In the United States, as in much of Europe, extracts have emerged from the controversial new book, \u201cFire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House\u201d by journalist Michael Wolff, and have been pasted across newspapers and television screens most of this week.<\/p>\n
With a few exceptions, and beyond its racy and sensational headlines, the Turkish media is not paying much attention to the already bestselling book.<\/p>\n
Michael Wolff\u2019s book was due to be released next week on Tuesday, but when Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers tried to stop its publication, the publisher brought forward its release to Friday this week.<\/p>\n
I, too, was able to buy a digital copy this afternoon.<\/p>\n
I cannot wait to read the book and make my own mind about it; but for now, I am more interested in valuable insights that it has provided into the presidential communications from White House.<\/p>\n
President Trump\u2019s attempts to block the book from publication are not likely to be successful. No other president has ever taken such a step prior to publication. It would constitute a violation of the US Constitution\u2019s first amendment.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump could go ahead and sue the writer for defamation, but unlike the United Kingdom, the burden of proof in the US rests with the person who brings the claim.<\/p>\n
An American court would expect a public figure to be open to greater public scrutiny and stand up to harsher opinions as they have greater access to channels of communication to respond to offending views than private citizens may have.<\/p>\n
President Trump has shown little regard for institutional tradition and much contempt for the news media but this time, he may be stepping into dangerous territory.<\/p>\n
His shrewd, diversionary tactics, so effective on social media, may not be so useful in a court of law, where he may be trying to curtail freedom of speech.<\/p>\n
In fact, this latest controversy over Michael Wolff\u2019s book has greatly intensified analysis of Trump\u2019s communication strategy.<\/p>\n
George Lakoff, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at University of California, Berkeley, has explained very succinctly Trump\u2019s use of social media as a tool to distract from what he is actually doing.<\/p>\n