Is Maggie Haberman getting heat over her new book because she's a woman?
New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman has a new book called “Confidence Man.” Well-known for her access to Donald Trump, this book is based on a series of in-depth interviews with the former president.
One controversial thing has come up in the excerpts from the book. It was revealed that Trump told Haberman about the missing/stolen documents more than a year ago. Since this has been revealed, Haberman has been taking heat for holding out this information for her book instead of reporting it in real time. The responses have been especially hot on Twitter:
“I don’t consider her a journalist but definitely an opportunist. Withholding information pertinent to Democracy is a fascist move. Perhaps she’s also an opportunistic Fascist who wrote a book.”
“Haberman IS owned.”
“No, but she’s supposed to be a reporter. You find out the president stole classified secrets and you don’t put that on the NYT front page?”
“True....she sat on the stolen classified doc story for over 1 year. Criminal.”
“She's implicated!”
And those are some of the nicer ones. I can go on and on and on over multiple posts and threads, but you get the idea. People are pissed off
I get it, but do folks really think that Haberman held this information for her book without reporting it to her supervisors at the Times? Do you think she would still have a job there if she did that? If you’re angry at her for the book, shouldn’t you be just as angry at the Times management who also sat on this?
But, more importantly, where is the same disdain for the men who have written books about Trump?
Bob Woodward and Robert Costa wrote “Peril.” Woodward took some heat for holding out the information that Trump told him that Covid was going to be a huge problem, but it passed quickly. Costa escaped unscathed and actually landed a new gig at CBS News.
Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig have written two Trump books, “A Very Stable Genius” and “I Alone Can Fix It.” There’s been nothing but praise and awards.
“The Divider” is the latest Trump book, written by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. Baker heard some of the same complaints that Haberman received but in less misogynistic tones.
In the next few years, there will be many more of these Trump books. I’m sure we’ll see plenty of “new” revelations, much like the ones Maggie Haberman revealed in her book. Will the authors get the same harsh responses that Maggie got? We’ll see but don’t hold your breath.
Thanks for raising this interesting perspective. What also concerns me is the nature of the responses, the assumptions. How do we know who was tipping off whom in the grand scheme of things, and when? Years of working within global companies, bureaucracies, with national and local government officials in two states, have led me to believe that ultimately its (life -commerce-politics-)all a game of confidence, bluff, and feints. Ultimately we need to be asking questions - the right ones-to preserve what matters most to us. Thanks again.