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Few people have more power in President Trump's White House than Madeleine Westerhout, her executive badistant who controls access to the oval office, broadcasts scribbled messages from the president, sends orders to top military officials, prints e-mails and articles to show to Trump, and try to keep his schedule tight.
But she has not always been a staunch supporter of the president. On the night of the elections, Westerhout, then Republican National Committee Assistant, will crumble to crying, "inconsolable" after Trump's victory.
"To the great amusement of her RNC peers, she was then chosen as the executive badistant to the president and now sits right outside the Oval Office," writes Tim Alberta in "American Carnage," which the Washington Post has obtained. copy planned release Tuesday.
The book is full of startling details and quotations from senior Republican officials and includes an interview with Trump, who is delighted with the merit of the GOP's change as he walks past the Oval Office and brandishes a poll that shows his numbers. approval. amount of his state of the Union.
"Can there be a question?" Trump said with a smirk when Alberta asked him if he was in transition or in transformation. "Honestly, can there even be a question?"
"The tea party still exists – except that now it's called Make America Great Again. . . The Republican Party had big problems. I brought back the party. The Republican Party is strong. The Republican Party is strong, "he says before pausing, according to the book. "They must remain faithful. And faithful. "
The book details how many Republicans who had criticized Trump had quickly changed their tone after his election, concluding a devil's bargain with a man that Alberta described in the book as being dishonest, amoral, narcissistic and misinformed .
Westerhout now tells others that she would do almost anything for Trump, and he calls it "my beautiful beauty".
Sean Spicer, described in the book as trying to pile up a host of debates in South Carolina 2016 against Trump and for Florida Florida Senator Marco Rubio (an accusation labeled "100% fake" by Spicer), is best known for his pugilistic performances as press secretary of the White House. . Reince Priebus, the president of the RNC who insisted that Trump be eliminated before becoming his chief of staff, now gives lucrative speeches deciphering the president for big companies and serves as whisperer to Trump.
"These guys were all convinced that to succeed and keep their jobs, they had to stay by their side," said Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), Who recently left the GOP for his Disputes with Trump, book. "But Trump will not be with them as soon as he does not need them, he's not loyal, they're very loyal to Trump, but as soon as he thinks it's worth throwing someone under the bus, he will be delighted to do it. "
Alberta denounces Vice President Pence and others who seek to defend Trump as an evangelical and humble man behind the scenes and seek to help his country – while putting aside their basic beliefs. He reports that the wife of Vice President, Karen Pence, did not wish to appear in public with her husband after recording "Access Hollywood" and that Pence did not agree with Trump on any many key issues, from immigration to trade.
Pence's older friends do not care if Trump blackmails him.
"Pence's talent for shoe trapping – the Capitol Hill Republicans called him" the Bobblehead "because of his solemn routine at the time Trump was speaking – was at its most obscene point in his meetings at the time. White House, "writes Alberta.
Mick Mulvaney is considered ambitious and lucid about Trump before the election, telling fellow lawmakers that he was reading "The Art of Deal" and that he could play Trump's ego while blocking his worst inclinations.
"We will not let Donald Trump dismantle the Charter of Rights," Mulvaney told Alberta in 2016 while he was still a member of Congress of South Carolina. "For five and a half years, every time we get to the ground and try to oppose an overly ambitious president, we are accused of being at best racist supporters and at worst. When we do it against a Republican president, people may see that it was a principled objection. "
As interim president's chief of state, Mulvaney tells others that he "lets Trump be Trump".
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Who took advantage of Trump's fame at a big rally that helped him win a tight race in Texas in the mid-season stretch of 2018, has already had a different opinion about the president.
"[Cruz] told confidencers that there was "no way in hell", he was willing to submit to Trump in front of tens of millions of viewers, "writes Alberta. "The story is not soft with the man wearing Mussolini's jacket," Cruz told friends in 2016. "Even later, he lamented that Trump sought to end his citizenship, saying that he was trying to cost the party seats.
Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Alberta in June 2016 that he wanted Congress, controlled by Republicans, to be able to act differently to "avoid creating this environment conducive to the appointment of Donald Trump. Fox News defends Trump more than almost all the president's allies.
Perhaps no one has had a more tortured relationship with the President than former House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Who wanted to give up Trump after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape , was working to implement his program. after the elections, while doing his best to avoid commenting on his tweets and his controversial statements.
Alberta reports that Trump criticized Ryan for his 2018 spending bill because he did not include funding for his border wall but then announced that he would sign it if Ryan gave him the time to create the suspense on Twitter. Ryan agreed and then publicly sung the president's praise after the meeting.
When President Trump, on a Saturday in early 2017, accused the Obama administration of touching his phone during the elections, he called Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to ask for his opinion on the Dawn tweet.
A sleepy and confused Priebus opened his phone, then called Ryan, a Wisconsinite colleague and a longtime ally. "Paul, what's going on? What the hell is he talking about?
Ryan woke up, read the tweet and burst into "a manic, punchy laugh."
Now absent and exchanging power for a blue vest, Ryan is back to criticizing Trump in unflattering terms in conversations with Alberta, who writes that the former speaker could not stand the idea of two years moreover with the president and saw the retreat as the "escape hatch".
"We are so numb by everything," says Ryan. "Not to the government, but where we live, we have the responsibility to try to rebuild. Do not call a woman a "horse face". Do not deceive your wife. Do not cheat on anything. Be a good person. Give a good example. "
Ryan portrays Trump as uneducated about the government.
"I figured I had to have a relationship with this guy to help make it clear," recalls Ryan. "Because, I tell you, he did not know no matter what about the government. . . I wanted to scold him all the time. "
Ryan says he sees the presidency deteriorating, while Trump is determined to govern and campaign on his terms, rejecting calls from other Republicans to moderate his message by 2020.
"Those of us around him have really helped prevent it from making bad decisions. All the time, "says Ryan. "We helped him make better decisions, which was contrary to his reflex reaction. Now, I think he's doing some of those instinctive reactions. "
In Alberta, Trump calls Ryan a "bading boy scout".
Alberta traces Trump's rise to the final stage of George W. Bush's presidency and describes an elitist, inflated Republican party that won the elections by minimizing differences with the Democrats, but doing little for the working clbad and adopting more liberal, unpopular immigration plans. wars and financial bailouts.
The first chapter explains in detail how the emergence of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, beloved of the grbadroots but hated by the institution, foresaw Trump, and how Barack Obama did it. Bring out the "worst" of many voters allegedly forgotten – and how much in the GOP did not see everything coming. "Republicans were completely ignorant of the discontent that was brewing on the surface," he writes.
He recounts a scene where Bush, while meeting advisors in his second term, was concerned about protectionism, isolationism and nativism. "These organizations," Bush told his team, "are going to devour us alive." He even claims to have asked conservative radio presenters, at a meeting in 2008, to "show restraint on the new guy," referring to his successor, Barack Obama, because he feared that the "isms "Do not lead the opposition to Obama.
The book also takes a more favorable view than many others on the Trump presidency, saying that it has "accomplished more for Republicans than for any individual in three decades". Alberta quotes religious leaders such as Tony Perkins and conservatives who praise Trump and say they have more access and sway than ever before. He explains how some of the president's critics help him with fake attacks and comments perceived as elitist and sneering at a large part of the country.
"Nobody gave them hope," Trump told his supporters. "I gave them hope."
Alberta, on the other hand, describes Trump as a transactional, cynical and cunning person who understands what his followers want by consuming a large amount of media and observing the Republicans' past failures. In Alberta, Trump offers advantages in gaining support, threatens opponents with the wrath of his followers, and makes cold, narcissistic calculations to maintain his power.
"These evangelical evildoers," Trump said at a meeting with GOP lawmakers, according to the book, smiling and shaking his head. Alberta writes in Trump's mind that he "would give them the policies and access to authority they so ardently desired. In return, they would stay behind him tirelessly. "
Standing in front of the group of religious leaders in 2018, Trump said about Christianity: "I owe him so much in so many ways." He then explained that he would not stand in front of them without it – not because of of faith shaped his life or enlightened his vision of the world, but "because the evangelical vote was obtained mainly by me." The participants came out of the room, stunned. "
He reports that Trump lobbied the Iowa GOP leader in 2016 to invalidate the results after his caucus loss.
In November 2016, Henry McMaster, then lieutenant governor of South Carolina, told Trump that he wished to become governor of the state, having been the first state official to support Trump to the presidency. "That's it?" Answered Trump. "It should be easy. You are already the lieutenant governor! "
McMaster explained that it was not so easy – and that he could only become governor if Nikki Haley was not there. "In a few days, apparently out of the left field, Trump announced Haley as his choice for the ambbadador to the United Nations."
In 2016, Trump explained why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie could not become Attorney General.
"Because this guy would sue my own kids without thinking twice," Trump told campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to the book.
Trump is regularly described as much more interested in campaigning than in governing. During a dinner in 2017, Trump asked others a surprising question, writes Alberta.
"Apart from Franklin Roosevelt, did a president do something big after his first term?", He said.
Trump also points out how much he loves the election campaign.
Worried at not being able to attend a rally in South Carolina, he shouts to the pilots of the Air Force One landing on a plane in a monsoon-like rain after turning for an hour, swearing that he could land the plane.
After a rally in Missouri in 2018, where Trump was immersed in crowd adulation, he yelled in the night: "I love this job!"
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