Donald Trump‘s private life in the White House may have looked like a rowdy sitcom if his political career were a reality TV cliffhanger. Biographer Michael Wolff says that the MAGA leader’s unusual bedtime routine caused domestic workers to become confused and led to turf wars with the Secret Service. Wolff shows a president who viewed his quarters as an exclusive inner sanctum, from a locked bedroom door that sent security into a frenzy to an unexpected reaction over freshly-changed bedsheets.
The revelations were made in the Daily Beast podcast episode Inside Trump’s Head, where Wolff explained why President Donald Trump’s habits were more about power than a routine. The bedroom was his palace, if the Oval Office was his stage.
Not all White House tenants were allowed to enter.
According to reports, a simple lock caused Trump’s first fight. As stated by Wolff, the president immediately found himself at odds with the Secret Service when he ordered a lock to be installed on his bedroom door. The idea of being locked out in a potential emergency was more than just a problem for the agents trusted with his safety. It was a danger to him!
Wolff recalled a dispute when the agents asked that the lock be removed.
Security reportedly wanted it removed altogether because the standoff was tense. Stated in another way, an issue over a bedroom door became a metaphor for the greater conflict between Trump’s obsession with privacy and his political system.
The locks were a matter of safety; we can understand. But what about the sheets?
Wolff talked about another time when Donald Trump “had a fit” when the domestic staff attempted to change his bed linens. Wolff admitted, “What that’s about, I have no idea,” but it conveys a strange need to control everything around him.
Trump thought of such actions as harassment, but most presidents approved of the quiet rhythms of the White House staff, who take very good care of the bedrooms. Even though the row about sheets is still one of the more bizarre outcomes of his presidency, Wolff saw it as an instance of how Donald Trump’s need for control affected everything from pillowcases to policy.
Probably my favorite Trump photo ever, just luxuriating shoeless on a bed at a Pottery Barn, furniture price tags and all pic.twitter.com/mhe8ydEHI6
— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) February 13, 2019
Wolff pointed out Trump’s chaotic approach to the Oval Office and bedtime habits. Trump ran it like an open house, compared to his predecessors, who regularly maintained a sense of protocol. Wolff described Donald Trump’s courtroom to a bus station, where up to thirty people would swarm in and drag chairs to listen. Or at least pretend to listen.
“It’s like a monologue,” Wolff continued. Trump would ramble on and on, slipping in jokes, grumblings, and random comments into an endless stream of thought that never stopped. Wolff said the staff soon realized that trying to speak up was pointless.
A question that the podcast brought up could keep biographers up at night: how does Donald Trump go to sleep?
Joanna Coles, the host, questioned whether Trump talks himself to sleep. According to Wolff, the president will often be on the phone until the very last minute, a restless presence that never quite shuts off and thrives on chatting. “He’s a talker,” Wolff stressed. “When he speaks, what is inside the head comes out of the mouth. So whatever confusion, chaos, churning, past grievances come out.”
“And it doesn’t stop.”
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According to Wolff, that quality characterizes Trump publicly and privately: a man whose incessant flow of words offers a clear window into his anxious thoughts. It should be no surprise that Donald Trump’s administration has called Wolff’s claims false.
In the past, White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed Wolff of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and called him “a sack of s—” who makes up stories. Yet, Wolff’s stories (locks, sheets, and all) give us a thought-provoking look into the odd domestic dramas within 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The White House’s walls may say they’ve heard enough if they could talk!
