolff Broadway show Copy Share Image
“Kushner’s preferred outlet was Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s Morning Joe, one of the president’s certain morning shows. Bannon’s first port of… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Of the many Trump gashes in modern major-power governing, you could certainly drive a Trojan horse through his lack of foreign policy… — Michael Wolff Foreign policy Copy Share Image
“It was an operatic unraveling. So mortifying was this development that when Reince Priebus, the RNC head, was called to New York… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“virtually the entire senior staff and cabinet of the Trump presidency, past and present, had traveled through the stages of adventure, challenge,… — Michael Wolff Adventure Copy Share Image
“Trump did not enjoy his own inauguration. He had hoped for a big blowout. Tom Barrack, the would-be showman—in addition to Michael… — Michael Wolff Chief of staff Copy Share Image
“Just doing things became a Bannon principle, the sweeping antidote to bureaucratic and establishment ennui and resistance. It was the chaos of… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Shortly after Lewandowski, with whom Hicks had an on-and-off romantic relationship, was fired in June 2016 for clashing with Trump family members,… — Michael Wolff Family members Copy Share Image
“Political campaigns, substantially based on volunteer help, attract a range of silly, needy, and opportunistic figures. The Trump campaign perhaps scraped lower… — Michael Wolff Politics Copy Share Image
“Hence, within twenty-four hours of the inauguration, the president had invented a million or so people who did not exist. He sent… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“Hicks, sponsored by Ivanka and ever loyal to her, was in fact thought of as Trump’s real daughter, while Ivanka was thought… — Michael Wolff Marriage Copy Share Image
“Bannon and Kushner were therefore more than a little irritated to discover that the unimposing Priebus had an agenda of his own:… — Michael Wolff Capitol hill Copy Share Image
“He wasn’t serving up these insults for effect—well, not entirely. And his behavior wasn’t carefully calculated; it was tit for tat, and… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
“The face-off quickly escalated into an existential confrontation between the two sides of the White House—two sides on a total war footing.… — Michael Wolff Total war Copy Share Image
“At points on the day’s spectrum of adverse political developments, he could have moments of, almost everyone would admit, irrationality. When that… — Michael Wolff Hicks Copy Share Image
“Trump’s extemporaneous moments were always existential, but more so for his aides than for him. He spoke obliviously and happily, believing himself… — Michael Wolff Clear direction 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
“Others were now recruited and, despite their obvious impressions of the man, agreed to sign on. Jim Mattis, a retired four-star general,… — Michael Wolff Armed forces 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
“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 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
“Trump liked to say that one of the things that made life worth living was getting your friends’ wives into bed. In… — Michael Wolff Friendship Copy Share Image
“Not taking off his dark overcoat, lending him quite a hulking gangster look, pacing in front of the CIA’s wall of stars… — Michael Wolff American president Copy Share Image
“She was a nonevent on the campaign. She became a White House staffer and that’s when people suddenly realized she’s dumb as… — Michael Wolff Credibility Copy Share Image
“It was insidious. It was, to them, although they didn’t put it this way, similar to the kind of dark Clinton-like conspiracies… — Michael Wolff Copy Share Image
