A biographer for President Donald Trump says Trump is incapable of tempering his aggression to make an effective attack anymore.
Michael Wolff is a longtime author and reporter best known for his extensive coverage of Trump’s political career, including several books about his first term and another about his return to office. In the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, “Inside Trump’s Head,” he explained the motivation that may have led to Trump getting himself painfully deposed in court — and potentially submitting damaging information before a jury.
A federal judge has ordered Trump to sit for a deposition he desperately wants to avoid in the $10 billion lawsuit Trump himself launched against the BBC. The president — who historically struggles to avoid being deposed in past lawsuits — will need to sit for a deposition by December 11 or face sanctions.
Knowing Trump’s history of stalling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett also warned Trump’s lawyers that the entire suit could be thrown out if he does not comply.
In his suit, Trump claims a 2024 BBC documentary was defamatory because the broadcaster spliced together parts of his speech, one in which Trump encouraged his supporters to walk to the Capitol, and another from a few minutes earlier in which he said he would walk there with them. The BBC has apologized for the editing, but has maintained that the edits are not grounds for a lawsuit.
But Wolff said Trump’s awkward circumstances result from his unrelenting aggression and litigious nature, and he cited other examples of Trump not only attacking businesses and individuals but also courts and judges, seemingly heedless of the consequences. Trump recently slammed his own Supreme Court conservative majority, which critics say have mostly served his will, allowing the executive to sally forth with controversial and legally dubious behavior, regardless of opponents’ good legal arguments and the damage to the electorate.
In September, after a decision protein mail-in voting against Trump’s attacks, Trump said justices who opposed him were “not the people I interviewed” for the job.
“There is no logic here,” said Wolff, describing Trump’s attacks on the court. “… And he’s in an awkward position here. These are the people he appointed. These are the people he appointed because of their conservative beliefs. These are the Federalist Society people. So now they are [allegedly] turning against him. So, what does that mean? Well it just means that we will have to come up with a rationale for why they are not the people I appointed.”
“It’s pathetic. Yes, it’s intellectually pathetic, but what Trump is doing is identifying a conflict and purporting to stand up against them. Now this is not going to get him Democratic votes certainly, and not independent votes, but from his point of view … this is what he’s bringing. ‘I am standing up for you. I am the guy. I am here. These are our enemies together’ — and also he just likes the conflict.”