Structure

This book is divided into 22 chapters, along with an Author’s Note, Prologue, and Epilogue. The events are arranged chronologically, beginning with the 2016 election and ending in August 2017, when John Kelly was chosen as Chief of Staff. In the Author’s Note, Wolff provides important information about the timeline chosen for his narrative. He originally planned to write only about the first 100 days of the Trump administration, a common cut off point for journalists and political analysts. As the project progressed, however, he eventually wrote about a period nearly double that length, concluding with Kelly’s appointment. This, he argues, is a more natural bookend to the first phase of the administration. Kelly’s tenure had the possibility to provide more stability to the White House, while Bannon’s subsequent departure could change its ideological direction. As noted, chapters are generally arranged chronologically, but events within them...