How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington
February 3, 2020
Daily Beast reporters Markay and Suebsaeng detail their interactions with the Trump administration in this gossip-fueled comedy of errors. Focusing on obscure campaign officials, low-level White House staffers, and “D-listers” orbiting around the presidency, Markay and Suebsaeng argue that to truly understand this political moment, observers must study the people riding the president’s coattails. Their anecdotes feature Trump’s favorite teleprompter operator playing Candy Crush to warm up his fingers before a speech; actor Jon Voight mistaking Suebsaeng for campaign finance chairman Steve Mnuchin; press secretary Anthony Scaramucci “hunting for the leakers of information that he himself had leaked”; and the “mattress saga” that took down EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Many of these tales are thirdhand, and much of the book rehashes events that are either well-known or less than consequential. But the authors’ colorful prose and willingness to ridicule themselves (“we have been two little piglets in the Trump years, gleefully inhaling the muck and empty calories”) entertain, and their jibes frequently contain sharp insights into “Trumpworld.” This irreverent, darkly humorous account will resonate with readers who look at the White House and see, as the authors do, “a circus of crookedness, incompetence, and rank dishonesty.”