“Dutton Books, part of Penguin Random House, is out today with a paperback version of ABC chief White House correspondent Jon Karl’s ‘Front Row at the Trump Show’ ($18), and it includes some new reporting. A few nuggets: In mid-March of last year, Navy hospital ship Mercy was being deployed to Seattle to alleviate hospitals overburdened with infected Covid-19 patients. Instead, Trump redirected the ship to Los Angeles. The reason? Newsom had been complimentary of him, while Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had been critical. ‘Don’t you think we should send it to California? Gavin has been saying such nice things about me,’ Trump reportedly said, adding that Inslee was a ‘showboater’ and ‘a real jerk.’ VP Mike Pence was in the room during the exchange, per Karl.”

“Another anecdote about former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham is surprising given her seeming resentment of reporters and the fact that she never once held an on-camera press briefing. According to Karl, Grisham defied Trump’s orders to remove CNN’s Kaitlan Collins from a Covid-19 briefing room where Pence was speaking to reporters. ‘Go down there and get her out of there,’ Trump told Grisham, finding her in her office. ‘Mr. President, I really cannot do that,’ Grisham told Trump to his face mid-briefing, to which the president responded: ‘That’s because you are weak! You are worthless!'” – Politico Playbook.