Corey Lewandowski, the fired manager of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, is set to release a tell-all book on Tuesday that goes inside the businessman’s chaotic but successful run to the White House, and how every person involved became, at one point or another, a target of Trump’s wrath.
According to excerpts from the book “Let Trump Be Trump” published by The Washington Post, Trump was prone to yelling at aides and campaign officials on a daily basis, but became particularly angry at campaign manager Paul Manafort when he said that Trump should no longer go on TV for interviews.
“Did you say I shouldn’t be on TV on Sunday? I’ll go on TV anytime I g–dam f—ing want and you won’t say another f—ing word about me!” Trump yelled at Manafort, according to Lewandowski. “Tone it down? I wanna turn it up! . . . You’re a political pro? Let me tell you something. I’m a pro at life. I’ve been around a time or two. I know guys like you, with your hair and skin . . .”
Lewandowski, who co-wrote the book with aide David Bossie, said that they both wanted at times to “parachute out of Trump Force One,” but still have a mostly favorable view of their former boss and now President.
“Sooner or later, everybody who works for Donald Trump will see a side of him that makes you wonder why you took a job with him in the first place,” they wrote. “His wrath is never intended as any personal offense, but sometimes it can be hard not to take it that way. The mode that he switches into when things aren’t going his way can feel like an all-out assault.”
Despite his praise, Lewandowski notes that Trump’s willingness to abandon people when they didn’t meet his standards hurt him. In one meeting, Trump told another aide that he “didn’t have to listen to Corey anymore. He’s no longer your boss,” and said hearing that “the cut was deep, but it was only one of a thousand.”
But through the entire campaign, Trump’s bluster and undying confidence continued beyond the rallies and interviews and into campaign meetings. When RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told Trump that he would suffer “the biggest electoral landslide in American history” if he didn’t drop out, Trump harshly rebuked him.
“First of all,” Trump responded, according to the book, “I’m going to win. And second, if the Republican Party is going to run away from me, then I will take you all down with me. But I’m not going to lose.”
Lewsandowski doesn’t just focus on Trump’s volatile, confrontational antics however. Much detail is provided about the then-candidate’s apparently gigantic appetite for fast food. “On Trump Force One there were four major food groups: McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke,” the book claims. And one dinner for Trump by itself consisted of “two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish, and a chocolate malted.”
And it wasn’t just major fast food franchises. Other items from the campaign menu included Vienna Fingers, potato chips, pretzels and multiple packages of Oreo cookies, apparently because Trump won’t eat food from a previously-opened package.
But the weirdest (and perhaps most Trumpean) thing of all? According to Lewandowski, Trump is a huge fan of Elton John, and blasted the “Tiny Dancer” singer’s music on his campaign jet so loudly his staff members “couldn’t hear themselves think.”