Once again, Trump world grapples with fallout over inside look at White House in a new book

Will the Trump administration have the same success in discrediting a respected veteran journalist as it has in attacking other authors?

It’s a cycle all too familiar for Donald Trump and his associates.

A new book with the promise to produce weeks of headlines details an alleged inside look at the White House – a place in constant disorder and overseen by an “unhinged megalomaniac”, according to authors like Michael Wolff and Omarosa Manigault Newman.

The only difference is that, this time, the latest book is written by Bob Woodward, a veteran journalist who helped to expose President Richard Nixon's role in the Watergate scandal.

The president has already discredited FEAR: Trump in the White House before it hits bookshelves next week, describing the 448-page project as “a work of fiction” during an Oval Office photo opportunity with the Emir of Kuwait on Wednesday. “If you look back at Woodward’s past, you have the same problem with other presidents,” he continued. “He likes to get publicity, sell some books.”

He’s also unleashed a series of tweets undermining the book, writing it has “so many lies and phony sources” and claiming the author “made this up to divide”.

In each instance when a new book gains national attention, Mr Trump’s White House has almost immediately entered attack mode; top aides lash out against the author, labelling their work fictional in a bevy of statements denying the events and quotes captured in the story. Their response, in turn, helps generate enormous sales for the book in question, until headlines eventually dissipate, making way for another author with supposedly damning information from inside the People’s House to come forward.

But will the administration’s tried-and-tested method of responding to explosive new books work against a respected veteran journalist who has authored historic analysis about every president since Richard Nixon?

The White House was at it again this week, with statements from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others echoing a familiar cry, claiming falsities and unwarranted attacks were beleaguering the administration — in the form of yet another potential bestseller.

“This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad,” she said on Tuesday.

The defence was similar to her rebuttal of Mr Wolff’s Fire & Fury, which she called a “complete fantasy and just full of tabloid gossip”.

Mr Trump repeated his own cycle of fuming over negative books about his White House, writing on Twitter: “Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost.”

“Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?” he continued.

However, it seemed as though the president – who is known for nicknaming his enemies and deriding his naysayers – was punching below his weight when it came to Mr Woodward. After all, this is the man who described his longtime associate and friend Ms Newman as a “dog” and “lowlife” after she released Unhinged, detailing her own perspective from inside Mr Trump’s White House.

In an 11-minute recording of a phone call the Washington Post released between Mr Woodward and the president, it appeared as if Mr Trump was denying the fact that he had known the book was in the works for quite some time.

“Everything is going to be factual,” the author reassured Mr Trump. “It is not a good thing for my business, if I may say this to you, Mr President, to the presidency, or to the country, to not have real, full exchanges on these. And I broke my spear on it trying to get to you.”

“Well, other than Lindsey [Graham], who did quickly mention, nobody mentioned it,” Mr Trump responded, before putting Kellyanne Conway on the phone in an attempt to force her into explaining why he was not made available for an interview before the book went to publication.

The tense call went on like this for some time, with Mr Woodward explaining the various methods he used to reach out to Mr Trump.

The president and his closest aides were unprepared in their response – as they may very well prove to be as more bombshells from Mr Woodward’s book come to light, especially if they appear to confirm past accounts of the White House under Mr Trump.

Yet it is not only authors allegedly revealing the president’s erratic and disorganised leadership. A damning new anonymous opinion article from a White House senior official in the New York Times released on Wednesday described Mr Trump’s leadership style as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective”.

“It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room,” the piece reads. “We fully recognise what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.”

The writer added: “The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.” Mr Trump in turn described the piece as “gutless”.

The words appeared to complete a cycle all too familiar – and one that continues nearly each day in Trump’s America.