For Americans at least, this year hasn’t got off to a great start. The release of Michael Wolff’s sensational book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, has flown off the shelves, shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list and confirmed the worst fears of many. Despite some inaccuracies and betrayed confidences, Wolff has managed to convincingly portray Trump as a man who lacks the intellectual capacity to fulfil his role as president.
What should be most concerning to the international community is the way in which Trump allegedly arrives at decisions. According to those Wolff interviewed in his inner circle, his decision-making process is depicted as uninformed, random, based on emotion and influenced by personal connections.
The theme of his preference for instinct over expertise runs through the narrative.
Perhaps most telling was the quote by National Economics Council director Gary Cohn: “Trump won’t read anything – not one-page memos, not the policy brief papers, nothing. He gets up halfway through meetings with world leaders because he is bored.”
Trump’s disdain for reading and preference for television is widely known, but to hear his closest policymakers say he hardly reads and struggles to process information is really worrying…..more