First published 2020
Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office, making unscripted calls to Vladimir Putin while his aides scramble to contain the fallout. Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker take readers inside the most controversial moments of Trump's presidency through nearly three years of reporting and interviews with over two hundred sources. They reveal how senior administration members, friends, and firsthand witnesses describe a White House driven by self-preservation and paranoia. The authors show Trump's unhinged decision making that floored officials and stunned foreign leaders during steak dinners with Kim Jong-un and hostile calls with Theresa May that left her aides shaken. They examine how aides were pressured to lie to the public, lawyers worked to clear up norm breaking disasters, and staffers watched their careers turn to ashes. The book also scrutinizes Robert Mueller's investigation and how it slowly unraveled an administration where loyalty flowed not to country but to the president himself.
Genres: american, political-science, politics, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, political-thriller
Setting: Oval Office, United States, White House
Period: 2010s
480 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press