'Too good to check'? NY Mag runs with 'BULLSH*T' anecdote about Donald Trump

Michael Wolff has a new book coming out: “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” (which contains those alleged comments from Steve Bannon that set Matt Drudge off).

Today, New York Magazine ran an excerpt from the book, which included an interesting little tidbit:

Reportedly Trump didn't know who former Speaker of the House John Boehner was when Boehner was suggested as a possible candidate for WH Chief of Staff.

“Who’s that?” asked Trump. https://t.co/UcEv8j0x0K

— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) January 3, 2018

https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/948605909898612737

Ailes, a veteran of the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 41 administrations, tried to impress on Trump the need to create a White House structure that could serve and protect him. “You need a son of a bitch as your chief of staff,” he told Trump. “And you need a son of a bitch who knows Washington. You’ll want to be your own son of a bitch, but you don’t know Washington.” Ailes had a suggestion: John Boehner, who had stepped down as Speaker of the House only a year earlier.

“Who’s that?” asked Trump.

Well, gosh. That sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it?

WHAThttps://t.co/ySISBD4jGL pic.twitter.com/W3pBh6FCOd

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 3, 2018

Oh. My. God.

— meta (@metaquest) January 3, 2018

wait we're still surprised by the puddle of trump's intellect

— b (@Bryson_M) January 3, 2018

You know what’s not surprising, though? That a media outlet would run with something so sketchy. And we mean sketchy:

This sourcing note is something pic.twitter.com/6AKC8on9pN

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 3, 2018

Huh.

https://twitter.com/LDoren/status/948612749000626184

For every media member giddy over the story around Trump, an avid Fox News watcher, not knowing who John Boehner was, here's a pro tip: They have search engines for Twitter and stuff to at least attempt to scrutinize the claim. Here's 7 examples alone: https://t.co/NGc3ZQdREA

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) January 3, 2018

https://twitter.com/edkrayewski/status/948605789773627392

Trump's tweeted about John Beohner at least seven times. I am incredibly skeptical of this anecdote. https://t.co/Eel0XNpmPm

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 3, 2018

https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/948610422898216960

? pic.twitter.com/l6jHsKeYId

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 3, 2018

Hard to tweet about someone you’ve never heard of.

Also:

https://twitter.com/davidharsanyi/status/948608216199516160

Oops.

Trump had actually played golf with Boehner before. Trump foundation gave $5K to Boehner’s hometown charity afterward, in 2013. https://t.co/UIyOe4VJQ8

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) January 3, 2018

Double oops.

"Too good to check" is the motto for covering Trump. For not knowing who Boehner is, he sure did tweet about him and talk about him a lot. https://t.co/IzCbszMlfc

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 3, 2018

It’s almost as if Wolff’s credibility, and thus the credibility of what’s contained in his book, is in question.

From my reading of that Wolff book excerpt:

1) Bannon is one of chief sources (note that Breitbart is not disputing any of his quotes) and likely the source of several of the more…unlikely stories, like the Boehner one.

2) I have a hard time knowing how much else to believe.

— The Nats Won The World Series (@EsotericCD) January 3, 2018

Did we mention that this stuff is super-sketchy?

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/948607835922948096

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/948612763882000384

Donald Trump Jr. may exaggerate sometimes, but in this particular case, it’s hard to argue with him:

More lies, go back and look, Boehner and #potus spent time together well before the election. Just another pathetic attempt to smear @realDonaldTrump #fakenews https://t.co/xxuhdiQU8f

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 3, 2018