President Donald Trump reportedly flew into a rage during the 2016 campaign after his lengthy and rambling statement on birtherism was edited down to something more concise and coherent.
The Trump campaign wanted Trump to disavow the birther conspiracy theory that had launched him on his way to the Republican nomination, but he instead dictated a seven-minute diatribe via conference call against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, according to a new book excerpted by Vanity Fair.
“At first, the Republican presidential nominee was met with dead silence, with those on the line confused as to what the optimal response could possibly be,” wrote the authors of the forthcoming book, Sinking In the Swamp. “Multiple advisers wanted to tell him that his dictated statement was far, far, far too long and would cause many more headaches for the campaign than it would resolve. If released, this would defeat the purpose of everything the campaign staff was trying to accomplish on this front. And yet, no one wanted to upset Trump, whose legendary hair-trigger temper could easily be set off by the slightest sign of perceived insolence.” Continue reading.