Simon Shuster

“His aim, as he saw it, was to keep them engaged, to pry open their eyes and point them toward the picture of the war he wanted them to see. My work was useful to him as a means to that end. He took a pause and cleared his throat, realizing he may have crossed a line in telling me how to do my job. Then he continued to do exactly that. "Forgive me for saying this, but I think the aim of journalism, of the media, is to keep people from getting sick of this," he said, referring to the story of the war. "When they do get sick of it, that brings about fatigue, and fatigue causes a loss of interest. For our country, that leads to the loss of support.”
― Simon Shuster, The Showman

“He remembers giving himself a pep talk that would play in his mind throughout the day. "They're watching," he told himself. "You're a symbol. You need to act the way a head of state must act."
As the day wore on, his aides could see Zelensky's posture stiffen. His tone became clipped, and he began to issue a stream of orders from the bunker and from his office on the fourth floor. Most of his decisions had no real basis in experience or planning. Zelensky had neither of these things to guide him at the time, but he didn't seem to mind. His assent to the presidency from the world of comedy would not have been possible without a knack for projecting confidence even when he lacked it. Now that skill went into overdrive, and Zelensky became what one of his aides described as a "decision generator.”
― Simon Shuster, The Showman