Michael Wolff’s book about Donald Trump, Fire and Fury, ended up being a huge bestseller and a major political story. Author Ronald Kessler is trying to do the same thing with his new book, The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game. The thing is that Kessler is more pro-Trump, and the narratives within the book are more gentle and and flattering to Emperor Baby Fists. That being said, Kessler is still making and breaking some news here and there. Here are some of the assorted stories/headlines from the book:
Bigly is an “anonymous source.” Apparently, Trump often calls up reporters to confirm or deny sh-t as an anonymous source, or asks to be credited as “a White House staffer.” Kessler writes: “Trump phones Maggie Haberman of the New York Times directly, as well as Philip Rucker of the Washington Post, and Jonathan Swan of Axios, feeding them stories attributed to ‘a senior White House official,’ creating the impression the White House leaks even more than it already does. In other cases, the media has picked up reports on what Trump himself has said to his friends.” Trump is obsessed with his coverage in the New York Times in particular and he “wants eventually to win” Haberman over.
Kellyanne Conway is the #1 leaker: Kessler said that his book had “juicy tidbits” from the White House and mentioned that during one interview with Conway, she forgot she was on the record and blasted her colleagues including former chief of staff Reince Priebus as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. He added, “If you wonder why there are so many leaks out of the White House, one reason is Kellyanne Conway is the number one leaker.”
Javanka doesn’t know sh-t. Sources say Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are “problems” in the administration. He writes that they have “no understanding of the basic fundamentals of how government works” and how they have no “understanding of the political consequences of their actions.” He also adds how the two had a hand in “the most disastrous and foolish decisions of Trump’s presidency” and how they were pushing Comey’s firing and Anthony Scaramucci’s hiring.
Trump has second thoughts about Precious Jared. Trump thought Jared looked like a “little boy, like a child” when he spoke on-camera to deny Russian collusion. Trump also apparently told Jared and Ivanka that “they never should have left New York.” He “made it clear to them that he would not mind if they gave up their White House roles.”
Melania Trump is a political savant. Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon both claim that Melania is a “very powerful behind-the-scenes force,” and “Melania knows who the bullsh-t artists are. She knows the promoters, the guys looking out for themselves and not Trump, and she lets him know it.” Apparently, Melania reads too! A source claimed, “Melania reads widely, both publications and articles on the Internet. As she said to me at Mar-a-Lago while sitting next to Trump at dinner, ‘I read every one of your articles,’ referring to the ones I send her.” What are publications and the articles on the Internet about? “Current events and policy issues.”
[From People Magazine, Deadline and Vanity Fair]
The biggest story is the stuff about Javanka, I think. The bloom is off the rose, especially with Jared. I think Bigly will always be obsessed with Ivanka and want Ivanka close by, but even a demented, senile white supremacist a–hole can see that Jared Kushner is dumb and awful. As for Melania being some kind of political savant – no, she is not. If anything, she’s just a normal person with normal political instincts. But that’s so foreign in the Trump White House that she looks like a savant by comparison.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that Ivanka looks a lot like Hillary Clinton in that photo?
I think it’s the facial expression that long-suffering women get when they’ve lived around a public embarrassment of a man for too long…and there are TWO such men in her life.
Fortunately, she deserves it.
It is definitely the style of pantsuits HRC likes. Anyway, I’ve been saying for months that this stunt in the White House is for Ivanka what Bil’s two terms were for Hillary, ie an unofficial way to gain experience in the executive branch.
If Mueller does not manage to put her grifting, lying self in jail, Ivanka will run at some point, and I’m confident the 53 % will be all too happy to give her the White House.
Yes, Ivanka definitely looks almost 70.
😉
Haha! Thanks for the laugh.
She’s not looking as “fresh” here. It will be interesting to see if her father still adores her when her appearance is more middle aged. Melania has taken exceptionally good care of herself, knowing that was necessary to keep her husband happy, but I wonder if Ivanka has taken such precautions. She’s appearing more haggard by the day (understandablu).
That’s exactly what I was thinking when I looked at the picture, Honeybadger. She even got the clothes right.
She has that “set” face in the photo. Cut her hair and the similarity would be even more pronounced. It’s shallow, I know, but speaking of looks… The header photo of her father…UGH. I have two blue-tongue lizards living in my garden, anmd they are so much more beautiful. I can’t even begin to compare him to a reptile. Maybe one of our ghastly cane toads. Drumpf is positively repulsive. Ugh ugh ugh.
I saw the author in a news interview on Monday night talking some majorly saccharine bullshit about how Melania and Trump “are very much in love,” so I will never believe anything positive he says about the Predator in Chief.
Kessler’s background is … interesting. He can be a decent journalist, but a lot of what he does is partisan and bs.
Thank you. That’s all I need to know.
Additionally, I don’t believe that Melania is protective of Trump and looking out for his best interests. I think she couldn’t give two sh*ts about the guy. This piece was oddly flattering to Melania (does Kessler have a crush on her or something?) and the digs on Javanka just don’t ring true to me. Trump is obsessed with Ivanka and I don’t believe for a second that he wants her anywhere but in the WH with him.
And I’m not sure I believe that Trump is the WH’s biggest leaker. Yes, he is a big-mouthed, impetuous narcissist but he also doesn’t trust the press for sh*t. I don’t know…I just can’t picture him calling up journalists and giving them scoops just to make it seem like there’s WH leakers. For that to be happening it would require a level of premeditation on his part and we know he doesn’t plan ahead–he just reacts.
So yeah, the whole piece felt disingenuous to me.
Kitten, I believe he leaks. He is famous for doing it in NYC, and it is running joke with reporters. He uses different names and tries to disguise his voice. It would be funny if he weren’t dangerous. I think he is the one who leaks about how unhappy is with certain people and then says he is okay with them so he can surprise fire them.
The book is a piece of propaganda for the most part. Like you said does anyone in the world believe MT is a big reader and politically astute? She didn’t want this and still doesn’t. She can’t stand her husband, and the only backs she cares about are hers and Barron’s. That makes this whole book questionable, and it seems like he wants to push a particular POV.
I also think 45 does want Ivy and J to leave but not because they are a problem but because he thinks no one appreciates them and are being mean to them. He thinks other people are the problem. As much as his minions and flunkies want to believe he would turn on them, it won’t happen. They want him to sour on them and on J in particular, but again it won’t happen.
If they leave the man will go full lunatic, and he will blame someone for it so he can torture them. With Hope gone it is about to get even worse I think.
MagnoliaRose
This! Trump has a long history of being his own hypeman and leaker. I may not like the source, but this is not a stretch.
His admin also feels so unprofessional and chaotic I’m easily believing javanka is getting blasted by everyone and trump wants to cut the dead weight.
I have to say, the majority of what I read here sounds like BS. It doesn’t ring true at all.
Melania and Trump’s kids are all waiting for him to die. They will all be relieved when he does. That’s the truth of it.
Down is up; up is down. Who knows what to believe these days. Truth is a foreign concept to the grifter gang.
Precisely, Christin. You just summed up the entire maddening sequence of events from 2016 to now.
Trump’s approach from his early career was to deluge others with his own version of “how it is/going to be (whatever he wants=“absolute truth”). When they resist, keep up the ferocious attacks from every angle and then keep it all pouring on them until they drown or realize “absolute truth”. It’s a marvelous tactic, though I don’t think it’s strategically done in Trump’s case…more ill-temper, willingness to do anything it takes to be the “winner”, and a stunning level of narcissism. Mix that with the ambition of powerful others who are willing to ride the wake Trump creates for their own purposes (“chaos is a ladder” said Littlefinger). On this large of a platform, Trump’s behavior creates a deluge/downpour of incomprehensible, perhaps insurmountable volume.
We do have the constant message that “Down is Up; Up is down.” It is exhausting for the logical mind to keep hold of actual up and down. My hope is that Mueller is able to methodically work his way through the deluge and press reset.
My hope is with the legal system. Financial crimes are supposedly not taken lightly, and I suspect that is one piece of this awful pie.
EZ is totally calling the press, if you ever watched the episode on him for the Dirty Money series you will know he does this. He used to call reporters pretending to be a ‘source close to Trump’ all the time, recordings aired on the show proved it. His voice and manner of speaking is very distinctive.
John Miller also used to call the press to shower Minute Maid Mao with praise, until we discovered that John Miller was Donald Trump.
He is such a dotard.
He was fake John Miller and John Barron. Funny that years later Trump named his son Barron.
@Beth, I did not know he had named his son after one of his alter ego. Who does that? This man is something else really.
Yeah that’s true….
I don’t know. I said up-thread I just find it hard to believe that he would be leaking this sh*t because it seems too premeditated for him. Although now that I think about it he could be leaking the sh*t that makes him look good (what is that, again?) but is that really “leaking”? To me, that’s just him trying to get his side of the story out there. I could believe THAT.
Another clue is that reporters continue to mention these close sources, when so many have been shown the door.
How many originals are left, other than the dear daughter and child-like son-in-law? KAC has bobbed around since the beginning, and probably is one of the leakers.
Of course he calls Haberman. She’s such a hack.
And if he wants Jarvanka gone, I don’t think it’s cause he thinks they’re doing a bad job. It’s more like he is trying to keep Ivanka out of prison. And Jared from ratting on him.
Yes. The Dotard doesn’t think of Jared negatively. He very likely sees himself in Jared, as Trump sees his younger self in the mirrror. He never would have piled on all those “jobs” for Jared if he thought the guy was dumb or awful. He isn’t bothered by any criminal or unethical activity, he undoubtedly feels he would do the same thing with such opportunities and sees that as a positive in a son-in-law.
And certainly The Dotard isn’t bothered by Jared’s lack of understanding of how the government works. Jared knows a lot more about government than The Dotard.
What bothers the Dotard is the negative publicity as Jared’s activities become better known and as Mueller’s investigation draws nearer. He is also undoubtedly bothered by negative publicity for Precious Ivanka and the assumption that he needs babysitting by her. He’s pushing everybody away so he can claim to be the one in charge, he doesn’t need advisers, he doesn’t need people to soothe him. He may have the illusion that NYC will be “safer” for Jared and Ivanka. It may not have yet penetrated The Dotard’s thick noggin that Mueller is working with state authorities and he can’t pardon state crimes.
Exactly jwoolman. He doesn’t ever think his favorites are wrong.
I have a prediction. When Putin visits the White House Trump is going to tweet a picture of Putin sitting behind the desk in the oval office just so he can enjoy the ensuing “hilarity.”
I agree that he’ll let Putin sit there. But I think we’ll find out when a Russia paper publishes it. I’m glad that you thought of this, so that I have time to try to prepare myself for that awful sight. Every day seems to bring a new low.
Trump won’t. It will be released by the Russian media, which will have been granted access to the Oval Offive while the US media is barred.
The MAGAts are so collectively ignorant because they think Emperor Zero is in the clear because Mueller told his attorneys LAST month that the Dotard is a subject, rather than a target, of a counterintelligence and criminal investigation.
Suckers!
Yes, and a subject can quickly turn into a target. Mueller will lure Trump into a sense of false security.
Exactly Minx.
Emperor Zero may insist on speaking to Mueller now and get trapped into becoming a target (if he isn’t one already). In addition, Mueller and Rosenstein are insulated now by the WaPo news; its direct obstruction if EZ fires either one. Plus they’ve revealed they will lay out a note on obstruction charges to deliver to Congress. What will Congress do?
I’m excited!
I suspect Mueller is pushing for an interview with Trump sooner rather than later simply so he can still honestly say Trump isn’t a “target” of the investigation. That’s objectively true. They aren’t targeting Trump in the Russia investigation but rather his campaign. But Trump is still a subject of the investigation. – he isn’t an innocent bystander, and evidence for that will come out more and more as all the birdies sing for Mueller. And of course Trump is the main focus in the investigation of obstruction of justice.
Mueller may also be avoiding the word target because the DoJ apparently thinks he can’t indict a sitting President. That’s a matter for debate, but he may be planning to just detail any criminal activity he unearths about Trump and give it to Congress to act on. Our problem has been that Republicans today are not acting like the Republicans did with Nixon. They managed to get him to resign with the threat of impeachment if he didn’t. Republicans like Nunes are acting guilty, guilty, guilty themselves and are not likely to even think about impeachment, no matter how obvious it is that Trump is dancing to Putin’s tune and has been money-laundering for years.
The situation with Trump is much more serious than the one with Nixon. Not only has Trump been severely disturbed all through his Presidency (Nixon’s paranoia got out of control more toward the end), he is a crook with crimes far beyond coverup of a failed political burglary. He also is involved in a successful political burglary (Wikileaks). I would not be surprised to find out that Trump was present at that infamous June 2016 meeting via video conference call (to bypass Secret Service checks). He certainly praised and encouraged Wikileaks and hacking his opponents throughout his 2016 campaign. He used and encouraged stolen information. And of course he has been money-laundering for years, more recently for rich Russians, and there is good reason to believe that he’s in hock to the Russians way past his eyeballs, explaining his attitudes toward Putin. And Trump has been trying to shut down the Russia investigation since it began. He has even admitted such motivations in firing Comey, for instance, in public with cameras rolling.
Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator by the Watergate Grand Jury. It was done that way to avoid any problem about whether or not a sitting president could be indicted criminally. The same tactic can be used with Trump.
Hopefully once the mid-term elections puts the Dems back into the majority our elected representatives will then proceed to rid us of the abberation called Trump.
The house and senate during Nixon’s term was controlled by Democrats, so Nixon knew impeachment was coming if he didn’t resign. Nixon still had 70% approval ratings with Repubs in his last months. Things don’t really change. If Dems take back the House, we can start impeachment proceedings but it will be very difficult in the senate where they need 2/3 of the senators to vote for impeachment. I’m hoping for indictments against trump family members by Mueller and then the NY attorney general charge trump with money laundering. Would like to see the whole gross criminal family in jail.
Yes. Someone yesterday on Twitter said that it’s just a matter of indictments against someone, that you could literally go from subject to target in minutes and that no sane person would ever be happy at being a subject of investigation.
But good whatever they have to tell the MAGAts in order to keep this quiet till the fireworks.
I agree Betsy.
It is all in the wording, and it gives him room to work while 45 focuses elsewhere. His followers are ridiculous fragile people and whine like babies anytime they are exposed to facts they don’t like.
Clearly Kessler doesn’t understand what savant means.
Yes. His dictionary is slightly flawed.
Savant, noun.
1. A climber who wants money and position enough to allow a red-faced, orange haired, obnoxious buffoon, (who calls her by his daughter’s name in bed) to touch her.
Lol. Clearly, he is reading the wrong dictionary. lol
Yours is the abridged Manhattan version.
LOL! Giddy! Love your dictionary!
They all need to leave, and it’s scary that they were ever there,and that they still have so many supporters.
The speech he gave at the Easter Egg Roll made me cringe. WTF was he doing talking about the military and economy to thousands of children , while standing next to the Easter bunny?
He was unhinged and couldn’t even remember to say White House.
In other shots, Barron looked miserable. I have never seen a child look as depressed and unhappy as he did. It was actually heartbreaking. He tried to interact with a little kid, and he was nice it seemed but his eyes…poor boy.
He did the same at the boy scout jamboree in WV last year.
I think it’s incredibly unfair to single out Javanka as having “no idea of the basic fundamentals of how government works”.
None of them do.
You nailed it
Exactly what I was going to write.
Totally. They fit right in with this clueless-ass administration.
Bwhahaha!!
So funny, but damn, that is a harsh reality. I can’t believe how incompetent this administration is.
Yeah for real. As if the administration is a brain trust.
Did y’all see the excerpt from Cecile Richards’ book in which Precious Jared and Princess Nagini try to convince her that Planned Parenthood needed to stop providing abortions? They are so ignorant that they thought they could convince Richards to enact a policy that is exactly counter to the organization’s purpose. I cackled at that. the Precious Pair is no match for Cecile Richards.
You know they offered to keep Planned Parenthood federally funded if Cecile Richards would discontinue PP’s performing abortions.
I give up with these yahoos.
Silver lining in this whole nightmare is that Ivanka can’t pretend to be some enlightened NYC socialite anymore. I’m hoping for jail time and then lots of shunning in Manhattan.
I have a feeling Trump would throw everybody under the bus to save his own skin without remorse. Everybody, even any of his kids. Except Ivanka. Ivanka is special for him.
So I guess she’ll become Barron’s guardian while everyone else is in jail.
She is guilty of money laundering and some shenanigans with diamonds. She was also heavily involved in Trump Tower Azerbaijan and Panama.
The girl is in trouble in New York State. She better hope for Federal prison. Their kids will be raised by the Kushners most likely. Maybe Joshua will be a father figure, and since he is part of the Resistance, he won’t fill their heads with nonsense. And he is the nicer one in the family. He is well-liked by his employees, and he does his own thing. He was at the march, and he donated to the fund. He’s very left and hasn’t hidden his dislike of 45 and his crew.
LOL, of course Joshua Kushner was at the march – he needed some good publicity.
Because earlier that week it was reported that he met with the Qatari Finance Minister in 2017 to solicit funds for his start-up company. This happened during the same week that his felon dad also attempted to solicit money from the Qataris for the family business, Kushner Properties ( Josh also serves as the Principal Director of Kushner Properties).
Donald would toss Ivanka under the bus if needed to save his own skin. He likes having her around but his feelings for her are not actually fatherly. She is dispensable.
He would have to do it before she stabs him in the back and pushes him under first. Nagini isn’t going down without a fight and she’ll testify against all of them to save herself
The worst thing about this WH is how everyone keeps leaking articles about themselves to depicting themselves in a positive light or the victim and then leaking negative articles about their opponents. Hope Hicks leaked that she was the Dotard Whisperer, even though the Dotard said and did horrible things while she was supposed to be babysitting him. John K leaked that he was the adult in the WH, even though he lied on a congresswoman and encouraged the Dotard to attack the press. Jared and Ivanka kept leaking negative stories about Kelly. Ivanka leaked that she convinced her father to bomb Syria. Melania leaked that she was unhappy and miserable, even though she stands by while her husband uses twitter to bully others. Who is the source for this book? Since this book puts a positive spin on Melania, it’s more than likely that she is the source, just like she went to PM and USW to make herself look like the victim. Melania talks about bullying and then she uses this book to attack Jared, Ivanka, and Kellyanne.
Melania is a political savant? Based on what? The Parkland kids begged her to step up and do something about the republicans who had been attacking them and she responded by leaking 2 stories about how she was unhappy and miserable being the President’s wife.
So according to Melania, the Dotard wants Jared and Ivanka to leave DC? I’m not buying that the Dotard wants them to leave DC. Behind the scenes Jared and Ivanka are still setting up deals with other countries to fund their businesses. I do agree that Ivanka and Jared don’t know anything and have been behind some of the worst decisions made by the Dotard.
The number one leaker in the WH is the Dotard. It does not surprise me that the Dotard calls Maggie, Jonathan, and Philip. When I see any of these people, I change the channel because every time they open their mouths it comes off as if they are normalizing the Dotard. More names can be added to that list though. The Dotard also talks to Robert Costa, Kristen W, Kelly O, Peter A, Haillee J. The Dotard keeps slamming WP, but notice how quickly he ran to Robert Costa from the WP to brag that he wasn’t a target in Mueller’s investigation and that Mueller was going to give the WH progress reports? Whenever you see any breaking news from Robert Costa, it means that he talked directly to the Dotard and the story isn’t accurate.
None of those hack belonged here in the first place so I can’t wait for Nagini and Tom Riddle to go back to NYC. Also can’t wait to see Ivanka try to go back to her cozy social circle of charity ladies. She won’t be welcomed back. This level of out of control, low-brow racism and antisemitism is frowned upon. I don’t think we’ll see her at the MET anytime soon ha.
That part about Melania: I’m DYING LAUGHING. Puh-LEEZE.
I know. If anything, she’s using her time to make sure she’s not implicated in anything when the shit hits the fan so she can take her son, and what’s left of his money and run.
I tend to think that The Don Jr. divorce and Jarvanka’s low profile mean they are all scrambling to hide money so it won’t be seized in asset forfeiture or legal fees. I think donations for the 2020 campaign have already been used for some law fees. Who does stuff like this? People who committed crimes, that’s who.
This is how the Trumps think policy in DC should be conducted. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards wrote in her new memoir that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump offered her a deal that she said felt like a “bribe” to stop providing abortions. They really should go. They both have not passed any top security clearances and should not be even be in the daily briefings ,looking at sensitive material or advising Trump.
.
I just posted this in reply to someone above but saw that you posted a few hours ago. It’s disgusting, isn’t it?
It is so gross but not surprising.
Soon I’ll wake up and realize this has all just been a bad dream. Hillary is the president of the United States and I don’t have to worry about the world ending tomorrow.
I’m with you, wake me up in three years!
He is the president, I can’t believe it, even after all this time. Like… how???!!! In the book written about the rise and fall of the US, I hope historians take the time to specify that for all their talk about patriotism and loving their country, it was white people who destroyed it/sold it to Russia while us, black folks, tried our hardest to avoid that disaster.
Is the guy seriously considering running in 2020? I just can’t!
At the heart, it is white supremacy that forms the base of support for the Trump Administration. He has no political or economic philosophy, other than “fear of the other”.
Can someone send those two a one-way ticket to the North Pole? Wait, no, North Pole doesn’t want them.
Whatcha got against polar bears?
If Trump thinks sending them away will save them from being investigated/charged, he will be sorely disillusioned.
Does anyone really believe that DT keeps all “top secret” material secret from Ivanka, Jared, or whoever his besties of the moment are? I don’t. Even if the written distributions are controlled, I think DT would talk about matters when he’s alone with intimates.
Showing off how much he knows is one more way he can feed his own ego.
I don’t think he knows how to shut up. He thinks he’s so wise and so entertaining that he must be just blabbing on continually.
Sounds like the fox and friends clowns and Lou Dobbs are his main advisors. So ashamed for our country.
I think you’re selling Melania short… in order to land the trophy wife gig you have to be a pretty good read of the true intentions of people who consider themselves big players. You don’t want to waste your time on people who are all-talk. It’s a skill she’s honed her whole life.
The only thing I’ll give to Melania is that she did go through the procedure to become a U.S. citizen. Therefore, theoretically at least, she had to pass a written test, answering questions about our form of government. So she may indeed have a better understanding of the basics than Trump does.
Does Melania have some measure of influence with Trump? Of course. She is still acting as his wife. We saw her standing next to him and the Easter Bunny.
Is Melania a savant? lol Hardly. I am leaning more and more to believing the stories that her extended stay in NYC after the election was to negotiate a strong post-nuptial agreement for Melania to perform as First Lady. It is just so obvious that she does the minimum, looking extremely uncomfortable while even doing that.
The actual quote says “Melania knows who the bullsh-t artists are.” This I believe. The word “savant” was added to the framing text here, not in the original source. I don’t agree with “political savant” but that wasn’t what was said.
How effed-up do you have to be to take the time to leak info to the media that casts you in a positive light when you are supposed to be RUNNING A COUNTRY? Short answer of course, he really ISN’T, too busy golfing, texting, watching TV.
President S.O.B’s facial expressions are getting more terrifying by the day. His depravity shows on his terrible face. Every day there are new pictures, and he looks meaner and crazier than the day before.
He truly has “the face he deserves.”