I read @SWWCreative’s book⤵️after see the @maddow clip.
I’m ready with a Twitter Book Report.
You won’t learn anything new about the Trumps—but you’ll see (in horrifying detail) how they take advantage of people—then callously destroy them.
I’ll skip the gossipy details.
OK. I’ll tell you one. The author has reason to believe that Ivanka planted the plagiarized portions of Michelle Obama’s speech to make Melania look bad.
Stephanie (after 350 pages, I feel like we're on a first-name basis) worked for Vogue as Director of Special Events.
She thought from the beginning there was something odd about the contract she was offered.
Rick Gates “coordinated” her contract. Yes, him⤵️
washingtonpost.com/politics/forme…
She received $480K for her work. The rest of the money went to vendors—but $27 million went through her company.
For the next 13 months, she worked for Melania in the White House without pay, absorbing her own expenses.
Why did she do it? Loyalty. Dedication. And because Ivanka kept redirecting the money intended for Melania’s staff.
In Feb. 2018, the inaugural scandal hit.
Investigators wanted to know where the money had gone.
Stephanie started to smell a rat when she received a document the “family” was preparing, to “get ahead” of the story.
The stress had already taken a toll on her health. About this time, members of Melania’s staff started being rude to her, and she was ready to quit.
On Feb. 14, she wrote an email to Melania resigning.
She understood the stories about her were to distract from where the other $80 million had gone.
But that isn't her complaint.
Her complaint is the emotional devastation of being framed for corruption and set up as a scapegoat by someone she thought was a friend.
But she genuinely thought Melania was different. She thought Melania was being used. They'd been friends since before Melania was a Trump. She thought they were friends.
In her words, "what a fool I was."
I believe the purpose of literature is to expand our sympathies. I also believe our ability to sympathize makes us human.
Many of their victims have no resources and can't afford lawyers. (I know. I spent a few weeks volunteering in a detention center offering legal assistance to asylum seekers through @RAICESTEXAS)
I urge people to be kind to her.
Yes, she learned her lesson. Among other things, she was shocked out of her previous indifference to politics.
She gets it now.
My #1 worry is⤵️
Yes, democracy is in danger. We are soul searching and looking for causes.
The question for the ages is what make people evil. There's obviously something deeply wrong with the entire family, Melania included.
Next week I plan to read the books coming out by Peter Strozk and Michael Cohen.
If this is how voters vote, the reason democracy is in danger is because of us ("us" = American voters.)
The real danger isn't Russian hacking.
The real danger is that self-governance fails if people select leaders this way.
I should also point out that Ken Vogel, the other author, was pushing pro-Kremlin, Ukraine-Hunter Biden conspiracy theories. . .
politico.com/story/2017/01/…