Landslide

Donald Trump #3

by Michael Wolff

An instant New York Times bestseller.

“ Landslide . . . is the one to leap upon. Smart, vivid and intrepid . . .” ― The New York Times

“I inhaled Landslide , gobbled it up.” ―Slate

“Wow. Just wow . . .” ― Evening Standard

“Cruel, unforgiving, muckraking, scandalous. I couldn’t stop reading it.”― The Telegraph

Wolff embedded himself in the White House in 2017 and gave us a vivid picture of the pandemonium that had descended on Washington. Almost four years later, Wolff finds the Oval Office even more chaotic and bizarre.

At all times of the day, Trump is surrounded by schemers and unqualified sycophants who spoon-feed him the “alternative facts” he hungers to hear―about COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests, and, most of all, his chance of winning reelection. Wolff takes us front row as the president reaches beyond the bounds of democracy as he entertains the idea of martial law and balks at calling off the January 6 insurrectionist mob.

As the Trump presidency’s hold over the country spiraled out of control, an untold and human account of desperation, duplicity, and delusion was unfolding within the West Wing. Landslide is that story as only Michael Wolff can tell it.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Biography, Presidents, American History

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Wolff is an American author, essayist, and journalist, and a regular columnist and contributor to USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, and the UK edition of GQ. He has received two National Magazine Awards, a Mirror Award, and has authored seven books, including Burn Rate (1998) about his own dot-com company, and The Man Who Owns the News (2008), a biography of Rupert Murdoch. He co-founded the news aggregation website Newser and is a former editor of Adweek.

In January 2018, Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was published, containing unflattering descriptions of behavior by U.S. President Donald Trump, chaotic interactions among the White House senior staff, and derogatory comments about the Trump family by former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Shit Show" ......... but I couldn't pull away!

The VERY scary part of all this -- is that Trump is seriously considering running for President again in 2024.
How we even left the door open is insane!!!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is the madness of the last months of the Trump Presidency in all its idiocy, ignominy, perfidy, and spectacular dishonesty. Here is Trump himself, of course, but also his hangers-on, yes people, and the hypocrites who insisted with false righteousness that they were attempting to be the grownups in the room. What was most fun for me? The scenes where there were just two people, so you knew precisely who was throwing Agent Orange under the bus, or the lengthy interview with Trump himself that Wolff shares. And the best part of reading this chronicle? The relief that he's gone.

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is really funny and had a solid 3.5 rating from me until the end.
I do not understand the need to not ever hold white men responsible for their actions.
Furthermore the suggestion that trump is charismatic also seems to be balm to white men who don't want to own that trump is obnoxious unless you are also a bigot.
He appeals to people who are already bigoted. They like his open and unashamed assholeness.
Holding him accountable for his actions is fair. He has barely been held responsible for any of his many crimes.
His problem retaining attorneys was due to his habit of refusing to pay them after he received their services.
Come on now🙄

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“And anyway, it was Friday. Thank God it was Friday, after the worst week in the history of the Trump presidency—losing the Senate, failing in an Electoral College showdown, the Capitol attack, impeachment on the agenda, again. In fact, it was the worst week in the history of any presidency.”
― Michael Wolff, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency


I have to say--this was a really well written book.

I'd read his first, Fire and Fury and was not crazy about it. But this was different.

Wolff recounts the days leading up to the January 6th insurrection. It kind of has a feeling of doom throughout as you know where he's going with it.

It shows the lunacy behind the former guy and his bunch of motley sycophants. Nobody had any idea of what they were doing and everybody yessed him to pieces.

Wolff does NOT write in a gossipy tone at all. Oh there IS gossip--for example I enjoyed reading about and was so amused by, McConnell's obvious loathing of the former guy.

But he writes in a very professional way and you really are taken inside a world where pure insanity rules. Everybody was afraid of the former guy or intimidated by him and the few that were not didn't stand a chance.

Trump was taken over by people as much insane as he is, which in itself is a shock that there IS anybody at that level. The combination made for a deadly concoction of idiocy, evil and pure lunacy.

Nobody wanted to be the bad guy and tell the former guy the truth and as the insanity sped upward, it was so clear the inmates were running the asylum.

One reads with a sense of wonder that such moronic oblivion actually exists. Did nobody around him see what was to come? It certainly would seem that way. Did nobody care?

I had to skip parts of the actual insurrection. It was so deeply painful, I've heard so much on television about it all..but Wolff did an excellent job. Landslide is certainly a must for political junkies. However, it not only shows the mythical denial of Trump but of everybody around him--and it asks the question: could it happen again?

I would recommend this only for the Politically bold as it certainly is not a happy read but it does contain certain searing elements that will not leave your head anytime soon. Great work Mr. Wolff.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm honestly just so sick of him.

I thought Fire & Fury was excellent, and these kinds of books were one of the best ways to deal with the stress of those horrible 4 years. But now that it's over with, as much as gossip about the worst administration in modern history is actually somewhat important, learning about it just leaves me feeling sick and empty.

Memories of this time are best left far behind. Yes, we must never be complacent and make sure that this never happens again (by also making sure that the current government performs to a higher standard)... But I really can't take any more of this era. That's me.

It's a fitting enough end to Michael Wolff's trilogy. It's well-written, more like creative nonfiction with the prose style and with the admittedly subjective takes on what's going on in these crazy character's heads. While 2020 was an important year in terms of the economy and don't forget that first impeachment, this book is primarily just about the end of the presidency. COVID is relegated background, only concerned with how that affected the election. Then he loses, then endless psychoanalysis of why he believed he didn't, then January 6th, then the second impeachment.

It's embarrassing, it's shameful. The book almost gives the guy too much credit, how he's indestructible and survives anything. Isn't it enough he lost the election? That should be the main thing in politics. Of course he is destructible.

Now, the country needs to move on already. I for one am ready for a boring Biden book however critical.

Let's all grow up.

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had 15 minutes to kill, so I wandered into one of our local libraries, and whilst idly looking at the shelves, picked Landslide up and started to read it. Twenty minutes later, I checked it out and put my other book aside to carry on with this. It was enjoyable, well-written, and seemingly very accurate - especially as Wolff has not been sued by any party, although he has received C&Ds (Cease and Desist) from Trump's lawyers for Fire & Fury.

The book tells the story of the final days of President Trump's 4 years in power from the election night results to the point where President Elect Biden is sworn-in. It is told in a chronological form covering the events around election night, the results, the opinions and conversations had by Trump and his team, as well as some who were key Republican and Democrats. Soon, it was the surprise that Trump was losing and then has lost dawns on his team. With the numerous people that Trump talks to regularly or indeed calls that night, and in the days after the results come in, the central narrative of the book that Trump won by a landslide and is convinced the election has been stolen [the steal] by Democrats and "others" comes to the fore.

From this point there are some very interesting aspects in the book: the people who talk to Trump and cement in the steal idea/narrative; those who are charged with challenging on TV and via legal means the various results in States and Counties; those who as the days go by are sacked or quietly remove themselves; those who come to favour/are invited to join the steal team, and those who can see the disruption to the handover of power, and those who worry for their own careers post-Trump.

As these aspects, and more, are all explored, with comments/quotes and information from (we are told those who were there), we move through the days that lead to the storming of the Capitol in Washington D.C., including the events close to Trump, and what he actually says in his speeches and behind the scenes as well as what is happening at the Capitol building himself. To the reader this is enthralling and indeed almost bizarre (especially to this Brit having watched these events on TV in the UK at the time, and being astounded something such as this could happen in the USA) as Mr Wolff keeps the reader turning the pages turning.

One of the most interesting parts of the book for me was the final chapter post - Capitol. Here, we see Trump still seeking to challenge the result but finally agreeing to an "orderly transition." There are numerous lawyers involved including Rudy Giuliani, who has the Presidents ear but is desperately being kept away from Trump, various courtrooms and TV appearances as best as the wider Trump team can, especially as the second impeachment trial looms. This final act, the impeachment, was simply riveting as the machinations and changes to strategy (or not), people and tactics, and performance come to light.

There is an epilogue entitled The Road to Mar-a-Lago, and this sees Wolff interview Trump. This enables readers to understand Trump's views on what comes next, including the continued narrative on the steal and, of course, Wolff's own views on what Trump said.

Overall, Landslide is an enjoyable book that provides much interest in Trump's final days, his team, and their work during the period from November 2020 to February 2021. It will suit any reader interested in US politics, presidents, and elections.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there's one good thing to be salvaged from the ongoing chaos and depravity and violence and incompetence of the last few years, it is that the Republican Party has been exposed for what it has always been. They can no longer claim to be the party of personal responsibility, after enabling and kissing the ring of their overlord who has no conscience and takes no responsibility for any of his own behavior. They can no longer claim to be the pro-life party, in light of their abysmal response to the COVID pandemic during which they have actively promoted infection and death.

What has come to light is that the Republicans' only ambition, their only goal, is power for its own sake. They aspire to total control, as evidenced throughout the country with the current state laws being enacted which will enable them to overthrow any election that doesn't go their way. If you are an American and you're not sure what I'm talking about, please educate yourself about what is going on. We are at grave risk of losing our republic to the authoritarian impulses of Orange Caligula and his craven minions.

If you voted for Donald, if you support him or think he is acceptable in any way, please seek professional help. I'm worried about you. Even if you put aside his personality disorders, his criminal behavior, his cruelty, and his stupidity because you like his politics, there's something wrong with you if you think he belongs in a position of power. No one who spouts incomprehensible gibberish on the regular should be given control over the fates of anyone, including himself. He is so clearly delusional and demented.

If you want an example of his incoherence, read his long diatribe in the epilogue of this book, given when the author asked him what he thought the real numbers would have been, how much he would have won by if the election had not been "rigged". The Cloud Library e-book won't let me copy and paste it, and I'm not going to type it all out here, as it goes on for pages. But it makes abso-fooking-lutely NO SENSE. It's the clearest example of a disordered mind you're ever likely to see.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grateful that he’s not in The White House anymore. He is completely deranged. A great danger to our democracy.

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history book about events in the recent past from November 2020 to January 2021.

It's hard to know where to start, perhaps with "your voters believe whatever you tell them to believe" as Donald Trump was informed by a pollster.

In the days and weeks after the 3rd November 2020 election, Donald Trump was slowly deserted by his aides, staff, and any legal people who valued their future career. Despite being an incredibly wealthy man, the only lawyer who truly wanted to work with Donald Trump was Rudy Giuliani. It was Giuliani who first suggested that the election had been stolen.

The book has some telling quotes about Donald Trump removing organisation, strategy, method, rationale, and conscious decision making from the highest level of government. Michael Wolff postulates that it's the absence of intent and the swings of mania and irrationality that held people enthralled by the farce played out in front of them.

The most telling thing for me is towards the end of the book where Donald Trump's second impeachment trial is being described. The claim by The Democrats was that when Donald Trump spoke on 6th January to the crowds in Washington DC he was intending to start an insurrection. Michael Wolff says it was a dramatic leap to credit Donald Trump with intent. It suggested an ability to join cause and effect, and the logic of a plan, that anyone who knew him or had worked with him certainly understood he did not possess.

It's strange how sometimes coincidences occur. After I finished reading this book I continued to read a book about The Gnostics which contained the following line - "The Ancients were more at home with myth than we are and the supposed contradictions between literal truth and myth would not have been such a concern to them". After reading Landslide, I wonder whether myth is making a return or indeed whether it's ever been away from us.

Landslide is recommended reading and I will certainly read Michael Wolff's other books in the course of time.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not going to write about my feelings - personal and political - about Donald Trump, but rather if Michael Wolff’s new book, “Landslide”, is worth reading. This is, after all, a BOOk review, and my feelings about Trump really shouldn’t matter.

Michael Wolff has written three books about the Trump presidency. As a journalist, he knows both how to write and what to include in his writing. This is very important, because there’s so much “out there” that any biography of Trump would/could collapse under its own weight. Michael Wolff’s book goes into Donald Trump’s last few months in months in office along with the spicy anecdotes we’ve come to expect from a “tell-all”.

Should you buy Michael Wolff’s book? Why not? Like all his work, it’s superbly written, and is a pleasure to read, no matter what your political beliefs.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m often confronted by people who are Trump supporters who ask the question, “Who would vote for Biden?”, as if it were rhetorical, as if—-the implication being—-nobody in their right mind would vote for Biden. I always seem to throw these people off when I answer, “I would. I voted for him in 2020, and I will vote for him again this November.” More often than not, they don’t know how to respond, or they respond in the only way they know how: dumbfounded, they walk away, not knowing how to engage in a civil conversation that won’t result in them calling me a “socialist” or an “idiot” or a slew of other derogatory terms meant to shut down the conversation before it begins.

I understand and appreciate the age argument. Biden, at 81, is the oldest presidential candidate ever. Trump, at 77, is the second oldest candidate. It’s worrisome. It’s a serious flaw in the system that both parties can’t seem to find any viable candidates under the age of 60.

What’s more worrisome to me is that Trump supporters, and Trump himself, have made it clear that the idea of an autocratic dictatorship is perfectly acceptable, as if they fully understand and appreciate what that means. Most if not all Americans have had it pretty easy under our democratic republican system of government, which is the closest that any nation in history has ever come to a successful true democracy. True democracies don’t work. We know that. What we have works, but a growing number of people seem to think that Trump-as-dictator would solve a lot more problems than it would create. This is, according to George Orwell, how totalitarian systems start.

Michael Wolf, in his book “Landslide”, which is the third book of his Trump White House trilogy, astutely documents the final chaotic year of Trump’s presidency, starting with the global Covid-19 pandemic and Trump’s catastrophic response to it and ending with the horrific events of January 6, 2021.

Essentially, what Wolf is describing is eerily Orwellian: a powerful elected official who is coddled by sycophants afraid to say “no” to him and that is unsullied by facts or any attempt to conform to physical reality but, rather, creates his own version of reality that everyone around him conforms to, out of pure fear of retribution.

I don’t need to ever ask the question, “Who would vote for Donald Trump?” because I already know the answer. These are the people who are afraid of the changing world around them and the feeling that they are losing their place within that world, and they are perfectly okay with someone on high telling them what to do, especially when what this person is telling them to do is feeding those fears.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down.

A rehashing of the last few weeks of the Trump administration. How did we ever survive 4 years of this shit show? The man was totally unhinged, and by the end most of the staff had deserted him. Only his son-in-law was able to effectively handle him, while making sure his own hands stayed clean. No one is spared in this scathing portrayal of a White House descending into chaos. Rudy Giuliani is deservedly eviscerated by the author.

At times the book drags, especially as it goes on and on about the efforts to overturn the election. The chapter on the events of January 6, 2021 is almost anti-climactic. The visuals that we all watched are much more compelling than this version. The second impeachment trial makes it clear that Mitch McConnell was behind the acquittal, given that the defense was totally incompetent. Even an attempted coup could not persuade these Republicans to convict DJT.

The final chapter, which documents an interview with DJT, is just more incoherent ramblings. By that time, I was glad to be done with the book. I am forever glad to be done with DJT.

Although the book has some interesting parts, I’m not sure I can recommend it.
Note: I borrowed this book from the library. No way would I pay for it.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the first two volumes of Wolff's 'Trump Trilogy', I HAD to read the final one - and for the most part, it also did not disappoint. Given his sources, I would say they are as accurate a picture of the 4 years of madness the US went through during 45's admin, as we'll probably get. In a way, this is just more of the same chaos & dysfunction as the last two books laid out, but without some of the more colorful characters who had fallen by the wayside, and with far less of the juicy gossip items that made the first books so delicious (no mention is made of 45's alleged mistress, which was the big guessing game in book 2). The canvas is much smaller here - basically the 4 months between right before the election to the month after Jan 6. - and since Trump is single-mindedly fixated on his Big Lie, it all gets to be a bit monotonous. But a fitting ending to America's four years of darkness.

[Susan Tunis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the two prior books in Mr. Wolff's Trump Trilogy on publication day, I didn't see the point in stopping now. Once more into the breach!

Barely six months past the 2020 election and it's aftermath, I've already read thousands of pages on these events. Is there anything more to be learned? Years from now will I still be obsessing over the events of the Trump era like those obsessives sifting through each frame of the Zapruder film? In short, is this book even worth reading?

I think so. I haven't been watching much television as this book launches, but I don't feel like it's been quite as splashy. There are fewer sound bytes on the news. (Well, for one thing, he's got more competition this time around, with two other Trump-related titles launching within a week. And, yes, I will be reading them all.) It actually amazes me that with each of these Wolff books, when readers were convinced we'd seen maximum Trump craziness, the former president would manage to raise the stakes for the next book. It's gotten to the point that even the most yellow journalist is unable to exaggerate or hyperbolize reality. It simply isn't possible.

In the face of this, Mr Wolff basically just writes the facts. He lays things out in a way that's orderly, but compelling. And, of course the anonymous sources that we (and Mr. Wolff) have come to rely on are back. But they aren't playing as big a role as in the past. I should mention, BTW, that I listened to this as an audiobook. One of the nice things about the format is that rather than quoting various people in text, actual audio of them speaking can be heard.

No, by far the biggest source in this book spoke to the author completely on the record, and it is none other than Donald Trump himself! After two, scandalous, disasterous, headline-generating best-sellers, even Michael Wolff had a hard time believing that Donald Trump was willing to talk to him. They sat down together in the lobby of Mar-a-Lago, and Wolff hilariously describes Sara Huckabee Sanders (on site for a benefit) doing a double take upon seeing them together.

Alas, there's no audio of this interview in the book's epilogue, but narrator Holter Graham brings a pitch perfect mania to Trump's rambling. Make no mistake--he sounds like a raving lunatic. This is not me speaking as the partisan that I am. This is the woman who would cross the street to get away from a crazy person. Eventually, Trump's rant settles into a long list of grievances and people who have disappointed him. I bet you can guess a few that are on his list, but you sure won't guess them all!

All of the journalists who are writing about this period of our recent history are adding a piece to the puzzle of these times. Michael Wolff has his sources, Micheal Bender his, Leonig and Rucker their own. And with every little detail that emerges, I will continue to struggle to understand these times I am living through.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a short intro the book spans the conclusion of the 2020 Trump campaign to the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection. While the story is about the election and the genesis of the "steal" campaign, what comes through is the chaotic world of Trump.

The night of the vote count you see Trump's outsized reaction to Fox News calling Arizona for Biden and how the staff was unable to tell their emperor that call was substantiated by data and that there could be more bad news to come. Arizona is revealed as part of a larger plan to contest the election in the event the electoral vote was lost.

As Trump sees the networks calling states for Biden he starts the narrative that these states were stolen. He believes he won because he received more votes than any sitting president, that he won Ohio and Florida and anyone who wins them wins, etc.. His staff mostly doesn't see it that way, but agree because that is the way they manage him. He dispatches anyone who will listen to do something… maybe stop the count before he loses more votes.

As the night and days go on the “steal” narrative grows, you see the capable people slip away. The lucky ones have a reason to be elsewhere, for instance Jared is in the Middle East, others left before the election, some are out with Covid (lucky?). There is worry about resumes, one staffer wants to back date her resignation.

The remaining reality based staff draws up plans for post-presidency roles and the transition but don't present them because Trump controls the dialog. Everyone is to work on “stopping the steal”. Jared and Ivanka drop out of the picture. With so many people leaving Rudy Giuliani becomes prominent. The hunt for lawyers would be laughable if it were not so sad.

As the staff leaves, Trump works with whomever walks through the door. Wolff is great in describing Rudy Giuliani and this new set of hanger-ons.

Those who don't believe in the steal are considered "weak" and disloyal; They become targets. Trump rages at Brett Kavanaugh whom he sees as breaking some kind of quid pro quo requirement when the Supreme Court declined to hear a case. He rages at McConnell (whom he should thank for repressing the vote on the second impeachment) for not doing enough to keep him in power. He rages at Pence for performing his constitutional role.

Trump, with great credit to Giuliani (whom he will not pay) got the message out to his supporters: destroyed ballots, dead people voting, machines programmed for Biden, etc. You see how the fear of this devoted crowd, along with Trump's deep grudge carrying capability, controls Republicans and; hence, the Republican Party.

Since the book we’ve learned a lot more. The “fund raising” meeting with Steve Bannon at the Willard Hotel was most likely for planning the insurrection. John Eastman, hardly mentioned here, had a very broad role in planning the pressure on the states and the vice president than shown here. It is noted that Trump gave very few pardons. but we now see Bannon, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone all involved in "steal" activities.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was a warm up. Wolff’s way with words, his take, and the cohesion of the story he as he presents it, are more finely tuned than before. Hopefully there will be a follow up volume showing Trump’s role in squelching the bi-partisan committee, the fundraising and the audits and the surprises that are, undoubtedly, yet to come.

If you read one book on this era, this recommended. While it covers a sliver of time, you get the idea of what the full 4 years could be like. Wolff is a very engaging writer.

[Misfit · Rating 5 out of 5]

(though on one of his first postpresidential trips, his plane, for the first time in four years, had to wait in line for take-off).

I have to admit I enjoyed this far more than I should have (see my notes and highlights for lots of good quotes), but the one above has to be one of the top five. Karma baby.

This had lots of good juicy bits and tidbits and gossip, I particularly loved the way Rudy (tooty) G was portrayed, with all that bad gas coming out of his backside.

[Rennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s fine. I don’t really know why I punished myself by reading it and reliving all this though. There wasn’t really anything new here besides that Rudy Giuliani is constantly farting and Jeannine Pirro gets very drunk. I am amused but I don’t know if I truly needed confirmation of either of these things. It felt a bit like it was padded with tons of rhetorical questions too, like about how delusional Trump is. I just can’t marvel at that anymore.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I compulsively read these Trump biographies to try and better understand a man who clearly doesn't even understand himself. The Michael Wolff series is by far the trashiest of them all but it also makes for good reading. Although his sources and info is somewhat dubious, I suspect that at least 75% of what he writes is true or at least true enough.

This book highlights what most already knew: That Trump is an unhinged manchild who is constantly lied to and coddled by those in his orbit. The book shows Mayor Rudy as a senile, farting disaster. And it shows Republican leadership as nonexistent. They have grabbed the tiger by the tail and now have to ride it until the end...and they get eaten for their hubris.

[Clark Carlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a news junkie and concerned citizen, I paid close attention to the Trump presidency and knew it would end disastrously. It was obvious that, because of the antiquated electoral college system, we were going to get stuck with someone incompetent and inappropriate, someone way too stupid, ignorant and unprepared to be president. And worse, Trump was someone who was unhinged, mentally ill, narcissistically wounded and untethered to reality. His own son-in-law called him "crazy." Trump was something like our own Mad King George and like other mad kings, he was enabled by sycophants and opportunists. He did not win the popular vote but was elected by an embittered, racist, low information mob, who like Trump, had the same sense that they deserved more than they had actually achieved. It is because Trump was born into a wealthy family that he got away with his delusions, with his incessant lying, his cruelty. And it is only because the masses are gullible that he was able to con them into buying his own mad imaginings, even as Trump detested them as "low class" and "the great unwashed" or "hillbillies."

What Mr. Wolff succeeds in showing us in this book is just how insane Trump is. This is someone whose narcissism is so extreme that his lies are more than just untruths. His lies become his held beliefs; by thinking and repeating his lies, he recreates reality, like a god. It's something that only someone so grossly indulged, so malignantly spoiled and wealthy could pull off. And it's the deepness of his altered beliefs that makes him so convincing to those who are vulnerable to cultism and charlatans. His people view their cult's leader as infallible, as more than human or "picked by God" and even believed he was a Christian as much as he mocked their religious beliefs in private.

Those of us who were appalled but unsurprised by his destructive behavior and amorality knew all of this about him before he won the election. We knew he was a fraud who was bankrupt, who had been recreated as a "billionaire" by Mark Burnett in order to host a stupid game show. And we had to stand by and watch Trump implode when his refusal to deal with the Covid-19 crisis sank our economy and resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands. And we are disgusted that he has still never admitted nor will ever admit to having failed as president and ending up ruining the good economy that was handed to him by Obama. If Trump lives to see Mar-a-Lago under three feet of water, he will take no responsibility for having worked against measures to prevent climate change. He'll blame it on the Chinese.

Mr. Wolff has succeeded in showing us just how mentally deranged Trump is with quotes and first hand accounts. I am not astonished that this happened in America where we do so little to make sure that all of our citizens have access to higher education. The German nation once belonged to Hitler and his Nazis, and our nation, for four years, belonged to Trump and his own opportunists and a mob who was not interested in democracy and the wellbeing of all Americans but in the return of their fallen white tribe to supremacy. There were also those who see someone like themselves in him: a macho bully willing to do or say anything for his own ambition. And then there are those Trump supporters who are the saddest of all: the ones who admire and are attracted to abusers, thieves and bullies.

Landslide is a fascinating and sometimes funny read -- especially when it gets to the late stage lawyering of Rudy Guilianni whose own addiction to attention turns him into a clown who is willing to say or do anything if it gets him on camera where he exposes his alcoholism, his inability to contain flatulence and his senility.

This entire presidency has been a hard lesson in humanity and sh0wn us just how quickly we could reverse all of the ideals that are the basis of our once enlightened nation. Sadly but expectedly, Mr. Wolff shows us that Trump learned nothing in his last four years and will remain an ineducable sociopath with no capacity for the truth or self-reflection.

[Ron Welton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would not be surprised if Michael Wolff's latest expose into the Trump administration was described as political pornography. I know that I read it, not to really expand my understanding but to have my sense of political self-righteousness titillated. I was not disappointed.
Please don't think that the above diminishes this book in any way. It is a clear repository of crucial events in a shaken democracy. It is as clear an understanding of the people involved in those events as we are apt to ever get. It is intensely interesting.

[T.R. Preston · Rating 5 out of 5]

One thing I've learned by observing the staggering incompetence and obvious idiocy of Donald Trump is that modern American politics is severely broken. This man pulls a stunt every other week that would END the careers of any President or Presidential Candidate that came before him. Modern Americans simply do not care about the candidate anymore. All that matters is what the candidate represents. The Left vs Right obsession has reached a point where tens of millions of people would passionately vote for a can of Dr. Pepper depending on what colour tie you tighten around it. This cannot end well. You cannot divide the most powerful nation in history this dramatically and expect anything but chaos.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whatever you may think of the subject, this book is horribly written. Long, complicated, run-on sentences that made it difficult to understand what was the intended point. A paragraph would be composed of one terribly-phrased, confusing sentence. I had to re-read sentences or paragraphs to understand it - where were the editors??

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Landslide Brought Me Down.*
Review of the Henry Holt & Co. hardcover edition (July 2021)

Someone used the Risitas** meme to simply explain the Tuesday November 3, 2020 U.S. election results very soon after the fact:
See video at Risitas talks about the 2020 election on YouTube, posted November 10, 2020.

Michael Wolff explains it at a bit more length, but also expands on why Trump and his supporters now doubt the results:

To the campaign and West Wing staff, there was now little doubt about the trends that would lose them their must-keep electoral votes. It was a clear and, for many, an I-told-you-so outcome: the Democrats, seizing on the COVID excuse, had pushed for mail-in voting, and had encouraged their people to use this new privilege, while the Republicans had discouraged it, and therein lay the Democrats' thin margin - and it would be thin. Indeed, the Democrats, clearly without the landslide they had predicted, were saved by this lucky emphasis, that was all they were saved by.
But it was enough.
And so little that you could believe that mail-in voting was the margin of fraud - that is, if that's what you wanted to believe. After all, they would not have won without their mail-in votes, which, even with no one identifying precise issues, were technically more susceptible to funny business that votes cast at the ballot box. Hence, well, fraud... maybe, which became obviously. - Excerpt from pgs. 77-78 of Landslide

There is obviously a lot more to the book, but this is the heart of it. Encouraged primarily by Rudy Giuliani, Trump persisted in his claims of fraud leading up to the January 6, 2021 Washington rally that broke down into a mob scramble into the Capital building with the resulting tragic deaths of several individuals.

Wolff details the events leading up the election, Election Day and its aftermath, the campaign by Trump's "television lawyers" to sow the seeds of fraud doubt, the events leading up to January 6, 2021 and that aftermath. His (undisclosed) sources paint quite a sad picture of the disarray behind the scenes as people are constantly fired or disappear themselves when things become inconvenient. In a perhaps odd conciliatory gesture, Wolff interviews Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the end of his presidency and finds Trump still defiant and likely plotting a comeback.

It is a very recent entry, so Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency is currently (as of early August 2021) only the 75th most top voted book in the Trump Tell-Alls Listopia on Goodreads, which has the somewhat shocking current total of 249 books. The list is likely going to increase by 50+ with the Trump era ended and many retrospectives and memoirs yet to be written and published***. Landslide will surely climb up into the Top 10 or 20 in the next several months.

I have found Wolff's Trump trilogy with Fire and Fury, Siege and Landslide to collectively be the best of all of the Trump reveals that I've read.

I read Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency as part of my reading survey of various books in relation to the 2020 American Election and ongoing events. As a Canadian I’ve generally ignored American politics and elections in past years, but the drama of the situation in 2020 and 2021 has heightened my interest.

Trivia
* quote from the song "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks.
** The Risitas meme is a Spanish TV interview in which the comic Risitas relates a story about being a dishwasher in a restaurant kitchen. Risitas' infectious laughter and the host's reactions are so funny in themselves, that the video has been used hundreds of times with invented subtitles to tell totally different stories for comic effect. The Spanish language audio is unchanged, it is only new subtitles that are regularly substituted.
*** Already announced are a 3rd, as yet Untitled (September 2021) book by journalist Bob Woodward (with Robert Costa) and a 2nd book titled The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal (August 2021) by estranged niece Mary Trump.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Update: decided to finish it. No half-measures.

Did not finish. I don’t know, maybe I’m just sick of reading about the utter stupidity that was the Trump presidency.

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Wolff has done a terrific job researching, confirming, and writing about the crazy final days of the Trump presidency.

Wolff's writing style and analogies create a fast paced historical tapestry with a peek behind the curtains at the White House and Capital.

Some of the most memorable passages include:
* Most attorneys had bailed from Trump's team (or had been summarily fired) so that they were left using law students and interns
* Oval Office meetings were like the Star Wars bar scene or like a bus station
* Tulsa rally: Trump said there were 1,000,000 attendees; Secret Service said 12,000, Fire Marshall said 6,000
* Trump ordered that COVID testing stop being done for White House staffers so that no more cases would be identified
* The buck always stopped somewhere else (other than Trump)
* Hard to hold Trump's attention when he wasn't the one talking
* Trump had nothing but contempt for Biden. If Trump lost to Biden, what does that say about Trump?
* Trump MO: always seize the opportunity for public drama
* Lord of the Flies org chart
* Rudy Giuliani in the mumble tank: beginning of senility; focus issues; memory problems
* Flapdoodleness (awesome word invention!)
* Show business and politics indistinguishably joined

One of the most important leadership lessons is to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and who will tell you the truth. Being an active listener and asking great questions are the hallmarks of excellent leaders. Wanting to hear opposing viewpoints is critical and necessary for sound decision making.

Trump surrounded himself primarily with incompetent "Yes" people who told him what he wanted to hear. Very few dared to be honest with him. Those who shared different opinions than Trump were quickly berated and terminated.

Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself if we don't learn critical lessons and guard against repeating bad mistakes.

Highly recommend!

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Large parts of this book, I really enjoyed.

For those of us made miserable by the 4-year mistake that was the Donald Trump presidency, there's nothing better than seeing him flail about helplessly, our febrile democratic checks finally providing an exit ramp to this nightmare. I had always eschewed Trump/Nazi comparisons, mainly because they detract from the awfulness of American history in favor of grafting on another racist society. But if there's one thing I have found similar from reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, it's that there were many exit ramps to Adolf Hitler, yet as he sought to consolidate power, the Government, and then the elites, and finally the generals decided, for whatever selfish reasons, to remain silent. Such was the case here.

Because as laughable as it was that Trump was relying on bottom-of-the-barrel lawyers and fringe conspiracy theorists, you could sense the undercurrent of danger throughout the tale. Your supporters will believe whatever you tell them to, Mr. President. This was said as an encouragement to mask up during the coronavirus but Trump used it, oh did he use it, to perpetuate the big lie.

Thus, January 6.

Like 9/11 and 11/7/16, I have no real desire to relive that date. Parts of the recounting, I confess to have skipped over. I'm just reminded time and time again how whiteness gets a pass in our society.

The book itself? Eh. Some fly-on-the-wall convos but nothing you couldn't have read or divined already. And a lot are Michael Wolff's personal observations on the affair, which I could care less because Michael Wolff sucks. I hate that I so desperately love to read about Donald Trump but rarely have I found a good book about him. This ain't it either.

[Brian Calandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the best stories were are available for free from New York Magazine, Business Insider, and others, except for Trump's rambling in the epilogue, which is somehow terrifying and pathetic all at once. This struck me as the result of a race to the printer -- he identifies the same people over and over again (Elaine Chao is Mitch McConnell's wife, yes!) -- almost as if this was written as a series of articles and then stuffed into a book with little editing so that it would be one of the first books out. There also only appear to be about four or five sources -- Jason Miller, Marc Short, Jared Kushner, Chris Christie, Hope Hicks -- but perhaps others in Trump's orbit were already talking to other journalists.

But the stories speak for themselves. And the gossip is irresistible.

[David Abrams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in hasty, sloppy fashion with sentences thick as brambles and no stated sources for the material, this book is a train wreck written about a car wreck. Sure, we can't help slowing down to rubberneck Democracy as it burns along the side of the road, but did we have to get it in such a poorly-written package?

Fire and Fury, for all its faults, was smooth as a milkshake compared to Landslide. Still, it's the subject that draws us on, page after turgid page: Trump, flayed open on the page, is a disturbing....Thing....to read about. Car wreck, indeed.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

WARNING: Contains references to tantrums and meatballs

Michael Wolff wrote three books about Donald Trump in three years, and he has HAD IT. This is a book of reportage, but Wolff is highly opinionated about the intelligence and flaws of this president and the people around him. So the book is vivid and intriguing, but there's no attempt to be evenhanded or objective. If you want a book that's less openly opinionated, I suggest Nightmare Scenario (about the administration's and the federal government's reaction to the pandemic) or I Alone Can Fix It (about the president's final year in office).

OK, let's get to the interesting stuff.

• Who told Donald Trump to his face that he had blood on his hands and the COVID deaths were his fault and that he was a total failure as president? Chris Christie, during debate prep, while pretending to be Joe Biden
• What else did Christie say during debate prep? That Trump was constantly focusing on Hunter Biden even though Trump's own family was full of problems
• Did Trump take these comments in the spirit they were meant—as jibes that Biden might make and that Trump had to mentally prepare himself for? What do you think?
• Did Christie enjoy saying these things to Trump? Probably, since Christie wants so badly to be president himself. But then he got COVID and spent like ten days in intensive care. So maybe it wasn't worth it.
• When did Jared Kushner tell his father-in-law to his face that the 2020 election was over and could no longer be contested? Apparently never
• What did Jared do instead? Delegated the task to four or five staffers, whom he sent to the Oval Office
• Did they tell him? No
• What did they do instead? Sat around with the president and ate meatballs
• Were they good meatballs? Trump said they were "the best recipe"
• Which Trump staffer most resembled Simpsons character Milhaus van Houten? White House counsel Pat Cipollone
• What mood did Cipollone constantly project? Panic
• Why was Cipollone perpetually out of breath? Because he was always running downstairs whenever Trump called him
• In his four years in office, how many times did Trump walk up the stairs to meet with Cipollone, Kellyanne Conway, and other key staffers who had offices there? Never
• During election night 2020, which staffer forgot that Michigan is on Central time, and therefore its ballot results were posted at 3 AM local time, which was 4 AM Eastern time? Everyone. Every single campaign staffer and White House staffer. The president got incredibly wound up over ballots that he thought were missing.
• Who was the first White House staffer to say out loud in a meeting (though not to the president's face) that the 2020 election was decided and they should move on to focus on burnishing the Trump legacy and accomplishing as much as possible in the last weeks in office? Hope Hicks
• On January 6, who was the first White House staffer to suggest that the president should activate the National Guard? Ivanka Trump
• Did anyone listen to her? No. The Guard didn't come into play until much later.
• Which U.S. federal elections does Donald Trump believe were stolen? 1960, 1964, 2000, 2020

[Lindsay King · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic, historically useful information, but a lack of brevity makes it difficult to follow…

I’m a little over halfway through this book. As someone who’s recently devoured several books on the Trump era, I’m struggling to get through this one. The author’s diction is elevated; however, his writing is verbose yet almost colloquial. I just read a sentence that spanned 3 (!!!) Kindle pages set to a medium-sized font. I’ve reread many sentences to decipher the message between all the commas, em dashes, parentheses, and run-ons. The importance of the message gets lost amid the runaway stream-of-consciousness.