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Not for Trump fans: Michael Wolff's new book "All or nothing"

26.2.2025

Translation: machine translated

US journalist Michael Wolff has made a name for himself as an unauthorised Trump biographer. "All or Nothing - Donald Trump's Return to Power" is his fourth book about the political career of the new old US president. Trump doesn't like it at all. However, the look at the Trump campaign is definitely worth reading simply because of the numerous insider sources.

Since Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election against Hillary Clinton against the expectations of the vast majority of political experts, analysts and presumably even his own, Trump biographies and analyses have mushroomed on the specialist book market. Historians, political scientists, journalists - anyone who had taken a closer look at US elections and Trump wrote books about the person, the party, the system, the election campaign. Later on about the first presidency and the deselection with the storming of the Capitol at the end. And now that Trump has been re-elected to the highest office after a four-year hiatus, the comeback is becoming a big topic.

One of the best-known and most successful authors to have dealt with the various phases of the Trump political era since 2016 is US journalist Michael Wolff. In three books, the now 70-year-old has analysed Trump's first presidency, his 2020 re-election campaign and the final days after the election defeat. His new book has now been published: "All or Nothing - Donald Trump's Return to Power" (in the original "All or nothing").

Non-fiction

All or Nothing - How Trump Recaptured America

English, Michael Wolff, 2025

Insights into the inside, from the inside

As in his three previous books, all of them bestsellers, Wolff refers to a large number of sources who are or were close to Donald Trump and had access to Trump himself and his entourage, and even belonged to the inner circle itself.

Wolff's story begins in the spring of 2023, when Donald Trump announced in his inimitable manner on his social media platform Truth Social that he would soon be arrested: "Will be arrested on Tuesday!". A claim for which there was no evidence at the time - and for which hardly anyone even in Trump's closest circle could muster the slightest understanding.

In seven parts and a total of 26 chapters, Michael Wolff unravels Trump's path back to the White House. Wolff describes Trump's path back to the White House as "undoubtedly the wildest and most unpredictable [presidential] campaign in US history". He focuses on some of the central figures within the Trump campaign. Like Susie Wiles, the campaign manager and now Chief of Staff in the White House. Or Boris Ephsteyn, Trump's central legal advisor, who was the interface between Trump and his constantly changing legal teams. Or Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire whose companies have numerous billion-dollar contracts from the US government and who now even has a central role in the Trump administration.

"Wolff's new book is a total FAKE JOB"

The stories about Trump's uncontrollable emotional outbursts are no longer surprising. Anything that doesn't sound in his favour is "fake news". Anyone who makes negative comments about him is a "loser", "failed" or a "fake job".

So it comes as no surprise how Trump reacted to the publication of "All or nothing":

So-called 'Author' Michael Wolff's new book is a total FAKE JOB, just like the other JUNK he wrote.

Donald Trump auf Truth Social

In fact, this criticism is not completely unjustified. The fact that Wolff assures his sources anonymity is completely logical, correct and understandable given the circumstances. However, the practically unedited reproduction of source statements, the authenticity and credibility of which the reader can never know, naturally gives rise to justified doubts. The fact that Wolff's book was published a few months after the election also raises questions about the accuracy of the content of the stories. In my opinion, overly precise checks and double-checks do not always seem to have been possible in such a short time for a nearly 400-page book.

Nevertheless, Wolff has probably succeeded in creating a bestseller with his fourth Trump book. The events that are likely to unfold around Trump and his entourage now and over the next four years are too explosive, chaotic and sometimes almost absurdly unbelievable. The chance to gain an extremely close and detailed insight into this political spectacle is too exciting and tantalising. The one or other historical inaccuracy or exaggeration for the sake of the story will not dampen enthusiasm on the one hand and indignation on the other - on the contrary.