Audio book version of this is recommended, as apparently the text version does contain grammar and even spelling errors that may be annoying. I picked this up on Audible and it's a fascinating and horrifying portrait of just how far the White House and the GOP have descended into chaos and incompetence in the service of self-interest. While it's generally agreed that Wolff has exaggerated and embellished a few points, there is SO MUCH detail here (and much of it he does have on tape) that the overall picture it paints still seems clear and believable.

Watching the Trump administration from the outside, it's been hard at times to determine if there's some bigger strategy at work, some conspiracy to subvert what remains of democracy into a full oligarchy, some deliberate attempt to undermine the institutions of the USA. What this book does very well is illustrate that there really is no plan, no conspiracy, so scheme; it's absolutely sheer incompetence and ignorance fueled by self-interest and greed. And I'm not sure which is more terrifying. Trump doesn't have any sinister agenda; he has no agenda at all, and nobody on the White House staff has any control over what he says or decides, and nobody remotely qualified will even accept a job in the White House at this point because it's such a horror show. The book describes a White House so disorganized that there is no interest in filling any position that isn't media-facing; visitors arrive, are screened by military security, and then are left to wander the halls because there's no staff to greet and escort them to meetings. Wolff himself managed to just invite himself in and make himself at home for months on end with nobody to question him. Internal factions fight and undermine each other and the goal of everybody with any agenda is to get the president to think the idea was his own so it might get done, while Trump himself has no interest at all in doing anything but getting nice coverage from the media.

I'm really not sure if I was more scared when it seemed as if the Trump presidency was a sinister conspiracy to undermine democracy in the US, or after reading this book when it is clearly utter chaos and incompetence at every possible level with no clear goals at all. But either way it was a very interesting listen and has cast a new perspective on the daily news.