Columns

Juicy stuff about Donald Trump continues to leak like a sprinkler system gone crazy. While not full of Trump White House administration leaks, former FBI Director James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth Lies and Leadership, started the anti-Trump books. In his book Comey calls the Trump presidency a “forest fire” that is doing serious damage to the country’s norms and traditions. “This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values,” Comey writes. “His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty.” 

Then we had Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House, which portrays an unflattering view of President Trump and much of his White House. While Wolff's book got mixed reviews from critics, North Korea's state media gave it a thumbs up, which said the book's popularity "foretells Trump's political demise.” As of January 24, 2018, 1.7 million copies were sold across all formats including hardcover, digital and audio books. 

Omarosa Manigault Newman’s Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House was then published. The former Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump White House provides an eye-opening look into the corruption and controversy of the Trump administration. Her book is presently number one on The New York Times’ best seller list. 

Then on September 5, 2018, The New York Times published an anonymous Op-Ed titled, I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration. The anonymous author identifies himself thusly, “I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” Is the author cowardly for writing anonymously or can he be compared to Deep Throat or now “Deep Pen,” the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information in 1972 to The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, who shared it with Carl Bernstein? Meanwhile, jittery Trump administration officials are declaring, “Not me.”  

Now Trump wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions to identify the author calling it “treason,” even though no classified information was revealed in the Op-Ed. Sounds like another example of Trump’s “worst inclinations.” 

Recently, but probably not finally, we have Fear: Trump in the White, a book by Bob Woodward that paints a harrowing portrait of the Trump presidency, based on in-depth interviews with administration officials and other principals. The Washington Post published excerpts titled, "Bob Woodward’s new book reveals a ‘nervous breakdown’ of Trump’s presidency.” 

I can’t wait for the next juicy leak.