I did, in fact, finish Stephanie Grisham’s book, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House.” Stephanie Grisham started at the White House when Trump was inaugurated in January 2021. She served as White House press secretary and communications director from 2019 to 2020. She also worked as communications director and chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump. She resigned her position on January 6th, 2021 after witnessing the insurrection at the Capitol.
I have read a number of books about the Trump administration (including the entire Mueller report) so I have to admit that nothing in this book really surprised me. Rather than being from the perspective of an investigative reporter whose work is dependent upon both named and unnamed sources, documents and interviews, Grisham’s book is just based upon her observations from having a front row seat to all things Trump during her years of working in the administration.
It just serves to confirm many of the things that have been so widely reported by multiple sources over the years. First of all, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Trump views himself as the most important person in the entire universe. And I don’t believe that is a hyperbolic statement. Everything he does is driven by how it can benefit him and how it is being reported in the press. Good press coverage is disturbingly important to this man. If anyone believes in any way, shape or form that Donald J. Trump gives one hoot about the United States of America, the Constitution, the Rule of Law or any of the other reasons that people often cite for going into public service, they are very, very mistaken. His campaign slogan should really be, “Make Trump Great Again.”
It is very clear in this book that the entire family is of the same mindset. It is also very clear why nepotism should be outlawed in all forms in the White House. In typical Trump fashion, even though there are, in fact, laws against nepotism, they got around that by Ivanka and Jared essentially working for ‘free’. Although I think there was certainly a cost to the United States. Not to mention the fact that Jared Kushner would not have gotten his clearance had it not been for his father-in-law. Kushner had virtually unlimited access to highly classified information that he should not have gotten. That, in and of itself, is a huge violation of security rules that should never have happened.
Trump always talks about loyalty. There are many, many examples in this book of how Trump, and essentially all of the Trumps (including son-in-law Jared Kushner), were willing to just cast people aside when they no longer had use for them or they had crossed them in some way. People are just like paper plates. Use them until they become so soiled that they can no longer be used and then just toss them into the trash. Virtually everyone who finds their way into ‘Trump land’ will eventually be tossed aside or thrown under the bus. It became very apparent in reading this book that no one in the Trump family is willing to accept responsibility for anything bad. There is always a scapegoat. If that person is lucky, they will just be kicked out of the Trump orbit and forgotten. More than likely they will be banished from the Trump orbit and a plan put in place to exact revenge. Lawsuits, character assassination, and whatever else they can find in the tool bag will be used. Loyalty is a one-way street in Trump land.
Grisham did provide an interesting look at Melania Trump. She worked closely with her for a number of years including a stretch as her Chief of Staff. Melania Trump was certainly one of the more enigmatic First Ladies ever to live in the White House. In fact, the Secret Service nicknamed her Rapunzel since she so infrequently left the White House. However, Grisham shows a much more human side of her. That’s not to say Melania is not, in some respects, like her husband, but she does have a human side and I found that interesting to read since I knew very little about her.
The weather wasn’t great this weekend. My motorcycle is put to bed for the winter. Most of my chores to winterize my house and vehicles are done so it was a good weekend to plow through a book like this. It was easy reading. I described it to someone as a cross between a soap opera and ‘Survivor’, with casts of clowns and snake oil salesmen. The United States deserves so much more.
I also started reading the majority report issued recently by the Senate Judiciary about the events of January 6th. This is an interim report since the investigation is still ongoing, but if anyone has any doubts at all about how close we came to an actual coup in this country on January 6th (and how much peril we are in approaching the 2022 and 2024 elections), I don’t know how you could read this and come away with any other conclusion. Then again, we now live in the land of ‘facts don’t matter.’ I expect to finish the report today and will write about it tomorrow – I hope.
- I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw At The Trump White House; Stephanie Grisham, Harper Collins Publishers, 2021