Disputed Book About Trump, 'Fire and Fury,' Becomes Bestseller

 

A new and sharply critical book about Donald Trump¹’s first year in office went on sale Friday, four days earlier than planned.

Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” describes a chaotic² White House, a president who was not prepared to win in 2016, and Trump aides who question his intelligence and ability to lead.

Trump has dismissed the book, saying it is full of lies.

On Thursday, lawyers representing the president called on the book’s publishers to stop the book’s release. They also sent a “cease and desist” letter to Stephen Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist. The book includes critical comments Bannon reportedly said about Trump and Trump’s family.

“Fire and Fury” had been set to be released January 9. Instead, it began sales early. It is now the top-selling book on Amazon.com.

In Washington, D.C., people waited outside bookstores in extremely cold weather to buy the book. One popular bookstore, KramerBooks, began selling “Fire and Fury” at midnight Friday. It and another local bookstore reportedly sold out by 10 in the morning.

Wolff spent 18 months reporting on both the Trump campaign and the Trump White House. He reported from inside Trump Tower in New York City and later from inside the White House.

On Twitter Thursday, Trump said the book is “full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist.” He also said he never spoke³ with Wolff for the book, and turned down his request for an interview many times.

However, Wolff said Friday on NBC’s “Today” show that he had talked to the president for the book.

“I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I don’t know, but it was certainly not off the record,” he said. He said he spent about three total hours talking with the president.

Wolff says the book is mostly based on talks with people who have worked closely with the president. He said he has records and notes from about 200 interviews with people connected to the Trump campaign or Trump White House. Wolff has confirmed he has audio recordings⁴ of some of those talks.

Wolff also said on the “Today” show that, “100 percent of the people around him [Trump]…they all say he is like a child.”

Some parts of “Fire and Fury” were released earlier this week. They led to a vicious public flight between Trump and Bannon. In one passage, Bannon describes a meeting between a Russian lawyer and top Trump campaign aides -- including Trump's own son and son-in-law -- as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”

After the passage was published, Trump said in a statement, “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency⁵. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”

Who is Michael Wolff?

Michael Wolff is a longtime writer and reporter based in New York City. He has been a media critic and columnist⁶ for USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine and Vanity Fair.

In 2009, Wolff published “The Man Who Owns the News,” a book about media business leader Rupert Murdoch. Just before its publication, Murdoch publicly questioned some of Wolff’s reporting in that book.

Words in This Story

chaotic - adj. in a state of complete confusion or disorder⁷

aides - n. a person whose job is to assist someone

cease and desist - (legal term). an official order to stop doing something immediately

midnight - n. the middle of the night : 12 o'clock at night

interview - n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information

absolutely - adv. in an absolute way -- often used to make a statement more forceful

certainly - adv. without doubt

fire - v. to dismiss (someone) from a job

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

5 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

6 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。