New book reveals that Donald Trump could be calmed down by playing him show tunes

I’ve been tearing through all the books about the Trump presidency (I’m currently on Peril, the Woodward/Costa book, which is pretty great). The next one in the pipeline is by Stephanie Grisham, the former White House Press Secretary famous for never giving a single briefing with reporters over the nine months she had the job.

Her book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House, will be released on October 5. And as usual, portions of the book have been sent to the press. There’s apparently a lot of salacious stuff here but also some funny anecdotes.

Trump has a terrible temper and would go volcanic without warning. He was abusive, sweary, and generally awful to his people. However, there was one thing that could calm him down. An aide known as the “Music Man”–who turned out to be Max Miller, Grisham’s boyfriend, who also worked for the administration–knew he could keep Trump from blowing up by playing him Broadway show tunes.

The most effective was “Memory” from Cats. In case you need some context, this is a sappy ballad featuring a cat yearning for the years she was young, beautiful, and adored by millions. When Miller played the song in the White House, Trump settled right down.

I’m sure Andrew Lloyd Webber is thrilled to know this.

In other Trump-and-music news, a New York judge declined to throw out the copyright challenge brought by singer Eddy Grant over Trump’s use of his song “Electric Avenue” in a campaign video that was distributed on Twitter.