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Politics

Siege Book Summary - Siege Book explained in key points

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Siege summary

Name: Siege
Rating: 4.3 (43 reviews)
Author: Michael Wolff

Michael Wolff

Trump Under Fire

4.3 (43 ratings)

23 mins

Brief summary

Siege by Michael Wolff is a book about the first year of Trump’s presidency, his private and public life, scandals, and a deep dive into his erratic behavior, with insider accounts, interviews, and behind-the-scenes revelations.

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US Presidents US History Political Figures US Politics

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Siege
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Get the lowdown on the Trump presidency from behind the scenes.

It’s no secret that Donald Trump’s presidency has not always gone as smoothly as he and his supporters might have wanted. From the steady stream of high-profile resignations, to Trump’s alarming performances at international summits, to the fallout from the Mueller report, there’s been no shortage of controversy.

But there’s more to his presidency than the headlines and rumor mill might suggest.

In Siege, we go behind the scenes of the Trump administration. From Michael Wolff’s insider perspective, we hear about all the scandal and plotting from the people who surround the president. In the following blinks, you’ll find out who the main players in the White House are, what their intentions might be and how Trump really sees them.

In these blinks, you’ll also learn

how Steve Bannon wielded power outside the White House;
what Trump was doing on the night of the midterm elections; and
how Robert Mueller differs in character from the president.

Shortly after Donald Trump’s presidency began, the White House became a hotbed of paranoia.

In 2017, special prosecutor Robert Mueller started his investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. One of his key areas of interest was an alleged conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government to help him win against Hillary Clinton.

But what was going on behind closed doors in the White House? Through clandestine conversations with staff and those who’d recently resigned, author Michael Wolff discovered a White House more divided and chaotic than anyone could have imagined.

For much of 2017 and 2018, the White House was consumed by paranoia about the Mueller investigation. Rather than standing strong as the United States’ center of power, it began to feel like the scene of a criminal investigation. Presidential staff would go out of their way to avoid being “in the room,” to ensure that they didn’t witness anything that might incriminate them when the report came in.

Even Trump, who possessed unnatural confidence in his own ability to win against the odds, sought daily reassurances from his lawyers that he as an individual wasn’t a target of the investigation.

Of course, he was, in fact, the bullseye, and everyone around him knew it. Like President Nixon before him, he was at risk of impeachment.

In this stifling atmosphere, Trump accused many of his own staff of being either useless or entirely self-interested. He attacked and mocked team members if he thought they weren’t performing, including the lawyers defending him from the investigation. He would often hone in on physical characteristics that he sensed might be insecurities for those under fire. In particular, he would mercilessly gibe staff members who had mustaches.

He also suspected Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, of using his White House privileges to further his own financial interests. An investment fund had provided Kushner Companies with $184 million in financing since Trump had been elected. Trump, always totting up the ways in which people had profited from him, sneered: “You think I don’t know what’s going on?”

With its intrigues, backstabbing and atmosphere of suspicion, Donald Trump’s White House in 2017 and 2018 resembled a medieval court about to descend into bloodshed.

Though no longer in the White House, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon remained a powerful influence on the president.

In August 2017, after ten months of service, Trump unceremoniously fired his chief strategist Steve Bannon. Exiled to a townhouse on Washington’s Avenue A, which he nicknamed the “Embassy,” Bannon began plotting his next move.

Now that’d he’d left the White House, Bannon was worried that Trump wouldn’t follow through on some of his key election promises. The strategist had been integral to the successful 2016 campaign, in which he’d focused on a right-wing, anti-immigration message. Especially central to this campaign was the promise of a wall along the Mexican border, to halt illegal immigration.

There was a profound cultural difference between the people prosecuting Donald Trump and the president himself.

In the months before its verdict was delivered, the Mueller report was omnipresent in the White House. It was like a hologram that followed the president around, wherever he set foot. It began to haunt him. But it wasn’t just that he was being pursued that bothered Trump; it was the character of the pursuer that really got to him.

Robert Mueller exemplified the cultural divide between the old establishment and Trump. In every possible sense, he was Trump’s opposite. He was someone who had always done everything by the book – he was an excellent student and athlete, a moderate Ivy League Republican, a Vietnam veteran, and subsequently an influential director of the FBI. He was, compared to Donald Trump, a “square” – a decent, straight-laced family man.

Trump’s attitude to women, and his marriage to Melania, continued to come under fierce scrutiny.

On October 7, 2016, towards the end of the election campaign, a recording of Trump surfaced in which he boasted: “When you’re a star, you can do anything. They let you do it. Grab them by the pussy.” From then on, Trump’s attitude to women came into sharp focus.

Then, when it started in 2017, the #MeToo movement terrified Trump’s staff, who suspected that the president was responsible for many misdemeanors against women.

By 2017, Jared Kushner was beginning to wield powerful influence on the White House’s foreign policy.

As a lifelong Democrat who’d donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign and endorsed Barack Obama, Jared Kushner seemed to be an odd fit for his father-in-law’s administration.

Steve Bannon despised Kushner – he thought of him as the face of “liberal globalism,” and resented his easy access to the president. Indeed, he was waiting for the day that Kushner fell out of favor with Trump and was ejected from his advisory circle.

Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki seemed to go entirely in the Russian president’s favor.

A key area of the Mueller investigation concerned the suspicion that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russian hackers in order to damage Hillary Clinton. While serving as secretary of state, Clinton had used her family’s email server for official communications, instead of secure federal servers. It was alleged that the Trump campaign had worked with Russian hackers to access these unsecured emails and manufacture a scandal around this breach of protocol.

With all of this as context, the Trump administration decided that the president would meet Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 2018 for something unprecedented: a private meeting between the leaders of the USA and Russia.

The 2018 midterm elections presented a real challenge to the Trump administration.

In November 2018, Trump’s presidency faced its first real electoral test: the midterms. Many in the White House feared that if the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, then Trump would face impeachment once the full ramifications of the Mueller report became apparent.

By this point, Steve Bannon was watching from the sidelines, frustrated with the Trump project. He thought that the Republicans were campaigning ineffectively. He believed that the only way Trump could win elections was through a kind of insurgent, anti-establishment campaign, with lots of passionate volunteers.

The Mueller report had loomed threateningly over the White House, but it was underwhelming when it was eventually delivered.

The Mueller report had hung over Trump like a curse, set to imperil him at any moment. Now that the Democrats had taken the House of Representatives, its findings could be wielded to bring Trump’s presidency to a sudden end.

Many of those around Trump, like Kushner and Bannon, predicted that the report would deliver a crushing verdict.

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What is Siege about?

Siege (2019) gives a detailed account of Donald Trump’s presidency between 2017 and early 2019, portraying a White House that always seems to be on the brink of collapse. In a blow-by-blow description of the seismic events of Trump’s second and third years in office, Michael Wolff evokes an administration under siege.

Siege Review

Siege (2019) by Michael Wolff is a gripping account of the second year of the Trump presidency, providing invaluable insights into the chaos and power struggles within the administration. Here's why this book is a must-read:

It presents an unfiltered view of the inner workings of the White House, shedding light on the conflicting interests and egos that shape policy decisions.
With its meticulous research and detailed anecdotes, the book offers a comprehensive analysis of Trump's leadership style and its consequences for American democracy.
Its dramatic storytelling captures the intensity of the events, ensuring that readers are captivated by the unfolding political drama.

Best quote from Siege

It would be like Nixon going to China, Kushner told the president; a major historical development. One for the history books–a favorite Trump phrase and standard.

—Michael Wolff

Who should read Siege?

Readers who are morbidly fascinated by the Trump presidency
Fans of gripping political narratives
US citizens wondering whether their president will see through a full term in office

About the Author

Michael Wolff is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the Guardian, Vanity Fair, New York magazine and the Hollywood Reporter. He is the author of the number one best seller Fire and Fury, which chronicles the first year of Trump’s presidency. His journalism has earned him two National Magazine Awards, and his previous best-selling books include The Man Who Owns the News and Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet.

Categories with Siege

Politics

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