Michael Wolff has created the perfect White House tell-all book for the Trump age. By his own account, according to the Washington Times, Wolff wrote down a lot of gossip and quoted it verbatim in "Fire And Fury." He has admitted that he is not entirely sure that what is in the book is, strictly speaking, true. In fact, he acknowledges that what is in the book conflicts with some known facts.
People have written poorly sourced and inaccurate, instant, tell-all books before. Kitty Kelly specializes in gossipy biographies that preferred salacious gossip to accurate reporting. And Trump is not the first American president to be accused of being either mental or a moron. The late Ronald Reagan was accused of being an “amiable dunce” and of being disengaged from the job of the presidency. Bill O’Reilly, of all people, published a book that suggested that Reagan spent most of his second term in the beginning stages of dementia, something that most every other biographer disputes.
The difference between “Fire and Fury” and every previous scurrilous work is that before the author at least pretended to believe that what he or she wrote was dead on accurate.
Wolff has created the perfect account that is mostly fantasy, designed to feed the biases of the never Trumpers who want to believe that the president of the United States is a child-man whom even his own family hates.
Geraldo Rivera slams ‘Fire and Fury’
Geraldo Rivera, one of the liberal pundits employed by Fox News, had some choice words about the accusations in “Fire and Fury” of the president’s mental fitness. Rivera, who knows Trump personally, stated flatly, “It is a slander, low-down and dirty. It is absolutely false.”
A number of people who have been sourced in the book are disputing claims attributed to them as well. Magazine mogul Anna Wintour denies that she hit up Trump for an ambassadorship, for example.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson adds that he never questioned the president’s mental fitness.
The fallout.
A number of things are occurring because of “Fire and Fury.” First, Michael Wolff has become a wealthy man overnight, the darling of cable news, with his book flying off the shelves. Despite the president’s threats, it is unlikely that he will be successfully sued for defamation, even though the book clearly meets the “reckless disregard for the truth” criteria.
Also, Steve Bannon, the former consigliere for Trump and source for a lot of the gossip in “Fire and Fury” is a ruined man. Trump has turned his full Twitter fury against him, calling him “Sloppy Steve” and suggesting that he cried when he was fired from his White House job.
Rumor has it that the board at Breitbart is considering ousting him. He has lost one of his wealthy backers, Rebekah Mercer. On the other hand, he has a bright future as an on-air guest on CNN or MSNBC.
The upshot of the book is that it will change few if any minds. Trump haters will be able to pretend that the president is dangerous and needs to be impeached with great dispatch. Trump supporters will be vindicated in their view that much of the media establishment is out to get the president and will stop at nothing, even lie, to accomplish their goal.