The Wolff ship sailed a while back. Fire and Fury sold lots of copies. But even some of the biggest Trump haters in the media were careful about taking it at face value. And international outlets were far more willing to ask Wolff tough questions. And he was far less willing to answer them. But it was all downhill anyway. When even Morning Joe won’t put up with you anymore, it’s all over.
What’s left? Vassar.
Here’s Michael Wolff explaining his tenuous relationship with the truth in the Vassar Review.
Solender: So would you call yourself a political journalist?
Wolff: No, never. I’m not a political journalist. I’m not, frankly, all that much interested in politics. I’m a writer. I’m barely a journalist, actually. I am a writer.
Solender: And you’ve covered other topics, right? You wrote for the Hollywood Reporter?
Wolff: Yes, I’m probably the most prolific journalist in the country. You know, millions upon millions upon millions of words.
Solender: So it’s not really about the subject as much as sort of telling the story and getting the truth out there?
Wolff: Well, even truth–I have no monopoly on the truth. Somebody at the [Columbia School of Journalism] called me the other day and asked if I could speak to their investigative journalism class. I said, ‘I would be delighted to but I know nothing about investigative journalism.’ I wouldn’t even know what that is. I am an observer: I investigate nothing. All I do is look and write what I see and what I hear, and my job–which has nothing to do with truth– is to take what I see and what I hear and write that in a way that readers can come as possible–as close as I came–to the experience of doing this. I want to be able to turn what I see into something that a reader says ‘oh, I see that too.’
Who knows what truth is anyway. He’s a writer. His job is to convey experiences. Humbly.
I’ve been a freelance writer my entire career, and, in some sense, I’m the last freelance writer. .. there aren’t that many people like me anymore.
No doubt.
Wolff’s whole routine has been performance art. It reminds me, in its own way, of Edmund Morris’ Reagan biography. None of this is really about Trump. It’s Wolff’s gonzo self-promotion, leaping onto a controversial issue, making a hash of what’s true or isn’t, and repeating the benefit of a slew of interviews in which he gets to discuss his favorite topic. Himself.
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