"Donald Trump is not like you and he's not like me. Something is off. Something is broken," the author told Lawrence O'Donnell.
July 13, 2021

Author Michael Wolff is all over the place, plugging his new book, "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency." Last night, he was Lawrence O'Donnell's guest.

"I want to go with a kind of more basic question about this book. What did you learn, in reporting on this book, that you didn't already know about Donald Trump?" he asked.

"That he's even crazier than I thought he was. From the beginning of my reporting on this -- this administration, it was clear that Donald Trump is not like you and he's not like me. Something is off. Something is broken," Wolff said.

"But I think this comes to a head on November 3rd. He has an experience that he can't get his head around, that he has lost this election. And from November 3rd on through to January 6th, through to January 20th. So, at any rate, what happens is, he creates this new reality for himself. And it is a reality that nobody else is a part of. I mean, that's the extraordinary thing that this whole story plays out.

"This steal, the -- the election, to try to challenge the election. And there is really, only one person in this bubble. It's Donald Trump. Well, and occasionally, with Rudy Giuliani making it even more alarming. But there is nobody else here. Everybody -- everybody in his White House, in his campaign, in his family, is kind of on the periphery. Watching this incredible meltdown. And in many instances, um, going out of their way to undermine any efforts that he is making. Donald Trump is a loon. Donald Trump is -- is crazy."

O'Donnell then asked about the Michigan hearing, where a federal judge is considering sanctions against all of the Trump lawyers who were involved in the Michigan litigation.

"That would ban them from ever practicing law in Michigan, again. You have passages in your book about about how Donald Trump picks up these kinds of lawyers. You talk about him, actually, randomly asking people, 'Do you know any good lawyers?' I won't quote the book. The passages are extraordinary, when you read them. but he is just kind of wandering around asking people about lawyers."

"And it's important to note that he actually has good lawyers," Wolff replied.

"There are good lawyers in the White House. There are good lawyers on the campaign. And they refused to have anything to do with this. So, he has to go out and find the -- the only lawyers that he can find, who will do this are, you know, along with Rudy Giuliani, completely marginal. Completely out there. Opportunists at a degree that no longer makes them, in anyone's mind, serious lawyers. I mean, this is, to put it mildly, the gang that couldn't shoot straight."

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