Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House

By Michael Wolff

I must confess that when I finally got to read this book it felt somewhat out of date. My sister and I have a tradition of getting each other a some strange book that we would not otherwise buy. Here was her choice for last Christmas, for me. It's taken me all this time to get to.

Having read it now I have a deeper appreciate of how hard it might be for all those working in the White House right now. it all seems so unpredictable. The rules of decorum seem to have shifted, it certainly reads as if there is a lack of a compass in the White House right now...

Having said that, all I know of White House politics is from The West Wing, Madame Secretary and Designated Survivor and I know some would just call that a bunch of idealistic, left-wing clap trap.

Synopsis

Almost everyone in the Trump campaign thought of themselves as clear-eyed and realistic. The unspoken agreement among them: not only would Donald Trump not be president, he should probably not be. Conveniently, the former conviction meant nobosy had to deal with the latter issue.
As the campaign can to an end, Trump himself was sanguine. His longtime friend Roger Ailes liked to say that if you wanted a career in television, first run for president. Now Trump, encouraged by Ailes, was floating rumors about a Trump network. It was a great future.
He would come out of this campaign, Trump assured Ailes, with a far more powerful brand and untold opportunities. "This is bigger than I ever dreamed of." he told Ailes in a conversation a week before the election. "I don't think about losing because it isn't losing. We've totally won." What's more, he was already laying down his public response to losing the election: It was stolen!
Donald Trump and his timy band of campaign warriors were ready to lose with fire and fury. They were not ready to win.

Author

Michael Wolff is an American author, essayist, journalist, and a columnist and contributor to USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, and the UK edition of GQ. Wikipedia

 

By the same author

• White Kids (1979)
• Where We Stand (1996)
• Autumn of the Moguls: My Misadventures with the Titans, Poseurs, and Money Guys Who Mastered and Messed Up Big Media (2003)
• The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (2008)
• Rupert Murdoch: The Master Mogul of Fleet Street: 24 Tales from the Pages of Vanity Fair (2011)
• Television Is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media In the Digital Age (2015)
• Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (2018)

 

 

Mind Hunters

by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker 

I've always been interested in Criminal Minds the TV series. I think its one of those series that has never lost its edge. But this is not that. Rather it tells the story, through the dramaisation of interviews and discussions held with those first FBI agents who were charged with researching those murders that we later come to know as 'serial killers' in fact it is this particular fledgling department that creates such terms. The Netflix series was quiet and 'ploddy' but well written and produced as it explored the minds of the killers and the hunters.

Synopsis

He has hunted some of the most notorious and sadistic criminals of our time: The Trailside Killer in San Francisco, the Atlanta Child murderer. He has confronted, interviewed and researched dozens of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, and James Earl Ray - for a landmark study to understand their motives. To get inside their minds. He is Special Agent John Douglas, the model for law enforcement legend Jack Crawford in Thomas Harris's thrillers Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, and the man who ushered in a new age in behavorial science and criminal profiling. Recently retired after twenty-five years of service, John Douglas can finally tell his unique and compelling story.

Authors

John E. Douglas heads the FBI Elite Serial Crime Unit and is widely experienced in the field of serial killers. This work explores psychology and motives in this area of crime.

Mark Olshaker, author of four novels and producer of the Emmy-nominated The Mind of a Serial Killer, lives in Washington DC. 

Other titles

Mindhunter (1995)
Journey Into Darkness (1997)
Obsession (1998)
The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals (1999)
Broken Wings (1999)
The cases that haunt us (2000)
Law & Disorder: The Legendary FBI Profiler's Relentless Pursuit of Justice (2013)

Hit and Run

By Nicky Hager and John Stephenson

This book has hit the headlines this week in New Zealand. Its calling for an independent inquiry into what some may call a war crime.

'Investigative Journalism' is not a priority in New Zealand. The media, it seems is more of a echo chamber for government and big business. It seems that the press only goes so far when 'calling power to account'. I believe it is their principle role in a democracy. Its why I watch Q&A or The Nation. Why I listen to John Campbell and Duncan Garner when I can on the radio. There is only a handful reporters, let alone news outlets that take this role seriously.

Nicky Hager and John Stephenson have done that here, which is why I sent $30 on the book. Not only to read for myself of issues at hand but feel like I am paying them to do such work on my behalf.

Synopsis

In August 2010, a New Zealand soldier died in a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan. In retaliation, the New Zealand SAS led a raid on two isolated villages in search of the fighters they suspected were responsible.
They all knew the rules. Prior to firing weapons, their freshly issued orders said, 'the commander approving the strike must determine that no civilians are present.' If they could not assess whether civilians were present, firing was prohibited. But it all went horribly wrong.

Great summary of events described in the book found here.

Authors

Nicky Hager is a New Zealand investigative journalist. He has produced six books since 1996, covering topics such as intelligence networks, environmental issues and politics.

 Jon Stephenson is an Auckland-based investigative journalist with extensive experience reporting conflict and trauma.

My opinion:

Despite Nicky Hager's reputation as having a flare for the dramatic I am of the opinion that the New Zealand government need to initiate an independent inquiry.

These are serious allegations that Hager and Stephenson are making and they are being refuted in the strongest possible terms by Tim Keating and others from the Defense Force, someone is not being truthful.

If Tim Keating is correct about the NZ SAS forces working in another village that night, elsewhere, then I am sure an independent inquiry will bring that to light and the Defense Force will be vindicated.

However, having read the book, at this point I found myself convinced by Jon Stephenson's version of events.

I was shocked and saddened to think that my government would condone such actions and respond in such a questionable when these allegations have come to light.

I believe the New Zealand public needs to be convinced that this mess is brought to a fair and satisfactory conclusion and I don't see us being satisfied by the Prime Minister merely saying that he is happy with the Defense Force saying they were simply not involved.

Finally, I am concerned that if the New Zealand public allow the government to sweep this under the carpet our integrity and standing as a nation may well be compromised.

Let's have an independent inquiry which can sift the truth from the lies.

 

How do you feel about the allegations made in the Hit & Run book reported this week in NZ media this week? 

 

Other books by this author: 

Hit & Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the meaning of honour (2017)
Dirty Politics: How Attack Politics is Poisoning New Zealand's Political Environment  (2014)
Other People's Wars: New Zealand in Afghanistan, Iraq and the war on terror (2011)
The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception (2006)
Seeds of Distrust: the story of a GE cover-up (2002)
Secrets and Lies: The Anatomy of an Anti-Environmental PR Campaign (2002)
Secret Power: New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network (1996)