Michael Wolff | The Spectator columnists & writers

Cuomo, Trump and the secret of eternal political life

There are many in Donald Trump’s inner circle who have tried to read his mind these past four years, together with a class of journalists who, on a daily basis, have catalogued his whims and outrages. But perhaps my attention to the former president, after writing three books about him, is unique. I now regard him as my own character, with an ever-so-fine line between what he actually does and what, in moments of inspiration, I imagine him doing. I am not always able to tell the difference in the Twitter of my dreams. We have a cottage in Amagansett, the most unHamptons Hamptons town (making it, in fashion’s dialectic, the most Hamptons town), that was bought with the proceeds from my books about Trump. Among its hoped-for benefits is to help me forget about him.

Americano

Will Michael Wolff ever have to write a fourth Trump book?

30 min listen

Americano

Will Michael Wolff ever have to write a fourth Trump book?

30 min listen

Freddy's guest on this week's episode is the famed journalist Michael Wolff, author of three books on Donald Trump - the bestseller Fire and Fury, its very popular follow up Siege and the latest, Landslide. The final in the trilogy tells the story of the last days of the Trump presidency, including the 2020 election – one that the former president still claims he won.On the episode, Michael recounts election night and the moment Fox called Arizona, why he has little sympathy for the voters who still believe the election was 'stolen', and what it was like to catch up with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Murdoch’s big secret is that he doesn’t have one

Michael Wolff reveals how he secured Rupert Murdoch’s co-operation for his biography and discovered that this media titan has no interest in posterity. He is, at heart, a city editorThere is, on the one hand, the unparalleled global dominance in media and politics that Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation have achieved. And yet, on the other, there’s an almost endearing attention-deficit lack of organisation and heedlessness that I witnessed in nine months of chatting with Murdoch and his executives. The fact that I was talking so often and so openly with Murdoch was as good an example as any of the absence of planning and strategy that backs up one of the world’s greatest control freaks. Indeed, throughout the company, people kept saying to me (and among themselves): has he lost his mind, spilling the beans? Why is he doing this? What is he thinking?The answer involves, I believe, News Corp’s essential business advantage and fundamental personality trait: Murdoch and News act without thinking very much.

A nation wobbles

The New York Times publishes a daily box score with the latest list of the soldiers killed in Iraq under the rubric ‘Names of the Dead’. For instance: KAUFMAN, Charles A., 20, Specialist, Army National Guard; Fairchild, Wis.; First Battalion, 128th Infantry. MUY, Veashna, 20, Pfc., Marines; Los Angeles; Second Marine Division. POWELL, Chad W., 22, Cpl., Marines; West Monroe, La., Second Marine Division. VALDEZ, Ramona M., 20, Cpl., Marines; the Bronx, N.Y.; Second Marine Division. Kaufman, Muy, Powell and Valdez, whose deaths the New York Times noted on 28 June, were the 1,727th, 1,728th, 1,729th and 1,730th American soldiers killed in the Iraq war. So, 1,602 soldiers have been killed over and above the 128 who lost their lives during the invasion itself and whose deaths were recorded in the New York Times on 20 May 2003 under the rubric ‘A Nation at War’.

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