We’ve seen the reclamation tours. Everyone from former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to truly unlikeable person Rep. Liz Cheney who isn’t in the good graces of the MAGA world have attempted to reframe their personal stories as being victims of history. They’re also pretending they have some morals compared to the incompetently fascist regimes they helped to promote and buttress over many years. Some of the once inner-circle group have cashed out by writing tell-all accounts. The list includes former Apprentice villain Omarosa Manigault Newman and former Melania Trump confidant Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, both of whom have written about how cruel, petty, and vapid the MAGA leadership was the last four years. None of it is surprising. The likelihood that most of what they write is true—sans mention of the writers’ own vapidity, cruelty, and pettiness—is on the higher side.
In all of these cases, the people writing the books have been pushed out of the grotesque ring of fire inhabited by the Trumps and need to figure out a revenue stream and a public persona that can continue to be viable going forward. The newest tell-all book comes from former senior inner circle member and brief White House press secretary under Trump Stephanie Grisham. Grisham is an interesting person to write a tell-all because, while she famously never held a press briefing as press secretary, the red flags around her should have precluded her from even being allowed to visit the White House on a tour, let alone work there. But she is out and about promoting the newly released memoir, entitled I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House. She has a lot of terrible things to say about the disgraced former first family and administration.
Some of the revelations from Stephanie Grisham include the easy-to-believe characterization of master of nothing Jared Kushner being something of an insufferable person. Grisham told CNN that Kushner “would dive into these areas where I know he had absolutely no expertise. And, you know, claim to save the day and then he would leave. And, you know, there was a running joke in the White House that when things were getting really tough they suddenly disappeared on vacations.” And better yet, the already dubious real estate legacy hire is somehow a worse person now than when he started: “He was tough to deal with and I think he got really heady with power. I do not think he left there the best version of himself.”
Grisham, of course, calls Ivanka Trump “the brains,” and this goes a long way toward explaining how intelligent Grisham may ultimately b(e and/or how unimpressive everyone around the Trump orbit truly is). Her depiction of Ivanka and Jared as self-absorbed and more distractingly self-important to the point of Donald Trump-like delusion is incredibly believable—and depressing. She explains that the son-in-law and daughter team acted like they were some sort of American royalty, breaking protocol and appearing at foreign dignitary functions at which only the president and his first lady are traditionally supposed to appear.
Honestly, I could care less, but one story—if true—is most distressing. This is when Grisham alleges that she had to physically jump in front of Ivanka and Jared to block them from walking into the State of the Union right behind Melania Trump, a thing that sort of signified how heavy their influence over Trump and his White House was.
Neither of these dodo birds were elected. Their brain capacity might be able to power a toaster oven, but that didn’t stop Jared from dictating much of America’s catastrophic first response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Grisham.
The more salacious stuff—Melania’s response to revelations of an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels—is relatively believable. Grisham basically says that Melania began trying to publicly embarrass Donald by not holding his hand, ignoring him, occasionally contradicting him. Grisham saw it as a tit for tat from the first lady. Grisham points to an example of Melania choosing a very “handsome military aide” to walk her into the State of the Union, with the excuse that the floors were slippery. Grisham believes this was just a way for Melania to get back at Donald publicly since she knows Melania can handle wearing heels on considerably more dangerous terrain.
Grisham’s account also paints Trump as the insecure con/showman we all know he is since he has been so for decades and decades. Specifically, when Trump had his mostly private meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Grisham writes that before the cameras were turned on, she saw Trump lean over to Putin and say, “Okay, I’m going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it’s for the cameras, and after they leave, we’ll talk. You understand.”
Is that true? It is very believable. Donald Trump is such a simpleton in so many ways, and watching world leader despots like Putin easily play into The Donald’s insecurities and self-delusions was tough for most of us to watch. Trumpland has responded to Grisham’s memoir by calling it a cash-grab. It’s hard to argue against that, and if anyone knows about cash-grabs, it’s Trumpland. But this seems to be a cash-grab filled with a lot of very believable stories about the Trump administration.
For example, Grisham’s account of what happened when Donald Trump mysteriously went to Walter Reed back in 2019 is that the president had to get a routine colonoscopy. But that’s butt stuff, and Trump didn’t want anyone to know lest they make fun of him on late-night shows. She also claims he did it without general anesthesia so that Vice President Mike Pence wouldn’t even have a few minutes as acting president. Whether or not it’s true, I hope it still hurt Pence’s feelings.
In an op-ed published Tuesday alongside the publishing release of her memoir, Grisham says that her choice to leave the White House, resigning on Jan. 6, 2021, was connected to a previous callousness she had ruminated on for some time. Grisham writes that she had been dating a fellow White House staffer, and her relationship was well-known and talked about with Donald and Melania. At some point, according to Grisham, the relationship soured, the fellow staffer became violent and abusive, and the two broke up. After conferring with Melania and then finally telling The Donald, she was left with not much of anything. Her loyalty, her service, meant nothing.
According to Grisham, the alleged abuser denies her statements, but she says that's not the point. The point, in the end, is that the Trumps do not care about anyone but the Trumps. And Jared Kushner is an ignorant prick.
In all of these cases, the people writing the books have been pushed out of the grotesque ring of fire inhabited by the Trumps and need to figure out a revenue stream and a public persona that can continue to be viable going forward. The newest tell-all book comes from former senior inner circle member and brief White House press secretary under Trump Stephanie Grisham. Grisham is an interesting person to write a tell-all because, while she famously never held a press briefing as press secretary, the red flags around her should have precluded her from even being allowed to visit the White House on a tour, let alone work there. But she is out and about promoting the newly released memoir, entitled I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House. She has a lot of terrible things to say about the disgraced former first family and administration.
Some of the revelations from Stephanie Grisham include the easy-to-believe characterization of master of nothing Jared Kushner being something of an insufferable person. Grisham told CNN that Kushner “would dive into these areas where I know he had absolutely no expertise. And, you know, claim to save the day and then he would leave. And, you know, there was a running joke in the White House that when things were getting really tough they suddenly disappeared on vacations.” And better yet, the already dubious real estate legacy hire is somehow a worse person now than when he started: “He was tough to deal with and I think he got really heady with power. I do not think he left there the best version of himself.”
Grisham, of course, calls Ivanka Trump “the brains,” and this goes a long way toward explaining how intelligent Grisham may ultimately b(e and/or how unimpressive everyone around the Trump orbit truly is). Her depiction of Ivanka and Jared as self-absorbed and more distractingly self-important to the point of Donald Trump-like delusion is incredibly believable—and depressing. She explains that the son-in-law and daughter team acted like they were some sort of American royalty, breaking protocol and appearing at foreign dignitary functions at which only the president and his first lady are traditionally supposed to appear.
Honestly, I could care less, but one story—if true—is most distressing. This is when Grisham alleges that she had to physically jump in front of Ivanka and Jared to block them from walking into the State of the Union right behind Melania Trump, a thing that sort of signified how heavy their influence over Trump and his White House was.
Neither of these dodo birds were elected. Their brain capacity might be able to power a toaster oven, but that didn’t stop Jared from dictating much of America’s catastrophic first response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Grisham.
The more salacious stuff—Melania’s response to revelations of an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels—is relatively believable. Grisham basically says that Melania began trying to publicly embarrass Donald by not holding his hand, ignoring him, occasionally contradicting him. Grisham saw it as a tit for tat from the first lady. Grisham points to an example of Melania choosing a very “handsome military aide” to walk her into the State of the Union, with the excuse that the floors were slippery. Grisham believes this was just a way for Melania to get back at Donald publicly since she knows Melania can handle wearing heels on considerably more dangerous terrain.
Grisham’s account also paints Trump as the insecure con/showman we all know he is since he has been so for decades and decades. Specifically, when Trump had his mostly private meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Grisham writes that before the cameras were turned on, she saw Trump lean over to Putin and say, “Okay, I’m going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it’s for the cameras, and after they leave, we’ll talk. You understand.”
Is that true? It is very believable. Donald Trump is such a simpleton in so many ways, and watching world leader despots like Putin easily play into The Donald’s insecurities and self-delusions was tough for most of us to watch. Trumpland has responded to Grisham’s memoir by calling it a cash-grab. It’s hard to argue against that, and if anyone knows about cash-grabs, it’s Trumpland. But this seems to be a cash-grab filled with a lot of very believable stories about the Trump administration.
For example, Grisham’s account of what happened when Donald Trump mysteriously went to Walter Reed back in 2019 is that the president had to get a routine colonoscopy. But that’s butt stuff, and Trump didn’t want anyone to know lest they make fun of him on late-night shows. She also claims he did it without general anesthesia so that Vice President Mike Pence wouldn’t even have a few minutes as acting president. Whether or not it’s true, I hope it still hurt Pence’s feelings.
In an op-ed published Tuesday alongside the publishing release of her memoir, Grisham says that her choice to leave the White House, resigning on Jan. 6, 2021, was connected to a previous callousness she had ruminated on for some time. Grisham writes that she had been dating a fellow White House staffer, and her relationship was well-known and talked about with Donald and Melania. At some point, according to Grisham, the relationship soured, the fellow staffer became violent and abusive, and the two broke up. After conferring with Melania and then finally telling The Donald, she was left with not much of anything. Her loyalty, her service, meant nothing.
According to Grisham, the alleged abuser denies her statements, but she says that's not the point. The point, in the end, is that the Trumps do not care about anyone but the Trumps. And Jared Kushner is an ignorant prick.