New book about White House stirs controversy

The latest book from Trump administration insiders takes aim at President Trump’s critics, but like other popular books about the Trump administration still prompted headlines about internal divisions within the White House.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former deputy campaign manager David Bossie claim in their new book, “Trump’s Enemies,” that the media, the intelligence community, members of the Republican Party and some members of Trump’s own administration are working to undermine the president.

In the book, Lewandowski and Bossie make some anonymous claims and also name names — and have already earned some pushback over claims made in excerpts of the book that will not be published until November 27.

“There are many individuals who fought hard to get into the White House who did everything they could prior to him getting elected to keep them from being in the White House. And what we do is we call these people out because it’s the right thing to do,” Lewandowski said during a “Fox News Sunday” interview to promote the book.

{mosads}”We don’t necessarily know who they are, but there are people inside the White House who understand and are for this president’s agenda and there are those who are there for their own agenda,” added Bossie, citing an anonymous New York Times op-ed in which a senior administration official described efforts to “thwart” the president’s worst impulses.

In their book, Lewandowski and Bossie chastise former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, former press secretary Sean Spicer and former White House staff secretary Rob Porter as individuals within the West Wing who hindered Trump’s progress and didn’t support him from the start of his campaign.

The authors also echo Trump’s own criticisms of a host of other individuals, including several Democratic lawmakers, former FBI Director James Comey, and current and former Department of Justice employees like Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and Andrew McCabe.

The book labels the president’s critics and opponents as “enemies” and suggests that in some cases, their opposition to his agenda amounts to treason.

While Trump is closer with Lewandowski and Bossie, the latest book illustrates much of the same headline-grabbing hallmarks of previous books about the administration, namely that it’s rife with chaos and in-fighting, as well as staffers who question the president’s competence.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who along with fellow Republicans Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.), is a subject of the book’s criticism, called the authors’ hostile tone “warped” and indicative of a broader problem in the country in which politics dominates people’s lives to an unhealthy degree. 

“I haven’t seen their book,” Sasse said, responding to an excerpt of the book. “I haven’t met Corey Lewandowski. I’ve met David Bossie before. He seems like a nice guy. But language about enemies and treason about policy and politics is pretty warped, and I think most Americans think it’s weird.

“When you look at the small subset of people who put politics at the center of their lives, they tend to be really, really lonely,” he added during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

Sasse recently released a book of his own titled “Them,” which focuses on political tribalism and the need to move past it. The problem did not start with Trump, he argued, but the current president can’t fix it, either.

Despite neither Lewandowski nor Bossie working in the White House, both men have remained close with Trump. They have been seen traveling with the president on campaign trips, and regularly advocate for and defend him during cable news appearances.

The two men previously penned a book titled “Let Trump Be Trump,” which recounted the 2016 campaign.

Their standing with the president is evidenced by Trump’s participation in their book. The Washington Post reported that Trump spoke with the two men prior to publication, and an edited version of that interview appears in the final product.

The Post reported that Trump spent the interview railing against the news media, complaining about Comey and suggesting the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has benefitted him politically with his base of supporters.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment about the upcoming book.

The president did not participate in other recent books about his White House. He is not interviewed in Bob Woodward’s book “Fear,” despite the journalist stating he tried multiple times to reach out to the president through his staff. Trump is not quoted in Manigault Newman’s memoir “Unhinged,” nor was he interviewed for Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury.”

Cohn, a target of scorn in “Trump’s Enemies,” was prominently featured in Woodward’s book. Woodward reported that Cohn swiped papers off Trump’s desk out of concern that the president would withdraw from a trade deal with South Korea and endanger national security. 

Porter, who was dismissed from the White House earlier this year amid spousal abuse allegations, is also targeted by Lewandowski and Bossie months after he was quoted extensively in Woodward’s book.

In “Fear,” Porter consults with Cohn about Trump’s desire to withdraw from NAFTA. Cohn reportedly told Porter he would take the papers off of Trump’s desk to prevent the move.

“It felt like we were walking along the edge of the cliff perpetually,” Porter says in Woodward’s book. “Other times, we would fall over the edge, and an action would be taken.”

In addition to Lewandowski and Bossie, former White House aide Cliff Sims is set to release a tell-all book in January about his time working in the White House.

Sims’ book, titled “Team of Vipers,” reportedly illustrates the “ruthless” band of staffers and aides who served in Trump’s White House.