“It’s somewhat ironic that a man known to hate reading has turned out to be a godsend to the book world.” For example, an article recently started in The Economist. The reason was the question which books about Donald Trump we should really read in order to better understand the man who remains the much-discussed center of American politics after his departure from the White House. Certainly not an easy task, since thousands and thousands of books have been published about the controversial former American president and New York businessman in recent years.
Yet knew The Economist cleverly reducing the mountain of Trump books to just five titles that masterfully describe most of his political intrigue, scandalous gossip, dirty business deals and also chaotic presidency. take Fire and Fury from Michael Wolff, Identity crisis: The 2016 presidential campaign and the battle for the meaning of America by John Sides, Michel Tesler and Lynn Vavreck and the explosive memoirs of Trump’s former security adviser John BoltonThe room where it happened. But also two wonderful page turners about Trump’s lost elections of 2020: Frankly, we did win this election by Michael C. Bender and Thank you for your servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the price of submission by Mark Leibovich.
Trump Whisperer
Are we waiting for yet another biography about Trump? It is a question that was frequently asked in the American media about the book published last week Confidence man: The making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America by Maggie Haberman. Haberman is the influential White House correspondent of The New York Times and Also known as the ‘Trump Whisperer’. A nickname the journalist owes to the fact that Trump not only openly detests her, but has repeatedly called personally over the years to pass on “breaking news.”
Also for Confidence man Haberman was allowed to interview Trump three times. In one of these conversations, the former president confessed that he was attracted to her: “I love being with her; she’s like my psychiatrist.’ Haberman was certainly not impressed, she recently wrote in a pre-publication of her new book The Atlantic.
‘It was a meaningless sentence, almost certainly intended to flatter. Similar to the power of liberation he says he got from his Twitter feed or other interviews he’s given over the years. The reality is that he treats everyone as if they were his psychiatrist—reporters, government officials and Congressmen, friends and pseudo-friends, political rallies, White House staff and clients. They all offer him the opportunity to vent or test reactions, to gauge how his statements fall or to discover how he feels. He tries things out in front of all of us. In the meantime, he’s gotten an entire country to respond to his moods and emotions.’
Political epic
It is these kinds of reflections that have led to Haberman’s book receiving numerous positive reviews. This is how political commentator Joe Klein writes The New York Times“This is a book that stands out more for the quality of its observations about Trump’s character than for the revelations.” Laura Miller argues in the online magazine slate Which Confidence man “is a successful report on the nothing that Trump is.” And Lloyd Green notes The Guardian notes that the 600 pages are “more than context, firsts and drama.” It is a political epic that follows Donald Trump’s journey from the streets of Queens to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Elba. There the 45th president holds an audience—and broods and plots his return.”
Are there no revelations at all in Haberman’s book? Certainly. New York Magazine even devotes an entire article to 22 of the most striking revelations. Trump has repeatedly considered bombing Mexican drug labs. He tried to flush several important documents down the White House toilet, even causing it to clog. And Trump toyed with the idea of firing his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner via Twitter as advisers. Some of the revelations had been leaked to the media before, others are still original. For example, as president, Trump is said to have called Democratic Congressman Debbie Dingell (Michigan) and impersonated a reporter for the Washington Post.
Scoops
These are juicy anecdotes that have raised the question again in the American media as to the extent to which it is preferable that journalists withhold newsworthy scoops for a book. For example, the progressive news and opinion site Salon.com including the wrath of author John Pavlovitz: ‘Maggie Haberman is yet another in a long line of people who have shown willingness to let democracy die on the altar of a book deal.’ Jason Linkins is in The New Republic a lot milder: ‘Whatever your ethical concerns about these arrangements, you can at least take comfort in the fact that if one of these books is published, all the good parts will eventually appear in the media for free, giving you the books never really need to buy.’
Media expert Bill Carter also wonders an opinion piece for CNN Whether the criticism of Haberman’s decision to withhold disclosures is justified: “Would this information—or any of the revelations in other books—really change people’s minds about Trump?” (…) ‘Trump supporters don’t tend to read critical stories about him and his opponents probably won’t read the hagiographies. Given the world’s exposure to Trump in recent years, it seems inconceivable that a ‘disclosure’ more or less, of any magnitude, could change our perception of him.”
It’s an analysis also shared by author David Schribman in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. Also, Haberman’s book will not affect the upcoming midterm congressional elections in November or the 2024 presidential campaign, according to Schribman. “The closing chapter on Trump hasn’t been written yet, and even if he doesn’t win in 2024, as long as he breathes, he will continue to make news.”