President Trump is not dealing well with the latest rounds of criticism about his intelligence and competence from Bob Woodward's new instant best-seller, Fear, and an anonymous op-ed in The New York Times, Gabriel Sherman reports in Vanity Fair. "The president has had it," a former West Wing official told the magazine. "When books like this come out, he tends to shut down and calls up people he sees on TV saying good things about him." Donald Trump Jr. is reportedly telling people he's concerned that his father isn't sleeping because his of obsession with the anonymous op-ed writer and nagging suspicion it could be almost anyone.
"Besides family, one of the only people Trump continues to trust is Stephen Miller," his senior policy adviser, Sherman writes, quoting a Republican close to the White House as explaining: "The op-ed has validated Miller's view, which was also Steve Bannon's, that there's an 'administrative state' out to get Trump." Bannon apparently believes this amounts to a coup, and Trump agrees, a person familiar with Trump's thinking told Sherman: "Trump believes there's a coup."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What happens to a Democratic Party without Nancy Pelosi?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The storied former speaker of the House is set to retire, leaving congressional Democrats a complicated legacy and an uncertain future
-
The plant-based portfolio diet focuses on heart healthThe Explainer Its guidelines are flexible and vegan-friendly
-
Gregory Bovino: the officer leading Border Patrol’s aggressive tacticsIn the Spotlight He has been referred to as the Border Patrol’s ‘commander-at-large’
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
41 political cartoons for October 2025Cartoons Editorial cartoonists take on Donald Trump, ICE, Stephen Miller, the government shutdown, a peace plan in the Middle East, Jeffrey Epstein, and more.
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
