Questions Worth Asking (Maybe) – Fire and Fury Edition

Writer/journalist Michael Wolff has a the new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House being published imminently, and it’s attracting lots of Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)!

• Sounds interesting.  Where can I read it without buying the book?
  A lengthy excerpt of the book was published in New York magazine under the headline “Donald Trump Didn’t Want To Be President.”
• How has President Trump reacted to the book?
  Unsurprisingly, he has denounced it. He is also threatening to sue his former campaign manager and chief strategist Steve Bannon for violating his non-disclosure agreement and for libel.

• Is there any better way to promote a controversial new book than attempting to get it banned?
  President Trump’s lawyers have sent a legal notice  demanding that publisher Henry Holt & Co. “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination” of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

• So how has the publisher reacted to this?
  The publisher has reportedly moved up the publication from next week to Friday of this week. Henry Holt & Co. says that it’s “due to unprecedented demand,” but there’s also been suggestions on Twitter that getting the book published and in the hands of readers would preempt any temporary restraining order a judge might put out.

• Is the book any good?
  Depends, to a degree, on who you ask. Author Michael Wolff has taken  material ranging from taped, on-the-record interviews to widely discussed gossip and presented them together as part of a narrative. When you consider that President Trump and Mr. Bannon are both fans of “alternative facts” and that Mr. Wolff seems willing to recreate dialog, it’s not surprising some critics view the book with some doubt. The New Yorker  (not New York magazine) presented a thoughtful analysis of the book online today.

  Check back later – there may be more tweets added in.