Quotes About Trump

Rudy, you're a baby!" Trump said loudly. "I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?

Grievance was a big part of Trump's core, very much like a 14-year-old boy who felt he was being picked on unfairly.

Don't take any questions, all the staff told him with urgency. Trump said he did not plan on taking any. At the press briefing, he took questions

Fuck no!" Powell said. "I told you never to take the job. You never should have taken the job. Trump's a fucking maniac.

Many on Twitter wondered if Trump had violated the platform's terms of service by threatening nuclear war.

The Fox News network, especially opinion broadcaster Sean Hannity, had a Svengali-like influence on Trump that Rosenstein privately labeled "malicious." Too many right-wing nuts had influence. He also found no comfort or credibility with mainstream media reporters, who he believed were prisoners of their partisan sources.

Trump's obsessive and unfiltered venting had brought him to the edge once again.

Recusing himself made the attorney general a "traitor," Trump said to Porter. The president made fun of his Southern accent. "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner.

Don't lecture Trump. He doesn't like professors. He doesn't like intellectuals. Trump was a guy who "never went to class. Never got the syllabus. Never took a note. Never went to a lecture. The night before the final, he comes in at midnight from the fraternity house, puts on a pot of coffee, takes your notes, memorizes as much as he can, walks in at 8 in the morning and gets a C. And that's good enough. He's going to be a billionaire.

Trump arrived and sat down. Hot dogs and hamburgers were laid out. The fantasy diet of an 11-year-old kid, Bannon thought, as Trump wolfed down two hot dogs.

President Trump is a good listener, Mattis said, as long as you don't hit one of his third rails—immigration and the press are the two big ones. If you hit one, he is liable to go off on a tangent and not come back for a long time. "Secretaries of Defense don't always get to choose the president they work for." Everyone laughed.

Melania Trump had come down and wandered behind the sofa where Conway was proposing they sit. It was clear she was seething. "Not doing that," Melania said in her Slovenian accent, dismissively waving her hand. "No way. No, no, no." Bannon believed she had the most influence with Trump of anyone, that she could discern who was sucking up and who was telling the truth. "Behind the scenes she's a hammer.

One day in the Oval Office, Cohn brought in the latest job numbers to Trump and Pence. "I have the most perfect job numbers you're ever going to see," Cohn said. "It's all because of my tariffs," Trump said. "They're working." Trump had yet to impose any tariffs, but he believed they were a good idea and knew Cohn disagreed with him.

Ryan's main takeaway: Do not humiliate Trump in public. Humiliating a narcissist risked real danger, a frantic lashing out if he felt threatened or criticized. Ryan tested

Trump rejected the better judgment of almost all of his staff. He had done that before. His perverse independence and irrationality ebbed and flowed.

the Trump election had rekindled the divide in the country. There was a more hostile relationship with the media. The culture wars were reinvigorated. There was a racist tinge. Trump accelerated it.

Porter saw it from up close—perhaps as close as anyone on the staff except Hope Hicks—the Trump election had rekindled the divide in the country. There was a more hostile relationship with the media. The culture wars were reinvigorated. There was a racist tinge. Trump accelerated it.

Later, when Trump brought up the second speech to him, the staff secretary said, "I thought the second speech was the only good one of the three." "I don't want to talk to you," Trump responded. "Get away from me.

In Bannon's evaluation, Trump was Archie Bunker, but a really focused Archie Bunker.

He talked about how tariffs risked roiling the markets and jeopardizing a lot of the stock market gains. He said the tariffs would be, in effect, a tax on American consumers. Tariffs would take away a lot of the good that Trump had done through tax and regulatory reform. You're the globalist, Trump said. I don't even care what you think anymore, Gary. Trump shooed him away. Cohn retreated to a couch.

To have Trump answer them, of course, would be a catastrophe because Trump could erupt and say absolutely anything.

Trump had gone bankrupt six times and seemed not to mind. Bankruptcy was just another business strategy. Walk away, threaten to blow up the deal. Real

The Chinese thought that Trump in desperation would create a crisis, present himself as the savior, and use the gambit to win reelection.

Cohn was astounded at Trump's lack of basic understanding. He tried to explain. If you as the federal government borrow money through issuing bonds, you are increasing the U.S. deficit. What do you mean? Trump asked. Just run the presses—print money.