Immediately after Fire and Fury was published, the president publicly and furiously broke with Stephen K. Bannon, the man arguably most responsible for making him president, over remarks he had made in the book. Donald Trump’s wrath helped cost Bannon the backing of his patrons, billionaire Bob Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, and forced his departure from Breitbart News, the news site that Bannon led and the Mercers controlled.
It is a measure of Bannon’s character that he stood by his remarks in Fire and Fury without complaint, quibbles, or hurt feelings. In all my years in this business, I have encountered few sources who, after revealing themselves, didn’t blame the person who exposed them.
Steve Bannon, as the most clear-eyed interpreter of the Trump phenomenon I know, as the Virgil anyone might be lucky to have as a guide for a descent into Trumpworld—and as Dr. Frankenstein with his own deep ambivalence about the monster he created—is, in this volume, back again, and on the record, with my thanks for his trust and cooperation.
Stephen Rubin and John Sterling at Henry Holt are the kind of publisher and editor most writers have only ever dreamed about. Steve’s full-speed-ahead enthusiasm and confidence has driven this book. John’s meticulousness and insight informs every page; his good grace brought it over the finish line, once again. Holt’s Maggie Richards and Pat Eisemann have taken this book to market with passion and deftness.
Writing about an unpredictable and vengeful president of the United States involves uncommon publishing risks. My great thanks to John Sargent and Don Weisberg at Macmillan, Holt’s parent company, for their unwavering, indeed ringing, support.
My agent, Andrew Wylie, and his associates, Jeffrey Posternak in New York and James Pullen in London, on top of providing almost daily advice and service, have coordinated a complex and seamless international publication.
The lawyers on this book, Eric Rayman and Diana Frost, both of whom weathered the president’s legal threats after the publication of Fire and Fury, have remained ever cool, cheerful, unafraid, and steadfastly on the side of publishing the full story.
I have, as always, depended on Leela de Kretser for her friendship and counsel. My great thanks to Danit Lidor who fact-checked this manuscript, Chris de Kretser who checked the check, and to Edward Elson and Thomas Godwin, my able research assistants.
Michael Jackson, John Lyons, Jay Roach, and Ari Emanuel, my partners in trying to render the Trump White House in dramatic form, have helped me think through key aspects of how to tell a political story that is much less about traditional ideas of power than it is about one man’s extraordinary public battle with almost everyone—and perhaps most of all with himself.
My great appreciation to the unsung sources here, many of whom have counseled me on a regular, if not daily, basis throughout the writing of this book.
My wife, Victoria, has been my rock and inspiration.