I don't generally like the "Trump incompetence porn" genre, but this is a pretty compelling example. The last three or four chapters are especially good. Wolff reports conversations where there were only one or two people in the room with the President; his sources are exceptional.

I read "Fire and Fury," his first book of this kind, and thought it was only okay. This one is much better. ( )

“And anyway, it was Friday. Thank God it was Friday, after the worst week in the history of the Trump presidency—losing the Senate, failing in an Electoral College showdown, the Capitol attack, impeachment on the agenda, again. In fact, it was the worst week in the history of any presidency.”
― Michael Wolff, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency

I have to say--this was a really well written book.

I'd read his first, Fire and Fury and was not crazy about it. But this was different.

Wolff recounts the days leading up to the January 6th insurrection. It kind of has a feeling of doom throughout as you know where he's going with it.

It shows the lunacy behind the former guy and his bunch of motley sycophants. Nobody had any idea of what they were doing and everybody yessed him to pieces.

Wolff does NOT write in a gossipy tone at all. Oh there IS gossip--for example I enjoyed reading about and was so amused by, McConnell's obvious loathing of the former guy.

But he writes in a very professional way and you really are taken inside a world where pure insanity rules. Everybody was afraid of the former guy or intimidated by him and the few that were not didn't stand a chance.

Trump was taken over by people as much insane as he is, which in itself is a shock that there IS anybody at that level. The combination made for a deadly concoction of idiocy, evil and pure lunacy.

Nobody wanted to be the bad guy and tell the former guy the truth and as the insanity sped upward, it was so clear the inmates were running the asylum.

One reads with a sense of wonder that such moronic oblivion actually exists. Did nobody around him see what was to come? It certainly would seem that way. Did nobody care?

I had to skip parts of the actual insurrection. It was so deeply painful, I've heard so much on television about it all..but Wolff did an excellent job. Landslide is certainly a must for political junkies. However, it not only shows the mythical denial of Trump but of everybody around him--and it asks the question: could it happen again?

I would recommend this only for the Politically bold as it certainly is not a happy read but it does contain certain searing elements that will not leave your head anytime soon. Great work Mr. Wolff. ( )

I haven't read the other books in this trilogy - and perhaps you get used to the weird perspective. Because as events swirl, we only see them from the White House perspective, and that perspective is exclusively focused on the alleged steal. Trump's logic is clear, if wrong; If he got 63 million votes last time, and won, how can he get 75 million this time and not win? The answer of course is turnout - more people, millions more, voted this time than last time, and there were still plenty eligible who didn't.

So as you expect a history of the last two months what you get is rumours and hearsay of external events as Trump rants relentlessly and Rudy Giuliani eggs him on, to what purpose only he knows. Accoridng to Wolff noone in The White House believed that VP Pence would act to reject the certification of votes - only Giuliani and Trump. Hmm - perhaps. But perhaps this is just Wolff's sources making their claims of non culpability for posterity.

And its clear who Wolff's sources are, and are not. Jason Miller is clearly an important one, as he comes out of it as almost heroic in his one person attempt to impose some sanity on White House communications, Again, maybe that's the case, maybe not. VP Pence's comms director Marc Short, is clearly another. In fact its quite fun to go through the book marking "Source" or "non Source" against each player. Giuliani clearly isn't one; drunk and flatulent, he comes across as a buffoon. So do the entire defence team for the 2nd Impeachment - and yet Wolff is clearly right when he wonders what on earth Democrats hoped to achieve by bringing Trump back centre stage when he had no choice but to disappear into history

As for Jan 6th, Wolff is convincing as he describes a White House disowning the rioters as "not our people" and "crazies" and describes a Trump for once at a loss as to what to do. But by the time of the book's coda, the old confidence and one sided view have returned, as have the toadies to kiss the ring

Its worth reading, and entertaining, but you always have to wonder what the sources have to gain ( )

This book covers the 2020 presidential election and the aftermath when Trump refuses to accept the results plus the insurrection of January 6. Although the subject matter is interesting, it's tiresome to read, mainly because of the author's writing style. Wolff has a tendency to write horribly long, run-on sentences filled with explanatory and exclamatory clauses, many commas, and parenthetical asides. Many times, I had to re-read a sentence to get the precise meaning clear in my head. Such sentences could have been written with half as many words and would have been much more accessible. Wolff strikes me as a bit of a bloviator, which detracts from the content of the book and the story within. ( )

This is the third and I hope the last chronicle of the Trump years by Michael Wolff, following his immensely popular two earlier books, Fire and Fury and Landslide. I found this one more tiresome. I don't know if it's because I am just so over Trump and like so many others I am just exhausted by him, or because the book narrowly focuses on a smaller span of time and a single event, "The Steal," or because Wolff himself put in a little less effort, or simply that even a good thing, e.g. Orange is the New Black, gets old after a season or two. I did find that in Landslide, some of the minor minions surrounding Trump come into clearer focus than the man himself. Even though Trump himself is always front and center (a place that he claims as his own), and Wolff describes his actions and words, the man comes off as a cipher, a king without clothes, a person who speaks much, but says little, somehow unknowable and inscrutable, even though he's very much black and white. And the fact that the person who is the focus of this book, is literally a boring and uninteresting man, though as a phenomenon perhaps he is a bit fascinating, ultimately makes the book too a bit of a bore. And as much as Wolff, as much as anyone, has helped us understand what a complete moron Trump is, the author, like many of us, is amazed and has some awe and respect for the man's seeming indestructability. ( )