If you ever get to meet former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.....make sure that you chose your words well....because they may wind up in his next book. He remembers his first conversation with Donald Trump....way back when....and second and third conversations.....and probably most of the rest.....along with his conversations with most of the people who from the great campaign of 2016 haunt many of our dreams.
He'll tell you all about 'Bridgegate' in his new book......Let Me Finish....Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the power of in-your-face politics....sounds like he's innocent. As most of us know....as a US Attorney he prosecuted Jared Kushner's father and sent him to jail. He remembers his first conversation with Jared years later when he joined the Trump campaign. It's heavy stuff....the book that is....and it's light stuff. It's the stuff that by all rights should make reasoning people turn away from man for security....and to God....all wrapped up in a laminated cover hardbound Hachette Book.
It's a pro-Trump book....in case your wondering....as the reader has to root for the underdog candidate....the misinterpreted champion. Apparently it's honest also....as the descriptions of Donald Trump match all the other books that are out.....strong-willed....childlike at times.....impetuous to the point of self-destructive in the position that he is in now....likable but a pain in the posterior trying to be his friend....very intuitive but not a lot of wisdom to go along with it....and surrounded by vipers just as Cliff Sims postulated in his book.
If Chris Christie is as politically smart as he says that he is in the book....which he may very well be....then he was the smartest guy in the room with all of them in the room. Well this is for certain....he got shafted time after time....usually it appears by Jared.... or Steve Bannon....or both maybe....but not their boss....or so he thinks. Donald Trump would not have won without either Christie or Steve Bannon....personal opinion here....Christie for the nuts and bolts keeping the hull in one piece....and Bannon for the crew of voters that manned the oars.
It's necessary to read this stuff....but it helps to know something in advance. Few of these people around Donald Trump have anything to do with those of us who voted him in office....not nearly enough anyway. As for the President himself....even in Chris Christie's book.....one should get the uneasy feeling that friendship and fealty to his campaign persona is as tenuous as a cabinet position in his own administration....and as fake as....well as fake as politics can be.
Team Of Vipers
OK....the latest 'inside the Trump White House' book came out.....TEAM OF VIPERS....My 500 Extraordinary Days In The Trump White House. Let me start this with President Trump's tweet on the book which looks to be posted only hours after the book was released.
"A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book biased on made up stories and fiction. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!"
I was about half way into the book when I read this tweet and just shook my head. The only thing true in it was the author's name and the fact that he signed a non-disclosure agreement. I looked at President Trump's words again after finishing Team Of Vipers and wondered if he would like to take the tweet back....but of course he'll never seriously consider the book....but only depend on what someone else tells him....and therein is much of the problem in his whole administration....and life.
Most of Team Of Vipers....almost to the end....was more positive than negative on President Trump. It actually softened me on a few issues. To someone who has not read a lot on Donald Trump it might be considered anti-Trump.....but to those who have been aware of the available information on what it's like in the White House.....there was nothing new. Only the ardent Trumpster...who considers nothing but the positive on Donald Trump....could be surprised by this description on what has transpired over the past two years.
Cliff Sims.....my opinion on him is somewhat split. He's a legitimate evangelical who attends church all the time. He's very likable. Somewhere around half way through the book he is very open in admitting that he left his Christian moorings and became pretty much a political hack....on the Trumpster side. In looking at his own descriptions of himself as the book progresses....he did change. By all rights he should be in the White House today....or some other department of government....supporting President Trump's (new) agenda....but the vipers in the White House got worse as the months went on.
Even though Cliff Sims is an evangelical he is more of a 'Jared and Ivanka person' than a representative of President Trump's original agenda during the campaign. He seemed to look at personalities more than issues. Steve Bannon came off pretty bad. Jared Kushner came off worse than anyone else in the book but I don't think that Cliff Sims picked up on his own words!
The President's tweet described the book as boring. Obviously he was only briefed on it. It was fascinating. I put it down twice.....for relatively short periods of time. Sims is sitting in everywhere.....friends with everyone....jotting down notes on what he thinks will be a testament to the best time of his life....but then along came General John Kelly....and remarkably....things got more tight....but worse.
Anthony Scaramucci came off in a better light. Sean Spicer did not fare well at all. Mike Pence seemed to be nothing but a shadow. Jeff Sessions....an Alabama friend of Cliff Sims....was treated respectfully. Robert Mueller was mentioned once....once! Sean Hannity was a key member of the base but Rush Limbaugh wasn't even mentioned. As for Kellyanne Conway....one has to wonder what she is still doing there.
No....Cliff Sims was not an insider in the bigger meetings as to decisions made....but he was an insider on how to present what was happening in the White House to the American public.....for that was his job. There was nothing in the book that seemed contrived. The author comes off as very honest....but he comes off....to me anyway....as something else. It doesn't seem as if he understands the weight of the issues that dominated the White House. It was as if the 'messaging' was more important than the issues.
So....as the book ends....there is one giant 'message' given to anyone that is able to see it. I don't know if the author did this purposely or if he just laid out the facts and this is what came out....Donald Trump is unfortunately just what we thought he was.....and just what other's have described....he moves on....unchanged....uncaring....while others around him burn on funeral pyres.....all except Ivanka and Jared of course.
He'll tell you all about 'Bridgegate' in his new book......Let Me Finish....Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the power of in-your-face politics....sounds like he's innocent. As most of us know....as a US Attorney he prosecuted Jared Kushner's father and sent him to jail. He remembers his first conversation with Jared years later when he joined the Trump campaign. It's heavy stuff....the book that is....and it's light stuff. It's the stuff that by all rights should make reasoning people turn away from man for security....and to God....all wrapped up in a laminated cover hardbound Hachette Book.
It's a pro-Trump book....in case your wondering....as the reader has to root for the underdog candidate....the misinterpreted champion. Apparently it's honest also....as the descriptions of Donald Trump match all the other books that are out.....strong-willed....childlike at times.....impetuous to the point of self-destructive in the position that he is in now....likable but a pain in the posterior trying to be his friend....very intuitive but not a lot of wisdom to go along with it....and surrounded by vipers just as Cliff Sims postulated in his book.
If Chris Christie is as politically smart as he says that he is in the book....which he may very well be....then he was the smartest guy in the room with all of them in the room. Well this is for certain....he got shafted time after time....usually it appears by Jared.... or Steve Bannon....or both maybe....but not their boss....or so he thinks. Donald Trump would not have won without either Christie or Steve Bannon....personal opinion here....Christie for the nuts and bolts keeping the hull in one piece....and Bannon for the crew of voters that manned the oars.
It's necessary to read this stuff....but it helps to know something in advance. Few of these people around Donald Trump have anything to do with those of us who voted him in office....not nearly enough anyway. As for the President himself....even in Chris Christie's book.....one should get the uneasy feeling that friendship and fealty to his campaign persona is as tenuous as a cabinet position in his own administration....and as fake as....well as fake as politics can be.
Team Of Vipers
OK....the latest 'inside the Trump White House' book came out.....TEAM OF VIPERS....My 500 Extraordinary Days In The Trump White House. Let me start this with President Trump's tweet on the book which looks to be posted only hours after the book was released.
"A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book biased on made up stories and fiction. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!"
I was about half way into the book when I read this tweet and just shook my head. The only thing true in it was the author's name and the fact that he signed a non-disclosure agreement. I looked at President Trump's words again after finishing Team Of Vipers and wondered if he would like to take the tweet back....but of course he'll never seriously consider the book....but only depend on what someone else tells him....and therein is much of the problem in his whole administration....and life.
Most of Team Of Vipers....almost to the end....was more positive than negative on President Trump. It actually softened me on a few issues. To someone who has not read a lot on Donald Trump it might be considered anti-Trump.....but to those who have been aware of the available information on what it's like in the White House.....there was nothing new. Only the ardent Trumpster...who considers nothing but the positive on Donald Trump....could be surprised by this description on what has transpired over the past two years.
Cliff Sims.....my opinion on him is somewhat split. He's a legitimate evangelical who attends church all the time. He's very likable. Somewhere around half way through the book he is very open in admitting that he left his Christian moorings and became pretty much a political hack....on the Trumpster side. In looking at his own descriptions of himself as the book progresses....he did change. By all rights he should be in the White House today....or some other department of government....supporting President Trump's (new) agenda....but the vipers in the White House got worse as the months went on.
Even though Cliff Sims is an evangelical he is more of a 'Jared and Ivanka person' than a representative of President Trump's original agenda during the campaign. He seemed to look at personalities more than issues. Steve Bannon came off pretty bad. Jared Kushner came off worse than anyone else in the book but I don't think that Cliff Sims picked up on his own words!
The President's tweet described the book as boring. Obviously he was only briefed on it. It was fascinating. I put it down twice.....for relatively short periods of time. Sims is sitting in everywhere.....friends with everyone....jotting down notes on what he thinks will be a testament to the best time of his life....but then along came General John Kelly....and remarkably....things got more tight....but worse.
Anthony Scaramucci came off in a better light. Sean Spicer did not fare well at all. Mike Pence seemed to be nothing but a shadow. Jeff Sessions....an Alabama friend of Cliff Sims....was treated respectfully. Robert Mueller was mentioned once....once! Sean Hannity was a key member of the base but Rush Limbaugh wasn't even mentioned. As for Kellyanne Conway....one has to wonder what she is still doing there.
No....Cliff Sims was not an insider in the bigger meetings as to decisions made....but he was an insider on how to present what was happening in the White House to the American public.....for that was his job. There was nothing in the book that seemed contrived. The author comes off as very honest....but he comes off....to me anyway....as something else. It doesn't seem as if he understands the weight of the issues that dominated the White House. It was as if the 'messaging' was more important than the issues.
So....as the book ends....there is one giant 'message' given to anyone that is able to see it. I don't know if the author did this purposely or if he just laid out the facts and this is what came out....Donald Trump is unfortunately just what we thought he was.....and just what other's have described....he moves on....unchanged....uncaring....while others around him burn on funeral pyres.....all except Ivanka and Jared of course.
