Donald Trump gets the book thrown at him
One seriously wonders if “President” Donald Trump secretly has deals with former staffers and others who write books about him. He immediately goes to Twitter to attack every person who writes about him, threatens lawsuits for violating gag orders, and tries to downplay the book. But by his very behaviors, Trump helps launch these books to even greater sales than they might have achieved without his help.
The latest is the book “Team of Vipers,” by Cliff Sims, a former aide to Trump. The Trump team has threatened to file a lawsuit against Sims for violating the NDA he signed when he joined the Trump team. Legal experts are dubious about any chance of success on the merits of such NDAs. We will see if Trump follows through on his litigation threats.
In the meantime, Trump has tweeted about the book, stating: “A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!”
Perhaps Sims was just another covfefe boy, which would raise questions about why such a low-level staffer would be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Donald Trump then states that the book is “boring” and “made up.” This is his normal modus operandi when these books come out – downplay the author and then allege fiction and threaten action. But we are living in these times and we see daily the chaos of the White House led by the Mad King. So again, one has to wonder if Trump is somehow profiting directly or indirectly from book sales, because he is just shining his spotlight on another book that likely is mostly accurate about him and his team of vipers.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.