Michael Wolff (indirectly a star of the #MeToo Grammys) seems to want us to believe President Trump is definitely having an affair with United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Wolff told Bill Maher recently he was “absolutely sure” the president is currently carrying out an extramarital affair, gesturing towards a passage in Fire and Fury that appears to be this one — “The president had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One and was seen to be grooming her for a national political future.” — as his wink-and-a-nod to their supposed dalliance.
Damning stuff.
It’s unclear if Wolff is claiming the time they allegedly spend together is proof of an affair, or whether it’s merely supporting evidence. Either way, without providing any proof beyond his own word (which, as it turns out, is not as good as gold), it’s a reckless assertion — one that’s especially unfair to both Haley and Melania Trump. For her part, Haley vehemently disputed the accuracy of Wolff’s assertion, calling it “highly offensive” and “disgusting.”
But, hey, those books keep flying off the shelves.
Charges of sexism are flung into the media sphere with less discipline than a haywire tennis ball machine. But it’s clear this particular gossip would not be dogging a man in Haley’s role, instructively providing an example of the lingering obstacles facing women in the workplace. Those hurdles still litter women’s paths to success inordinately, though not insurmountably.
What of the men such as Mike Pompeo, John Kelly, or Don McGahn, with whom Trumps works privately, or spends time with on Air Force One? They, of course, are able to work in close proximity to the president without arousing the suspicions of their colleagues or the press. Wolff’s unsubstantiated smear against Haley is cut from the same cloth of sexism other working women face regularly. With more men in more positions of power, ladder-climbing for women inevitably involves spending time on the wrong side of power differentials with the opposite sex.
Again, that’s not to say this chattering-class chatter will ultimately present an insurmountable obstacle for Haley. Indeed, her future successes will be the clearest proof of that, as they have been in the past.
