Fire and anger: In Donald Trump's White House

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Fire and Fury: In the White House of Donald Trump (Original title: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House ) is a disclosure book by the journalist Michael Wolff . In the United States , the hardback was published on January 5, 2018 by Henry Holt , a subsidiary of the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group . The German translation was published by Rowohlt on February 16, 2018 . It covers the election and the first nine months of Donald Trump's presidency .

Excerpts appeared in the Guardian and New York Magazine prior to publication . It was already unpublished at number 1 on the Amazon.com bestseller list and temporarily drew a book of the same name by the Canadian historian Randall Hansen about World War II onto the bestseller list. Never before had a non-fiction book sold so frequently in a short period of time; in the United States it was more than two million copies in four weeks. Fire and Fury has been translated into 35 languages.

As the first foreign-language book on the list that has been kept since 1961, it reached fourth place on the Spiegel bestseller list in the non-fiction category in January 2018, before the German-language edition was published by Rowohlt Verlag on February 16, 2018 . Journalists confirmed the overall picture of Trump sketched in the book, but some of the details were sloppily researched, implausible or wrong.

background

Book title

At the beginning of August 2017, Trump threatened the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un with "fire, fury [...] the world has never seen" ("fire, anger, [...] as the world has never seen"). The title of the book alludes to this statement.

history

In June 2016, Michael Wolff visited Donald Trump at his Beverly Hills estate and interviewed him for the Hollywood Reporter . Trump liked this interview, and after the election Wolff suggested doing research and writing a book as an embedded journalist in the White House , so to speak . Wolff stayed at the Hay-Adams Hotel (across from the White House, on Lafayette Square) and stayed - according to his own statements with Trump's permission - for his research in the West Wing of the White House, where he was able to establish contacts with numerous officials and employees . Trump, on the other hand, stated in January 2018 that he had not allowed Wolff to enter the White House. Due to the inexperience of Trump's press staff, neither his presence nor his activities were overseen; he was also not required to limit the use of his raw material. In this way, based on over 200 interviews, a report about the inner workings of the White House was created. On behalf of Trump a law firm the publisher and the author sent an injunction request (cease and desist letter) against the publication of the book. The lawyers accuse Wolff of defamation and Steve Bannon of breaching a confidentiality agreement .

content

"Many of the reports of what happened in Trump's White House conflict with one another; many are simply untrue in a 'trumpic' way. These conflicts and this looseness with truth, if not with reality itself, are an elementary red thread of the book. Sometimes I've let the actors offer their versions, which in turn allows the reader to judge them. In other cases, through consistency in reports and through sources I trust, I have found a version of events that I believe to be true.

Many of the accounts of what has happened in the Trump White House are in conflict with one another; many, in Trumpian fashion, are baldly untrue. These conflicts, and that looseness with the truth, if not with reality itself, are an elemental thread of the book. Sometimes I have let the players offer their versions, in turn allowing the reader to judge them. In other instances I have, through a consistency in the accounts and through sources I have come to trust, settled on a version of events I believe to be true. "

- Excerpt from the introduction

According to the excerpts published so far, the book has, among other topics:

  • Steve Bannon was informed of a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian, Kremlin- affiliated lawyer Natalja Wesselnitskaya on the 25th floor of Trump Tower . He suggested that Robert Mueller's investigations into possible collusion between Russia and Trump's election campaign were justified and that Donald Trump Jr. was accused of laundering money for Russian entrepreneurs .
  • Trump appointed several senior advisors from diverse backgrounds: Steve Bannon as the former head of the right-wing Breitbart News , Reince Priebus as the Republican Party representative , and Jared Kushner as an entrepreneur. According to Katie Walsh , who had to coordinate the political activities of the White House, there was an almost constant scramble for skills and decisions that were thwarted by the other consultants. Each of the advisors had to make sure they were the last to speak to Trump - as they often only remembered that person's advice.
  • Trump and his campaign leaders never believed that Trump would win the election in November 2016. Trump was stunned that donors like billionaire Robert Mercer wanted to support the Trump campaign with their own money, while Trump himself only gave loans to his campaign. When the election victory actually occurred, the Trump family and Steve Bannon reacted with consternation; because from an (unsuccessful) election campaign, those involved expected both an improved public perception and business opportunities. The author then stated that Trump's election campaign was reminiscent of the comedy Spring for Hitler .

Reviews

The following important information is missing from this article or section:
Only English-language reviews are evaluated in this section. How was the book received in continental Europe?
Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

The CNN journalist Michael D'Antonio , who also published a Trump biography, confirmed large parts of the published book. In particular , he can attest to Trump's short attention span , misogyny , Trump's disdain for experts and a racist attitude based on his own understanding as well as that of others. However, he criticized the prose style , which is reminiscent of a tabloid and gives the impression that Wolff himself had attended the dialogues described, and warned the readers to be somewhat skeptical. According to New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, parts of the book are wrong. In their opinion, Michael Wolff creates a narrative that is conceptually true, but misrepresents many basic details. Examples of this are incorrect descriptions of incidents in the early days of the Trump administration and incorrect characterization of a New York Times article.

The New York Times- journalist David Brooks confirmed that Wolff was known not to check facts. So he won't take every word in the book at face value. However, the book repeats what has already been reported from other sources: The president is “unfit” and is treated like a “child”.

Washington Post journalist Mark Berman madeit clearon Twitter that he neverdinedat Four Seasons , although the book claims so.

Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen wrote at Axios that parts of the book were sloppy or incorrect and in part would violate the confidentiality of the sources. However, the book correctly captures Donald Trump as an "emotionally volatile president" whom some White House officials would disregard. However, while some news outlets like Vox and The Telegraph see clear signs of gossip and sensationalism , they believe much of the book to be truthful. The Guardian , Evening Standard and the Washington Post see added value in the book.

expenditure

  • Michael Wolff: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House . Henry Holt & Co., New York, NY 2018, ISBN 978-1-250-15806-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Michael Wolff: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House . Audible / Macmillan Audio, New York, NY 2018 (audio book, read by the author, unabridged, 11:55 hours).
  • Michael Wolff: Fire and Wrath: In Donald Trump's White House . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 2018, ISBN 978-3-498-09465-2 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Confused readers are buying the wrong 'Fire and Fury'. In: nypost.com. New York Post , accessed January 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Roland Nelles, Mark Pitzke: "Trump is too stupid to conspire". In: Der Spiegel. February 14, 2018, accessed on February 14, 2018 (interview with Michael Wolff).
  3. ↑ Trump's revelatory book "Fire and Fury" will appear in February in German in buchreport , accessed on January 22, 2018
  4. ↑ English with Donald , Der Spiegel 4/2018, January 20, 2018, p. 111; Spiegel bestseller , Der Spiegel 4/2018, January 20, 2018, p. 122; The bestseller books 4/2018, Spiegel Online, accessed on January 22, 2018.
  5. ^ Trump Threatens North Korea With 'Fire and Fury the World Has Never Seen'. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  6. ^ Scoop: Hot book by constant West Wing visitor Michael Wolff. Accessed January 11, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Michael Wolff: "You Can't Make This S --- Up": My Year Inside Trump's Insane White House. In: The Hollywood Reporter . Eldridge Industries, January 4, 2018, accessed January 5, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Samantha Schmidt: "Sloppy Steve!" Trump lashes out at Bannon and “phony book”. In: The Washington Post . January 5, 2018, accessed January 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b Michael Wolff: Donald Trump Didn't Want to Be President. In: New York . New York Media, LLC, January 3, 2018, accessed January 5, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Read Trump lawyer's letter to Michael Wolff and Steve Rubin. In: The Washington Post . WP Company LLC, January 4, 2018, accessed January 5, 2018 .
  11. ↑ The author of the explosive new Trump book says he can't be sure if parts of it are true. In: Business Insider Germany. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Michael D'Antonio: Much of what Michael Wolff says about Trump rings true. In: CNN. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  13. ^ CNN.com - Transcripts. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Shields and Brooks on Russia revelations, Trump-Bannon rift. Retrieved January 6, 2018 (American English).
  15. ↑ Diana Stancy Correll: Washington Post reporter challenges passage about himself in 'Fire and Fury'. In: Washington Examiner. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Marc Pitzke, New York: Dispute over "Fire and Fury": Facts or Fiction? In: Spiegel Online . January 9, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 9, 2018]).
  17. ↑ The Wolff lines on Trump that ring unambiguously true. In: Axios. January 5, 2018, accessed January 6, 2018 .
  18. ^ The controversy around Michael Wolff's gossipy new Trump book, explained. In: Vox.com. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Mick Brown: Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury, review: 'overheated, sensationalist - and completely true to its subject' . In: The Telegraph . 2018, ISSN  0307-1235 ( telegraph.co.uk [accessed January 6, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Lloyd Green: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House review - tell-all burns all . In: The Guardian . January 5, 2018, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed January 6, 2018]).
  21. ^ World first review of Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury. In: Evening Standard. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  22. ^ Aaron Blake: Analysis | Michael Wolff's unbelievable - sometimes literally - tell-all about the Trump administration . In: The Washington Post . January 3, 2018, ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed January 6, 2018]).