Sublime

The Oval Office itself had been used by prior occupants as the ultimate power symbol, a ceremonial climax. But as soon as Trump arrived, he moved in a collection of battle flags to frame him sitting at his desk, and the Oval immediately became the scene of a daily Trump clusterfuck. It’s likely that more people had easy access to this president tha

Letters to the president must be screened, and only those that were essential for him to read should be placed before him. A smoothly functioning staff system was long overdue. Ike was determined to keep routine matters out of the White House, saving his time to deal with those of major importance.

I nodded. “Well, Mike, I’ll take your word on that. And I give you my word that I’ll make my decision about Stan’s proposal based on the Pentagon’s advice and what I believe best serves the interests of this country. But until I do,” I said, leaning in for emphasis, “I’d sure like to stop having my military advisors telling me what I have to do on

White House pressure had prevailed. But it was an empty victory. Roosevelt’s intervention reinforced the image of the president as deceitful and untrustworthy. Many on Capitol Hill resented FDR’s meddling in what was seen as a purely congressional matter—another example of executive overreach.

What we are trying to achieve with this book is a neural alternative that is open to important truths: the central role of the Public in American life, the overwhelming power of corporations in our public life, the predatory nature of privatization, the disastrous reality of humanly caused global warming, and the powerfully negative effect of extre

And even beyond the general chaos, the constant legal danger formed part of the high barrier to getting people to come work in the West Wing.