President Donald Trump may be facing the biggest controversy of his administration with the release of the bombshell book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
Although the president and his team have forcefully denied many of the shocking claims in the tell-all memoir, many are convinced that it’s more than enough to leave a negative impact on his presidency.
The book, written by veteran journalist and author Michael Wolff, reportedly brings nothing but bad news for the president and his allies. According to a recent report by Newsweek , Fire and Fury boosted the odds of Trump getting impeached — at least in international betting markets.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power and New Zealand–based prediction market PredictIt reportedly have increased the odds of Trump being impeached even before completing his term at the beginning of 2021.
The outlet noted that Trump has been mired in his international feuds that he didn’t pay much attention to “threats closer to home.” Lee Brice, head of public relations for Paddy Power, pointed out that the president should turn his attention inward to identify the greatest threats to his presidency, such as the controversial tell-all book.
“With the simmering tension between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, it seems like the president should be worrying about threats closer to home, with odds of an impeachment during his first term shortening to 4-7, a probability of 63.6 percent.”
Interestingly, Brice claimed that odds for Trump’s impeachment this year alarmingly increased with Wolff’s new book. Apparently, Fire and Fury ‘s “damaging revelations” raised the odds of being kicked out of the office in 2018 by 50 percent.
Meanwhile, oddsmakers at PredictIt claimed that Wolff’s book made a 33-cent bet on Trump’s impeachment in his first term with odds of approximately 2-1. It reportedly increased to 39 cents in just two days before hitting its current price of 37 cents.
Although the difference may appear to be subtle, the outlet pointed out that such a rapid swing in betting markets are not a good sign and are usually triggered by a specific event. Will Jennings, the PredictIt spokesperson, claimed that such event is likely to be Wolff’s tell-all book.
Jennings also noted that betting markets usually respond in real time to the news, making Fire and Fury a highly possible cause of the increase in odds of Trump’s impeachment.
“Given one of the Bannon excerpts from the book alluded to a possible money laundering case against President Trump, and the subsequent bump in his odds of impeachment, it’s possible some traders are reacting to that new information.”
Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House got an early release on January 5.
