Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House by Cliff Sims and you know why I am reading this. This is Trump's story from someone who likes Trump. Who supports his agenda. Maybe this will shed some light that I have not expected.
Started: 2/9/2019
Completed: 2/22/2019
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Words for which I sought help:
bloviation -- a style of empty, pompous political speech made famous by Warren G. Harding who, himself a master of technique, described it as, "the art of speaking for as long as the occasion warrants, and saying nothing"
Review:
I opened this book hoping to find some explanation for what was happening. What I found was chaos. Trump thrives in chaos and the White House seems to be a place where he is nesting and the chaos seems to float around him. There were a few nuggets of insight that helped.
"Trump believes he alone, often through sheer force of will, can solve certain problems." I guess I knew this to be the case from speeches during the campaign when he said that he, alone, could solve the nation's problems. At the time I thought he was a blow hard. It is much, much worse that he actually believes this of himself. That is exceedingly scary.
"And layered on top of all of that is his belief that creating chaos gives him an advantage, because he's more comfortable in the mayhem than anyone else." I wonder if this is insight into what is happening in his head. He lives in a chaotic cycle and jumps from one thing to the next internally, so doing it externally would be "normal."
"Trump was Trump. He was open and direct, and rambled in a way that made it clear he had no filter between the thoughts in his head and the words coming out of his mouth." This is telling. He means the things he says. Whether he can hold a consistent thought or not, when he says it, he means it. He believes it. This is very scary.
Cliff Sims acknowledges that Trump is flawed. But he oddly exhibits a "plank in his own eye" when he condemns (I think properly) a pastor by characterizing her as, "[t]he thrice-married televangelist who refused to cooperate with a Senate investigation into her moneymaking operation..." [italics original]. I do not understand how someone finds that unacceptable in one person, but acceptable in another. Maybe it is not OK for her since she is a woman? I just don't understand...it is as though there are no moral sign posts just measuring sticks thrown up for effect and against those who are viewed as the opposition.
Talking about the white supremacist march in Charlottsville, Clff Sims mentions "...militant left-wing activists known as 'antifa'...had organized to physically resist the protesters." Another example of something that struck me as wrong the instant I read it. I checked and the resistance was organized by Solidarity Cville and this group included members of the clergy. The resistance was worried about violence, but not because they wanted violence--they were worried about violence because they heard about the aggressive messages being put out by the white supremacists. How is that someone who needs to know what really happened at important times could still be so ignorant (and willing to repeat this kind of statement without fact checking it--what happened at St. Martin's Press?). If his perception of the world is so colored by his internal biases, how did he ever find Trump acceptable?
"Ryan, for his part, was under constant pressure to hold together his slender GOP majority in Congress..." is another statement that just jumped out at me. Slender? 235-193. That is not "slender." Stephen S. Power did the editing on this book. I reached out to him over social media and he was responsive. Frankly, I was shocked and it was very refreshing to have an editor who was so committed to putting out a solid product. We ended up exchanging several emails.
Trump decided to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The author describes standing with Trump and looking at the Palestinians protesting and burning Trump in effigy. We get Sims' internal
dialog that he "was proud of what [Trump] had done." But, there is no "why." Why did Trump make the move? To deliver on a campaign promise it would seem. Why did Trump make that promise? No clue. Why was Sims proud? No clue. There was certainty, however, that Trump had been misunderstood. What was the misunderstanding? Why did Trump feel that way? Why, why, why? This book does not provide the insight I was hoping to gain. Is the whole White House a hollow set of campaign promises derived from talking points that got a reaction from extreme Republicans? Are we being governed by a crowd from two years ago howling with rage and frustration at their own situation and looking to lash out at someone--anyone?
In the end, Sims was run over by the bus that Trump inevitably throws everyone under. Sims seemed to be surprised by this, but did come to understand it. I feel like there is some guy in Alabama still yelling MAGA and still not knowing why it is something he supports. Maybe he and Jeff Sessions meet for a beer and try to fathom what has happened. In the end, I don't care. Mr. Sims is not unsympathetic, but he is unrepentant.
"And layered on top of all of that is his belief that creating chaos gives him an advantage, because he's more comfortable in the mayhem than anyone else." I wonder if this is insight into what is happening in his head. He lives in a chaotic cycle and jumps from one thing to the next internally, so doing it externally would be "normal."
"Trump was Trump. He was open and direct, and rambled in a way that made it clear he had no filter between the thoughts in his head and the words coming out of his mouth." This is telling. He means the things he says. Whether he can hold a consistent thought or not, when he says it, he means it. He believes it. This is very scary.
Cliff Sims acknowledges that Trump is flawed. But he oddly exhibits a "plank in his own eye" when he condemns (I think properly) a pastor by characterizing her as, "[t]he thrice-married televangelist who refused to cooperate with a Senate investigation into her moneymaking operation..." [italics original]. I do not understand how someone finds that unacceptable in one person, but acceptable in another. Maybe it is not OK for her since she is a woman? I just don't understand...it is as though there are no moral sign posts just measuring sticks thrown up for effect and against those who are viewed as the opposition.
Talking about the white supremacist march in Charlottsville, Clff Sims mentions "...militant left-wing activists known as 'antifa'...had organized to physically resist the protesters." Another example of something that struck me as wrong the instant I read it. I checked and the resistance was organized by Solidarity Cville and this group included members of the clergy. The resistance was worried about violence, but not because they wanted violence--they were worried about violence because they heard about the aggressive messages being put out by the white supremacists. How is that someone who needs to know what really happened at important times could still be so ignorant (and willing to repeat this kind of statement without fact checking it--what happened at St. Martin's Press?). If his perception of the world is so colored by his internal biases, how did he ever find Trump acceptable?
"Ryan, for his part, was under constant pressure to hold together his slender GOP majority in Congress..." is another statement that just jumped out at me. Slender? 235-193. That is not "slender." Stephen S. Power did the editing on this book. I reached out to him over social media and he was responsive. Frankly, I was shocked and it was very refreshing to have an editor who was so committed to putting out a solid product. We ended up exchanging several emails.
Trump decided to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The author describes standing with Trump and looking at the Palestinians protesting and burning Trump in effigy. We get Sims' internal
dialog that he "was proud of what [Trump] had done." But, there is no "why." Why did Trump make the move? To deliver on a campaign promise it would seem. Why did Trump make that promise? No clue. Why was Sims proud? No clue. There was certainty, however, that Trump had been misunderstood. What was the misunderstanding? Why did Trump feel that way? Why, why, why? This book does not provide the insight I was hoping to gain. Is the whole White House a hollow set of campaign promises derived from talking points that got a reaction from extreme Republicans? Are we being governed by a crowd from two years ago howling with rage and frustration at their own situation and looking to lash out at someone--anyone?
In the end, Sims was run over by the bus that Trump inevitably throws everyone under. Sims seemed to be surprised by this, but did come to understand it. I feel like there is some guy in Alabama still yelling MAGA and still not knowing why it is something he supports. Maybe he and Jeff Sessions meet for a beer and try to fathom what has happened. In the end, I don't care. Mr. Sims is not unsympathetic, but he is unrepentant.
