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
After the election, Roger Ailes told Trump he should hire John Boehner as his chief of staff. “Who’s that?” asked Trump https://t.co/AC8v3CYUGE
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) January 3, 2018
More:
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
— bryson (@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.
So New York Magazine now has a policy of printing verifiably false stories, so long as it gets clicks from the blue checkmarks.
— Lee Doren (@LDoren) January 3, 2018
Evidently. Because here’s the thing:
Trump knew who Boehner was. Boehner was speaker for five months during Trump's run
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) January 3, 2018
I mean, the guy made weekly phone calls into Fox & Friends for how long? And he doesn't know who Boehner is? I just don't buy it.
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 3, 2018
There is literally zero chance Trump did not know who Boehner was, come on
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 3, 2018
For the record:
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
Trump tweeted about Boehner at least a half dozen times but we're supposed to believe he didn't know who he was based on vague sourcing? https://t.co/BWHWVGmDE7
— Ed K (@edkrayewski) January 3, 2018
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
That New York magazine profile on the Trump administration sure is entertaining. Really unflattering stuff. Also, pretty sure a lot of it is bullshit. Come on, fellas. pic.twitter.com/EDKQCAcqZY
— Ruthless T. Firefly (@BecketAdams) January 3, 2018
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 3, 2018
Hard to tweet about someone you’ve never heard of.
Also:
From my 2013 interview with Trump: "Well, I like John Boehner very much and I respect him very much, so I don’t understand the reasoning behind the last negotiation." https://t.co/FxFKG47UwH
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) January 3, 2018
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.
— Jeff B (@EsotericCD) January 3, 2018
Did we mention that this stuff is super-sketchy?
One problem with all insider accounts of Trump is that many of his insiders have a similar take on truth to Trump. It adds a gigantic grain of salt. https://t.co/AGsbYAnn1h
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 3, 2018
Wolff addresses this himself in the introduction to the book pic.twitter.com/4gSebnhJCB
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 3, 2018
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
