BERLIN ¨C Reading Michael Wolff¡¯s ¡°Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House¡± ¡ª the season¡¯s most-talked-about literary sensation ¡ª I came away with the distinct impression that Americans have it good. Here¡¯s a mental exercise: Try to imagine the ¡°Wolffing¡± of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The extent of Wolff¡¯s White House access is a matter of debate: There¡¯s not much in the book to indicate it was particularly extensive or effectively used. But Wolff¡¯s description of his modus operandi would make anyone planning a similar book on Putin¡¯s administration instantly jealous. He ¡°took up something like a semi-permanent seat on a couch in the West Wing¡± as a ¡°constant interloper,¡± which allegedly enabled him not just to watch the comings and goings but to conduct 200 interviews with top presidential staff. Wolff wrote that guests of the White House¡¯s West Wing would sometimes be left to ¡°find their own way through the warren that was the Western world¡¯s pinnacle of power¡± ¡ª but the ¡°warren¡± is in reality a small area on just two floors of a cramped building.
By contrast, what we call ¡°the Kremlin¡± isn¡¯t really localized in the medieval fortress on the Moskva River. The presidential administration¡¯s most important departments are split between the Kremlin¡¯s Building 1 and the former site of the Soviet Communist Party¡¯s Central Committee on Staraya Square, a short walk from the Kremlin. The huge, labyrinthine Staraya complex is designed so that outsiders only go where they¡¯re meant to, and in Building 1 guards accompany a visitor even to the bathroom.
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