THREE BOOKS

Three interesting books have come on the market recently which touch on the Trump presidency. The first is "Fire and Fury" by Michael Wolff. This is a fly on the wall book. The author was able to get access to sit in the West Wing of the White House to observe the Trump administration. The strength of the book is not so much in the author's opinions as in in his observations. He demonstrates the chaos and dysfunction that many have suspected but were not sure about.
The second book is "The Plot to Hack America" by Malcolm Nance, an American intelligence person. This book is a cut and dried presentation of how the Russian intelligence service under Vladimir Putin has attacked democracy in America and other western nations by cultivating influence over compromised American and other western citizens and by hacking into internet emails and web sites to gain information and create fake information to influence and degrade democratic institutions in America and elsewhere. They even were apparently successful in compromising Donald Trump and tipping the scale to get him elected to the presidency of the USA.
The third book is "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership" by James Comey. I am still reading it having read about half way through. It is the most meaty and introspective of the 3 books. The author shows an obsession with honesty and integrity. He is also obsessively protective of the American justice system. It seems to me that it was those obsessions that got him into trouble in the matter of the Hillary Clinton emails. It goes into his personal life and how it influenced the various decisions that he has made. It discusses the recent events for which he has become famous, the Clinton emails, the investigation into the apparent collusion of Trump and Putin leading to Comey being fired as FBI director, and the efforts by Trump and his people to obstruct the collusion investigation, both that of Comey as FBI director and then of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.
All three books are important in understanding the present political situation in America and how America interacts with the world. Wolff presents information. Nance presents and assesses information. Comey presents, assesses information, and describes how a human being in an important position interacts with problems presented to him and makes decisions to meet those problems. While Wolff and Nance present and assess using the means at their disposal, Comey is actually part of his story and relates that story in great detail.