President Donald Trump is probably "a little aggravated" following excerpts of comments former chief strategist Steve Bannon made to the writer of a scandalous new book coming out about the first nine months of his presidency, Trump confidant Christopher Ruddy said Thursday.
"He's probably a little aggravated and probably feels quite unfairly treated by Steve," the Newsmax CEO told CNN's "New Day" co-anchor Alisyn Camerota. "I'm disappointed that Steve said some of the things he did."
Michael Wolff, writer of the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," interviewed Bannon just a month or two after he was fired, Ruddy added, and "he probably had very raw emotions."
"Steve was a guy, [who] when he was fired from the White House, announced to The New York Times that the Trump presidency was over because [he] was leaving," Ruddy told Camerota.
"I like Steve and have known him for a long time, and when you are in the media for a long time, you get an exaggerated opinion of yourself. The president has done incredible things, and the Trump presidency is far from over."
Camerota was curious why Trump relied so much on the Breitbart executive.
"Look, Donald Trump was the first non-politician to ever be elected," Ruddy said. "Steve came into his orbit in the campaign very late, the last two months. For most of the primary season, Steve opposed Donald Trump and supported Ted Cruz."
"Steve had a very successful career in entertainment and investment banking, and he was no dummy," Ruddy said.
Trump on Wednesday, in response to the Bannon quotes in the book, said his former aide had nothing to do with him or his presidency, and he "lost his mind" when he lost his job.
Ruddy pointed out, while Bannon was in the White House as chief strategist, Trump's polling was at a record 34 percent approval level, and he thinks when the president was still listening to Bannon, he did poorly.
"The healthcare thing turned out to be a disaster," Ruddy said.
Trump's base does like many of his actions, Camerota said, but Ruddy responded he does not think the president's supporters will back away when he is no longer getting input from Bannon.
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"Steve Bannon's not the base, and Breitbart is not the base," Ruddy said. "Donald Trump is the base. He leads his base. They are supporting him because of their belief that he can change America – reform the country."
In another excerpt from the book, it is claimed his staff did not believe they would not have been part of a Trump presidency, and many do not believe Trump is capable of doing his job.
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"I have not been in the White House, but I have probably spoken to the presidents dozens of times, and I think he's quite capable of doing the job," Ruddy said.
"I think it was a real adjustment for him being a guy that is a free-wheeling guy, and was in the entertainment business and had no political advisers, and we saw the results of things like that with Steve coming out and saying wild things that I think are simply delusional."
"This is a president that has record unemployment and record stock market and record consumer and business confidence that is soaring after the tax cuts, so how can we say the president is unfit for the job?" he continued.
Many of the people quoted in Wolff's book are no longer in the White House, Ruddy said.
"When you talk about North Korea, I have confidence we have people like Gen. [James] Mattis and Gen. [H.R.] McMaster and Gen. [John] Kelly, and these are good men that have a long breath of experience," Ruddy said.
He admitted he is concerned, however, about Trump's use of Twitter.
"I always said the president should have a review process when he sends out tweets," Ruddy said. "That's his approach. He won. He feels he has to reach out, because the liberal media, including yourself, Alisyn, are not fair to him all the time."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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