Biographer says Trump 'making it up as he goes along' as president ignores intel briefings

One-time Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff revealed why the situation with the Iran war "could not be more dire" as the president continues his habit of ignoring intelligence briefings.

A veteran reporter and author, Wolff is best known for his 2018 book, Fire & Fury, which used inside sources to chronicle the chaos of Trump's first term in the White House. During the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," he dug into why Trump's habits make it uniquely dangerous for him to be overseeing the war against Iran.

As Wolff noted, Trump is well-known for his refusal to read daily intelligence briefings, which his various predecessors would read extensively. In the past, reports indicated that staffers have tried to get important information to him by simplifying briefings, getting them down to a page or less and trying to include as many pictures as possible. They have also reportedly tried to construct the information to be about Trump himself, in order to pique his interest.

Wolff told his podcast co-host, Joanna Coles, that Trump has always been the type of person to ignore their homework, and now it is resulting in an extremely dangerous situation with the Iran war.

"I think of Donald Trump as just a guy who just didn’t do the homework,” Wolff said. “Imagine in a normal world, you’re going to war, one of the things that you get if you’re the president of the United States — the commander-in-chief — is briefing books, constantly."

During wartime, past presidents might have received numerous intel briefings every single day, but Trump has done "none of that” and is “flying by the seat of his pants" as he navigates the increasingly deadly conflict.

“He’s a vacancy in the middle of his own world, and yet a vacancy that is fully in charge,” Wolff added. “The situation could not be more dire.”

Wolff further claimed that Trump is most likely making things up as he goes with Iran, given his personal pride in his ability to improvise.

"I’ve heard him say this to me: ‘I’m an ad-lib guy,’” Wolff said. “That’s how he sees this. He’s on stage, and he’s making it up as he goes along and very proud of that ability."

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