First published 2021
Michael Wolff opens his account in the Oval Office, where Donald Trump sits behind the Resolute desk surrounded by schemers and sycophants. The president insists he won the 2020 election in a landslide while his inner circle feeds him alternative facts about COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests, and his reelection chances. Wolff chronicles the final months of Trump's presidency as his circle of advisors shrinks to the most enabling loyalists. The author documents how Trump challenged the election results, considered martial law, and refused to stop the January 6 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol. Through top-level access to the West Wing, Wolff reveals the desperation and delusion that consumed Trump's dwindling cadre of supporters as democracy itself came under threat. The book captures the bizarre atmosphere of a White House spinning out of control during one of the most tumultuous periods in American political history.
Genres: political-science, politics, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: political-intrigue, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Oval Office, White House, Capitol
Period: 2020 Election, January 6 Insurrection
336 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.
Content warnings: violence