Lessons from 'Fire and Fury': In Trump's White House, flattery will get you everywhere.

President Trump celebrates the passage of the Tax Cuts Act with
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Vice President Mike Pence.
(Photo: Joyce N. Boghosian)

Among the many services George Washington did his country, we can be grateful he chose to be called “President of the United States,” because if then-Vice President John Adams had had his way, we might have to address Donald Trump as “His Elective Majesty.”  Sycophancy is part of the job description of a vice president, of course, but Adams surely had nothing on Mike Pence, who at a celebratory Cabinet meeting last month delivered a three-minute homage to His Elective Majesty that, by the Washington Post’s count, paid tribute to Trump’s leadership, abilities and accomplishments, on average, every 12 seconds.

Modesty isn’t a trait often ascribed to presidents, or to Trump personally, but watching him lap up this Niagara of praise, I couldn’t help wonder, Doesn’t he see through this BS?

It was with that question in mind that I picked up Michael Wolff’s account of the early months of the Trump presidency, “Fire and Fury,” and having read it I can say with confidence that no, he doesn’t see through it at all.

By Jerry Adler.

Full story at Yahoo News.