Former White House aide Stephanie Grisham is yet another Trumpworld exile cashing in with a book deal, but she nonetheless offers amusements. Grisham writes that Trump would fly into rages that could only be calmed by a "music man" who would play showtunes for him—a claim so weird and uncanny it rings profoundly true. Also, remember that mysterious hospital visit, shrouded in such secrecy it led to weeks of speculation about his health? A colonoscopy, she makes clear.
Grisham writes Trump did not want then-Vice President Mike Pence to be in power while he was sedated, which was part of the reason he kept his visit private. He also "did not want to be the butt of a joke" on late-night television, writes Grisham.
This is pure Trump, in the sense that he will make innocuous things so peculiar and shady that it becomes an alarming, incriminating freakshow. When the facts finally emerge, it briefly seems like the whole thing was all a big nothingburger. But then you notice that there was, after all, genuine danger at hand as a result of his narcissism and incompetence: in this case, an unconscious or sedated President with his veep in the dark.
This is the kernel of truth behind "Trump derangement syndrome", in that we saw a lot of smoke and wrote about a lot of fires without ever knowing what was burning. One day the legendary Trump Pee Tape will come out—and it'll just be him peeing the bed in his sleep.
