Vanity Fair Reporter on Trump’s Response: ‘I Was Kind of Shocked’
Nguyen’s review strikes at the heart of Trump’s image - which is why Donny so intensely needed to attack. He’s all gilt, no heavy substance; all bluster, no bang; all facade, no interior - and he knows it.
Nguyen’s piece, which was posted to Vanity Fair’s website last Wednesday, characterizes both the restaurant and its namesake as “a cheap version of rich.” The response from Donald Trump came at 5 a.m. Thursday, when the president-elect tweeted about Vanity Fair (“Way down, big trouble, dead!”) and its “no talent” editor in chief, Graydon Carter.
Astute Twitterati quickly connected the outburst to Nguyen’s review, and the writer was alerted to the coming deluge of attention by one of her editors. “Emotionally, I was kind of shocked,” Nguyen tells CJR. “I was expecting that piece to get some pick-up, but I didn’t think it was going to get the attention of the man who is going to be the most powerful person in the world in about five weeks.”
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