Michael Wolff: ‘Absolutely True’ Steve Bannon Made Donald Trump President

CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you a final question about Steve Bannon. Why do you think he’s disloyal to Trump? Why do you think he was so willing to dish the way he dished? What’s his motivation?

MICHAEL WOLFF:I think he was deeply concerned. I think he is deeply concerned. I think that he found himself in this White House with this opportunity. And I think Steve is a man of very clear beliefs and principles. And I think he looked at this as his moment. He made Donald Trump president.

CHUCK TODD: He believes this?

MICHAEL WOLFF: Not only does he believe this, it’s absolutely true. Steve went into this campaign in the middle of August. It had imploded. It was over. Steve was the guy who said, you know, “There is a case here. It’s the economy’s stupid. If we go through Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, we can pull this off.”

CHUCK TODD: Did you at all think he was using you to settle scores with the kids?

MICHAEL WOLFF: I think I’m sure he probably was. I think that he saw this White House as dysfunctional in part, in large part, because it was being run by the president’s family. People who have A) no experience, but also on any organizational level, I mean, that meant that they were the family, they could overrule everything. I mean, calamity.

CHUCK TODD: One final question. You said something in a BBC interview: that you thought this presidency was going to hit a wall. What did that mean? Hit a wall by 2020 or before then?

MICHAEL WOLFF: Um, I think - I don’t know when the train is going to finally hit the wall. I think the entire narrative of this presidency and this candidacy and then presidency has been it’s going to hit a wall. And the thing that keeps everybody’s attention absolutely riveted - this global attention - is that the train keeps going, but the wall is still there. I mean one of the things, I think, about this book and why it’s hit such a chord and become this cultural moment is it’s given everybody this focused opportunity to say, “Holy crap.”

CHUCK TODD: Michael Wolff, I will leave it there. I imagine now you’ve got every author in America hoping they, too, will have a president threaten a lawsuit for them in order to help with book sales.

MICHAEL WOLFF: Thanks, Chuck.