Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (PDF)

Description

OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD RUNAWAY #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SENSATIONAL #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “Explosive.”—The Washington Post “Devastating.”—The New Yorker “Unprecedented.”—CNN “Great reporting…astute.”—Hugh Hewitt THE INSIDE STORY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, AS ONLY BOB WOODWARD CAN TELL ITWith authoritative reporting honed through nine presidencies, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. Often with day-by-day details, dialogue and documentation, Fear tracks key foreign issues from North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East, NATO, China and Russia. It reports in-depth on Trump’s key domestic issues particularly trade and tariff disputes, immigration, tax legislation, the Paris Climate Accord and the racial violence in Charlottesville in 2017. Fear presents vivid details of the negotiations between Trump’s attorneys and Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, laying out for the first time the meeting-by-meeting discussions and strategies. It discloses how senior Trump White House officials joined together to steal draft orders from the president’s Oval Office desk so he would not issue directives that would jeopardize top secret intelligence operations. “It was no less than an administrative coup d’état,” Woodward writes, “a nervous breakdown of the executive power of the most powerful country in the world.”

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Bob Woodward has done it again. “Fear” is a remarkable and important book, especially because it is so current and revealing and is vouched for by this very credible reporter. Woodward’s book confirms in much greater detail many earlier and less credible reports, plus many others — establishing clearly that Donald Trump is not fit to be the US president — politically, intellectually, psychologically or morally. Moreover, his erratic behavior is a threat to US national security, as Woodward’s book and recent TV interviews make very clear. Of course, most of the media attention on this book has been and will continue to be on Woodward’s many shocking scoops. The most important question, however, that the book raises, for me at least, is “When and how will Trump’s reckless rule be retired?”Mike Pence, the “Shadow President” and Trump’s hand picked successor, will from many indications become president in the months following the November 6 election. That seems to be a high probability, even without Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s likely devastating report on the Russian conspiracy to influence illegally the 2016 presidential elections and the related cover up obstructing Mueller’s investigation of this conspiracy . The only unknown now is when and how Trump goes— by the impeachment process or by simple resignation like Nixon did. We can expect Pence will then give Trump a full pardon, after Trump fully pardons some family members and close associates. Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort need not hold their breath waiting for a pardon. Trump, some of his family members and close associates will, of course, still be at risk of state law prosecutions, expecially in NY.Trump has long used fear to exercise power over others. Fear, as Machiavelli strongly recommended five centuries ago to a corrupt pope’s nephew, is preferable to and more effective than kindness. Paradoxically, Trump’s own deep personal fear of failure still drives him desperately— any means are justified to reach Trump’s top goals of personal profit and glory forever. Any means is OK, including even orphaning innocent infants at the Mexican border, while other immigrants are welcomed to work temporarily at Mar-a-Lago. Woodward’s book just reinforces these observations many have already made.It is amazing to me that many of the so-called “adults in the room” cannot see that Trump is misbehaving as he always did. He cannot be changed, certainly not now and not by the many handlers selected seemingly because Trump can dominate them. That said, Trump still has more than two years remaining on his term!I have strong reactions to Woodward’s many disturbing disclosures, as (1) a former Harvard Law assistant to Archibald Cox (prior to his being the unforgettable Watergate Prosecutor and nailing Nixon), (2) a former high school chum of Rudy Guiliani (now an unimpressive key Trump advisor), (3) a former law firm colleague of Bob Khuzami (now the impressive head of NYC federal investigations of Trump criminal matters) and (4) a father and grandfather.Initially, my strongest reaction to “Fear” was, in turn, real fear for the US and the world. How can the US survive two years more of Trump as president, especially given Woodward’s very disturbing reports? On further reflection on the most likely outcomes, however, based on my experience, I am now less worried for the reasons indicated below. The US survived a Revolutionary War, a Civil War, a “Know Nothing” political party, two World Wars, a Korean War, an Iraq War and a Cold War, major Depressions, Prohibition and Nixon, et al. The US will survive Trump and Mike Pence!Woodward’s book is extremely specific and very detailed— describing relevant facts, documents, dates and meetings. Importantly, he reports on how some of Trump’s policies are so haphazardly made, not just on the many bizarre episodes of Trump and his staff. Woodward draws some really important and very plausible inferences from the collective information of the many involved in specific presidential matters Woodward investigated. And his extensive tapes of his hundreds of hours of interviews of almost 100 relevant persons are available to “prove” his inferences. Trump and his cronies’ predictable complaints of Woodward bias, if anything, just invite a closer look at Woodward’s findings.At 75 years old, Woodward clearly had a purpose in this voluntary and prodigious effort to research and write this book— to flush out the true Donald Trump and show the danger he poses for US national security. Woodward, a Navy veteran like John McCain before him, is also a patriot. To paraphrase Trump, Woodward shows vividly that Trump’s behavior is “very sad and really disgusting”.The media will have a field day with some of the troubling Trump episodes Woodward reports. Many persons cited in the book will challenge some of his reports. To be expected and perhaps understandable, given Trump’s fiery temper about those he thinks are in any way disloyal to him. The facts will nevertheless prevail, as they have mostly for Woodward’s earlier books about the many presidents who immediately preceded Trump.More important, however, than specific episodes, is what the confluence of these troubling episodes clearly shows — Trump is clearly unfit to be president! The longer he remains, the greater the risk in our nuclear age for the US, and the world as well. It is well to recall the near catastrophe last January when a Hawaiian technician pressed the wrong button indicating a non-existent “imminent” North Korean missile attack, following Trump’s reckless rhetoric about the real North Korean threat. This must have sent a real chill down the spines of the leaders of all nuclear nations, and many others as well.Will Trump then finish his first term? Very doubtful, it appears.If the Democrats win a House majority in less than two months, prompt impeachment proceedings and numerous House investigations of Trump and his corrupt cronies appear to be inevitable. That dooms Trump.Even if the Democrats remain the minority, impeachment is still likely to occur in my view as Mueller’s efforts continue — they cannot be stopped now. They will continue even if Mueller is fired as they continued after Nixon fired Archibald Cox. Moreover, there is a reasonable prospect that one or more of Trump’s children and/or in-laws could soon be indicted.Trump will after November be an increasingly unnecessary liability for Republicans, the GOP. Only 32% of voters currently polled even think Trump is honest. He has already done what the GOP and its billionaire backers like the Kochs and Devoses most wanted — a major tax cut for the wealthiest, reckless deregulation, insuring a right wing judiciary majority, reducing drastically Federal revenues needed to fund the social safety net, et al.Moreover, it seems unlikely that Trump will be able to handle the steadily growing pressure he faces. He may even elect to resign as Nixon did. Pence can finish up to the cheers of the Kochs, Devoses, et al.For a fuller picture of what to expect from Pence when Trump “retires”, please see the new comprehensive, readable and detailed biography of Mike Pence, “The Shadow President …” by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter, Michael D’Antonio, and by his co-author, Peter Eisner. This book’s findings dovetail nicely with the findings in “Fear”.Unlike Woodward, D’Antonio even got, for his recent excellent Trump biography, hours of direct interviews of Trump before the 2016 elections, until Trump abruptly ended the interviews apparently concerned that D’Antonio was writing a truthful book based on facts, not on Trump’s limitless lies and specious spin. We now know from this important book on Pence why it is very unlikely that Pence will ever be able to clean up Donald Trump’s mess. We also can understand much better why Trump recently predicted that stock markets would crash if he were to be impeached. Not too great an endorsement of his successor, Pence, by a reckless and incompetent boss who has now witnessed up close for almost two years the non-stop cheerleading of the “Shadow President”, Mike Pence.Pence successfully strived during the last two years behind the scenes, with Trump’s apparent blessings, to advance his repressive and regressive fundamentalist Christian remaking of American society, including through administration and judicial right-wing appointments and adoption of fundamentalist social policies, like curtailing legal abortions and even limiting contraception access. Significantly, these policies mostly benefit in the end the already “uberrich” top 0.01% of Americans at the expense of the 99.99 % less fortunate— how Christian is that?Trump’s and Pence’s unfair tax cuts and excessive deregulation can readily be fixed by Democrats when they regain power. But Trump and Pence have already changed the Federal judiciary with their many right wing judges appointed for life. That is not so easily fixed.This is scary stuff for a religiously diverse nation with constitutional safeguards of religious freedom that were extremely important for good reason to our Founding Fathers. They rejected a theocracy as well as a monarchy !By providing a brisk and insightful history of Pence’s personal and political journey, we are able with this book to see behind Pence’s perpetual smile and smooth style. It is not a very pretty picture.All, even Trump supporters, should read this book to understand better the threat Pence poses even for Trump. After the midterm elections, the “uberrich” will know they can fulfill all their remaining political and economic dreams through Pence, without having to put up any longer with Trump’s erratic and at times almost bizarre policies and behavior. By mid-November, Trump will need Pence more than Pence will need Trump.It is not surprising the Omarosa recently observed on Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” show that she thinks one of Pence’s staff was the author of the unprecedented and anonymous New York times Op Ed column that further undercuts Trump and re-inforces some of Woodward’s revelations. As to be expected, Pence offers to swear under oath that HE did not write the Op Ed column, which denial leaves room that one of his staffers wrote it, no?”Fear” and “The Shadow Presidency” raise a very ironic possibility in my mind. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, after the midterm elections in November, indicates that Trump and Pence were both implicated in Russian election conspiracy and/or in the subsequent cover-up, both of them could be removed from office or worse by a Congress forced by public outrage to act on Mueller’s report. Even Nixon’s base abandoned him once the true facts were widely known.Pence often played a key role in the 2016 campaign, as well as during the two years since. Who knows what he said and did in secret? Who knows if Pence was recorded by Amarosa, an evangelical pastor, or Michael Cohen, a “tell all” third rate lawyer or someone else at the White House, including possibly Trump himself. I suspect that by now, Mueller knows!If that happens, Nancy Pelosi could succeed after next January to the presidency as Speaker of the House, third in line after the President and Vice President. So much then for the great Trump/Pence strategy.The Pence book makes very clear why Pence is to be feared, perhaps even more than Trump. The “god” of Trump is Trump — in that sense, he is obvious and usually predictable. Pence’s “god” is much darker and more dangerous, as well as unpredictable, as this book has confirmed for me. It may be that a needy and greedy Trump is a safer bet than a surreptitious and smiling religious zealot, Pence.Pence legitimated Trump with the important and united fundamentalist voter base, who voted by over 80% to elect Trump! Trump also won 52% of Catholics’ votes, while only 46% of the national vote. Who will legitimate Pence? This book suggests “good” fundamentalists should now vote against Pence if they ever find their Christian moorings again!Pence appears determined to advance a repressive and regressive fundamentalist evangelical theocracy, even though most Americans, including most Christians, have no interest in a theocracy, Christian or otherwise. Our Founding Fathers were well aware of the brutal post-Reformation religious wars that some of their not too distant relatives had fled Europe to avoid.Interestingly, Pence was a Catholic altar boy and Trump attended for two years a Jesuit college, Fordham. And the current four male Supreme Court conservative Catholic Justices and the newly nominated likely to be Justice, Brett Kavanagh, were also raised Catholic. Four of these five also went to Catholic schools — Clarence Thomas to Jesuit Holy Cross College, Neil Gorsuch and Kavanagh to Jesuit Georgetown Prep and John Roberts to La Lumiere School. Samuel Alito was raised in a traditional Italian American Catholic family environment.It seems clear to me, as a graduate of 16 years of Catholic schools, that each of these men in varying degrees may be unduly, even mistakenly, influenced by celibate Vatican officials’ “infallible teachings” on reproductive matters.In 1930, Pope Pius XI gratuitously (and “infallibly” {?}) condemned all birth control to help Mussolini and leaders of other Catholic Western European countries pump up their populations following the decline in births after World War I’s slaughter of many potential Western European fathers. Pius XI, who had in 1920 seen up close in Poland the brutal atheistic Soviet threat in operation, was worried about expanding Soviet influence. Of course, Trump has now shown us that Putin and other former Soviets are the West’s best friends!The Vatican’s position on women’s reproductive rights, initially adopted in 1930 in Pope Pius XI’s “infallible” condemnation of birth control, is not based on the interests of women or families or on any Biblical foundation or even on rigorous philosophical and scientific foundations. On the contrary, it is based solely on the Vatican’s mythical claim since 1870 that “the pope is infallible” so what a pope said in 1930 remains the “Gospel Truth” forever.The origin of the papal infallibility myth has recently been subjected to close and thorough analysis by the leading Catholic historian, Georgetown’s 91 year old John O’Malley. A Jesuit, O’Malley has recently published a superb and short new book, “Vatican I”, which documents in detail the 1870 invention in desperate circumstances by Pope Pius IX of “papal infallibility”.While I share an Ivy League law school background and a Catholic upbringing with the Supreme Court’s likely new all male majority, thanks to the scholarship of John O’Malley, Hans Kung and other brave Catholic scholars, I do not share in their uninformed adoration for papal “infallible teachings”.Hopefully, some the these men will also read the important Vatican I book. If these male Catholic Justices are, based on their purported take on Catholic moral teachings, going to make legal rules for over 150 million American women about female reproductive matters, these Justices should at least understand the mythological origin of these teachings. They should all read O’Malley’s new book and my Amazon review of it.Of course., “infallible” popes since 1870 have greatly increased their power even over Cardinals and other Bishops by exploiting their newly invented unique claim to being infallible. Popes, much like Trump, want to retain their power even if hundreds of millions of women worldwide are denied reproductive justice to protect popes’ mythical claims to infallibility. Popes have shown in their shameful cover-ups of priests’ and bishops’ sexual abuse of defenseless children that popes sin like other humans. The papal fixation on preserving their unique “infallible claims” to protect the power they have built up over the last 150 years is more important than any women or children, it appears.If popes reverse themselves now on women’s reproductive rights, their claims to the symbolic power of papal infallibility will fail. Of course, as few Catholics seem to know, popes have earlier reversed themselves on moral issues like slavery and usury. So much for unchanging infallible truths!That said, with Kavanagh on the Supreme Court, as appears likely, Roe v. Wade can be expected to be limited greatly, executive authority will likely be almost unlimited in immigration, foreign relations and other important areas, and corporate political donations will remain almost unlimited. These surely are trying times for the US.The push-back of majority voters will need to begin in earnest in less than 60 days in House and Senate elections, and again in 2020’s presidential elections. In the 1930’s FDR tamed a right wing court with the support of a majority of voters. This can happen again.

⭐Bob Woodward who is known for his straight forward reporting, and some would say boring prose style decided to end Fear Trump in the White House with the president’s former top lawyer John Dowd calling Trump a liar. Woodward isn’t known for editorializing or really making any kind of evaluations or analysis in his books, but it seems he couldn’t avoid it in this one.That’s because Fear outlines a White House in disarray. The president is given to fits, watches a huge amount of television and gets angry over every criticism, there is no bureaucratic system working so things happen haphazardly especially when Trump makes announcements via Twitter without telling his staff beforehand, all leading to dysfunction. The president’s staff is so worried about his shifting moods and off the cuff decisions that they actively work to block his worst tendencies sometimes with little success. The book also reveals Trump’s world view which is shaped by his business background which leads him to believe everything is about money. That might seem okay at face value, but when applied to things like foreign policy and the military doesn’t work. Trump also has a vision of an American economy based upon factories that ceased to exist several decades ago. That has led him to make several of his decisions on trade in an attempt to move the economy backwards. Most important, the book gives a real understanding for how and why Trump does what he does.Any kind of behind the scenes book like this will bring up questions about sources. At the end there are extensive footnotes, but these are mostly for specific events like a Trump press conference, etc. The real heart of the book comes from several former members of the administration and Trump employees who talked to Woodward. It’s pretty obvious from the amount of conversations included to figure out who some of these are. They include Steve Bannon Trump’s former top policy adviser, Reince Priebus the first chief of staff, Senator Lindsey Graham a close Trump ally in Congress, Gary Cohn the former chief economic adviser, John Dowd Trump’s former lawyer hired to deal with the Muller investigation, and H.R. McMaster the former National Security Adviser. There are more, but those are some of the most apparent.On to what the book says about the Trump administration.The first issue is dysfunction. This problem starts at the top. Trump doesn’t like to read, rarely pays attention to briefings, and doesn’t even go through his daily schedule. Instead, Trump likes to improvise in many situations, and his mind often wonders from subject to subject. For instance, Trump said he didn’t want to pay for transgender members of the military to have surgeries. Few were actually asking to do this. Trump’s staff said they would have a meeting on the issue, but then Trump Tweeted that he would not allow anyone transgender to serve in the military. The White House then claimed this decision had been done after consultation with Secretary of Defense James Mattis, but that wasn’t true and just cover for Trump’s Tweet. The courts ended up overturning the ban, something that could have been avoided if Trump had followed what his staff wanted to do. Trump also would flip back and forth on issues, and had no apparent memory for things that he had said before. The Muller investigation also unhinged the president. When Muller was first appointed Trump got so mad that his economic adviser Cohn said the White House was incapacitated for weeks. All Trump could think about was Muller and he wouldn’t listen to anyone or do anything until his temper had subsided. Trump would also go off on rants and make rash decisions based upon what he saw on TV. For instance, his chief of staff Kelly suggested his deputy Kelly Nielsen succeed him as Homeland Security Secretary. Trump agreed, but when she was criticized on Fox News he changed his mind. Kelly was eventually able to get the president to back Nielsen, but it showed how Trump could suddenly change his opinion due to the media. The way Trump’s staff tried to deal with the president’s ever changing attitudes was to say they would look into a matter, but do nothing. At the extreme, they would take papers off his desk that they thought were bad policy so Trump wouldn’t sign them.Next came the administration. Priebus and his successor as chief of staff John Kelly tried to impose rules and order on how things were done such as organizing meetings, policy papers being written and delivered to them, controlling who would see the president, etc. None of what they tried work. For example, the White House authorized an investigation into China stealing intellectual property rights. When this was finished, the U.S. could impose tariffs upon Beijing and would likely have many allies in Europe and other areas that would join the U.S. in pressuring China. Then trade advisor Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross walked into Trump’s office and got him to sign an order authorizing steel and aluminum tariffs, that no one else in the White House knew about. This overturned the whole process that was planned with the investigation and building up allies against China. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son in law Jarod Kushner would also walk in and out of meetings uninvited, and make suggestions to their father without consulting with anyone. That in a nut shell is how the Trump administration works. Various people can come into the Oval Office or call Trump and get him to do things without consultations with any others.Trump’s abrasive style and lack of knowledge about the government also led some of his top staff to want to quit. Secretary of State Tillerson said Trump didn’t understand foreign policy or the military and was mad at how he constantly denigrated generals saying they didn’t know anything. Trump ended up firing Tillerson via a Tweet without telling anyone including the Secretary of State beforehand. National Security Adviser McMaster wanted to quit over many of the same issues, and eventually resigned. Trump would deride McMaster as well saying he wasn’t a businessman, he didn’t know cost benefit analysis, and used his experience in Iraq against him. Chief economic adviser Cohn quit after Trump’s comments on the racist rally in Charlottesville where he said there were good people on both sides. Cohn confronted him over that and Trump went on a tirade attacking Cohn’s wife and then Cohn. Cohn agreed to stay on until the tax cut bill was finished, but then left.Fear also does a good job explaining Trump’s world view. Having come from a business background Trump saw almost everything in terms of money. He thought the main priority of the U.S. government should be making a profit. That didn’t work on many issues however. For example, in general Trump did not believe in any of the longstanding U.S. alliances like NATO or allies such as South Korea. On the latter Trump would constantly focus upon two issues. First, the U.S. had a trade deficit, and second the U.S. had a large military presence there. Trump said both made America lose money and he was against both. He even asked why the U.S. had an alliance with South Korea to begin with, wanted to end a free trade agreement with the country and withdraw U.S. forces. His national security staff had to constantly remind him that South Korea was necessary to deal with North Korea that was expanding its nuclear program. At one meeting Defense Secretary Mattis even said that South Korea was necessary to stop World War III. Trump would constantly complain about the relationship anyways. Another example was that Trump said the goal of the U.S. military should be making money, and would constantly criticize generals for not thinking about that. He said the U.S. should take all the precious minerals from Afghanistan even though it wasn’t profitable and once refused to sign an order on Libyan policy saying that America should grab its oil. This idea also explains why Trump is against all trade agreements, is imposing tariffs, and is opposed to things like NATO because he believes they cost the U.S. money. This split much of his cabinet right down the middle as there were plenty who supported trade, and others who didn’t. His views would lead to constant turmoil with his staff, and represents a rather crass and amoral vision of how the United States should act.The book also highlights that Trump has an anachronistic view of the American economy. One of Trump’s main beliefs is that tariffs can return jobs, mostly in factories to the United States. This is never going to happen. The U.S. economy is now based upon services and hi-tech. The advances in technology also mean that the factories that are in the United States only employ a fraction of the people they once did. Several of Trump’s advisers like Cohn tried to explain to him that the economy he is attempting to revive hasn’t existed in America for 30 years, but he dismissed them. Part of Trump’s base is white working class voters who have gone through huge dislocations, job and salaries losses with deindustrialization. He’s thinking about these people with some of his decisions on trade, but trying to move the economy backwards is not going to be a successful solution to what they have gone through.Overall, this book is highly recommended. It might not be the most exciting read as Woodward has a rather bland style. He also skips from subject to subject within each chapter, so for example, you can’t find just one or two chapters on Trump’s trade policy or on Afghanistan, those topics are spread throughout the entire book. The main take away is that it helps a reader explain why Trump does things. If he goes on a rant on Twitter, it’s probably because he saw something on TV. If he has a presser and says all kinds of wild stuff it’s because he’s freelancing, which he likes to do, and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he hasn’t listened to any briefings, and that will leads to all kinds of contradictory statements.

⭐This is a large book produced by an authoritative author. It is a readable and sober account of the people in President Trump’s Administration. Trump himself was not interviewed. There is no sensationalism or comment by the author. As a journalist, he has let the characters speak for themselves. The book is quite detailed and some readers may start to lose interest part of the way through, longing for an overview or executive summary. I would have liked some context, some analysis and some history. And when you get to the end of the book it just. Stops. Because the story has not finished.Already there have been several books written about the Trump presidency and there will be many more (1). This contribution is the book equivalent of the newspaper of record (2). It is sensible, believable and trustworthy. You do not get more authoritative in journalistic circles than the author, Bob Woodward. Surprisingly, it is also very readable. This is an experienced journalist telling a story. The central character is Trump, surrounded by a continuously changing constellation of other characters that form the basis of this story. Even if you are not normally interested in politics, this is a compelling read, although the details and the cast of characters can be confusing. It is not a salacious read.THE BOOK STARTS with a 7-page Prologue set eight months into the Trump presidency in September 2017. It describes the story of the South Korea letter. Trump thought that the US was being ripped off by US spending in support of South Korea defence and by the US-South Korea trade agreement. He wanted to reduce the defence spending and stop the trade agreement. The letter, if signed would have killed the trade agreement. His aides thought this was a bad idea. When the letter was seen on Trump’s desk waiting for signature, his aides would surreptitiously move it to a folder so that it would not be seen. After this taster, the book proper begins with a flashback to August 2010. Steve Bannon (3) has been persuaded to meet Trump by a mutual friend to discuss Trump’s political ambitions. After the meeting, Bannon is asked, “What do you think?” Bannon replies “I’m pretty impressed by the guy,” but as running for president he thought, “Zero chance”. The next chapter is titled “Six Years Later”; none of the following chapters has a title. Trump has won the Republican nomination and Steve Bannon is about to formally join his team.THE STYLE in the early part of the book includes much reconstructed conversation. These conversations often includes expletives. However, as the book progresses the style becomes less conversational and with larger paragraphs of background information. The expletives also become less common. For example, on page 56: ‘Next, Cohn repeated what everyone was saying: Interest rates were going to go up over the foreseeable future. I agree, Trump said. “We should just go borrow a lot of money right now, hold it, and then sell it and make money.” Cohn was astounded at Trump’s lack of basic understanding. He tried to explain. If you as the federal government borrow money through issuing bonds, you are increasing the U.S. deficit. What do you mean? Trump asked. Just run the presses – print money.’ In the middle of the book, Chapter 18 page 145 there is: ‘By spring, Bannon saw that the constant disorder at the White House wasn’t helping him or anyone. “You’re in charge,” Bannon told Priebus. “I’m going through you. No more of me doing my own thing.” A chief of staff who was not in charge had become too disruptive even for certified disrupter and loner Steve Bannon. It was a major concession that Jared and Ivanka would not make.’. By Chapter 36 page 297 the style is reflective: ‘From his point of view, Bannon believed Trump had largely failed as a change agent. The old order in national security certainly won in Trump’s first year, Bannon believed. Perhaps the only exception was a toughening stance on China and an awareness that China was the true rival in international affairs.’THE CONTENTS can be detailed. The many characters can become confusing, particularly when some are fired, resign or change their role in the Administration. However, although it is detailed, it is detailed in a focused way. The focus is on the people in the Administration. Thus, James Comey appears for the first time in Chapter 20 (page 163), only because he is about to be fired. All the chapters are short and they are often dominated by a particular subject, but not always. It is surprising how much foreign affairs dominates (5).THE HARDBACK is a substantial 357 pages that expands to 420 pages when the Source Notes and Index are included. Despite this, it can easily be picked up and read. The size also allows a readable font size and a generous line spacing. The text is dived between 43 short chapters, allowing the reading to be paced. At the centre of the book are 16 colour plates. Each plate contains one or two photographs of some of the people mentioned in the text (4). The journalistic style may be better experienced via the audio CD rather than the printed book._______________________________________________________________________________________________________* Before the book starts there is a one page “Note to Readers” where Bob Woodward gives an overview of his method. He used the journalistic rule of “deep background”, meaning that all the information given to him in interviews could be used but he would not say who provided it. When he uses exact quotations, thoughts or conclusions, the source is the person, a colleague with direct knowledge or a reliable documentary source. I am sure deep background has nothing to do with deep throat.(1) Already there have been Howard Jacobson’s

⭐despairing satire

⭐, the disgruntled James Comey’s

⭐A Higher Loyalty

⭐, the tabloid treatment from Michael Wolff’s

⭐Fire and Fury

⭐and the supermarket tabloid Stormy Daniels’s

⭐Full Disclosure

⭐. Future historians will be fascinated by President Trump. Depending on events, they may even be fascinated by a

⭐President Pence

⭐.(2) The author has been associated with the Washington Post for many years that with the New York Times is considered either a high-end newspaper of record or a purveyor of Fake News. He is famous for his association with Watergate and the subsequent book about it with his co-reporter Carl Bernstein

⭐All the President’s Men

⭐. This book on Trump is a description of his early presidency. He is not looking for a potential Trumpgate,(3)

⭐Steve Bannon

⭐is a right of centre proponent who was an early member of Trump’s team but subsequently fell out of favour and out of the administration.(4) The people in the photographs are: Donald Trump President, Melania Trump First Lady, Jared Kushner First son-in-law, Ivanka Trump First daughter, Steve Bannon CEO of Trump campaign, Gary Cohn National Economic Council Chairman, James Comey FBI director, Kellyanne Conway Trump campaign manager, John Dowd Trump personal lawyer, Joseph Dunford Chairman of Joint Chiefs, Micahael Flynn National Security Adviser, Lindsey Graham Senator, Hope Hicks White House Strategic Communications Director, John Kelly Homeland Security Secretary/Chief of Staff, James Mattis Secretary of Defense, H. R. McMaster Second national security adviser, Robert Mueller Special counsel, Peter Navarro Staffer (trade), Mike Pence Vice President, Mike Pompeo CIA Director, Rob Porter Staff Secretary, Reince Priebus Chief of Staff, Jeff Sessions Attorney General, Rex Tillerson Secretary of State, Donald McGahn White House counsel, Jin ping Xi President of China, Jong Un Kim President of Norh Korea.(5) The contents of the chapters are approximately: Prologue, Sep-2017: South Korea letter; 1, Aug-2010: Steve Bannon meets Trump; 2, Six Years Later; 3, Bannon becomes CEO of Trump campaign; 4, The campaign; 5, The campaign; 6, After the election: Hires Mattis; 7, Hires Gary Cohn from Goldman Sachs; 8, Intelligence; 9, After the inauguration: NATO; 10, Michael Flynn lying about conversations with Russians; 11, Hires McMaster; 12, North Korea; 13, Senator Lindsey Graham; 14, Saudi Arabia; 15, Afghanistan; 16, Iran; 17, NAFTA and TPP; 18, Syria; 19, NAFTA, China, Steel; 20, Firing Comey; 21, Dowd – Trump’s personal lawyer; 22, North Korea, immigration; 23, Climate Change; 24, Mueller investigation; 25, Twitter, G20; 26, Sessions; 27, Immigration, meeting in The Tank; 28, Priebus leaves; 29, Charlottsville; 30, Charlottsville; 31, Afghanistan; 32, Kelly new chief of staff; 33, China; 34, North Korea; 35, Tax ; 36, Steve Bannon; 37, North Korea; 38, Afghanistan; 39, DACA and The Wall; 40, Mueller and Dowd; 41, China; 42, Dowd.

⭐Woodward gives another account of the Trump WhiteHouse that corroborates many of the things we’ve already learned from the Fire and Fury. The scale of the problem and Trumps volatile idiocy are on display. He is less good on the Mueller investigation because he relies so much on Dowd. In fact this is a weakness of the book generally. Woodward often has one source of a two sides argument so there is some self-serving storytelling here. However it is a fascinating and terrifying read of an angry incompetent and immoral man sitting in the most powerful office in the world.

⭐Donald Trump’s antics in New York City over decades revealed him to be a malignantly selfish self-promoter and a lying, thieving (until now, unindicted) criminal, with a trail of bankruptcies and lost court cases, blacklisted by all the banks in the city who refused to lend to him because of his long history of repayment defaults. It was almost beyond belief that anyone could be conned into believing he was a “successful businessman”, the very antithesis of the truth, let alone that he might be elected president of the world’s only remaining superpower.In an attempt to be seen as non-partisan, Bob Woodward’s 15th book ‘Fear’ bends over backwards to be fair to Trump as president and to present an ‘impartial’ account of this malignant, car-crash administration. Woodward as usual relies on extensive interviews with White House staffers and whereas it’s not difficult to work out his principal sources – Porter, Cohn, Priebus, Bannon, McMaster, the Senator Lynsey Graham, Trump’s various personal lawyers – they remain unattributed though Woodward claims to have all the interview material on tape for future posterity. Woodward’s scrupulous attention to the granular detail of interactions and meeting notes makes for a roughly chronological but patchwork account from the 2016 election campaign up to the end of March 2018.The shocking picture which emerges is of a grossly dysfunctional administration where no-one has an ounce of respect or affection for Trump who repeatedly demonstrates his ignorance, incompetence and unfitness for office and inability to inspire loyalty, to manage people or even understand how the US government works. Staffers continually stifle or slow-walk the president’s initiatives, including stealing papers off his desk before he can sign them, and Trump never notices or remembers the missing documents. Many of the meeting accounts quickly descend into shouting matches replete with expletives and obscenities, and we are shown not a mature government of professionals driven by coherent policy objectives but one of ad-hoc decisions made on-the-hoof by staffers offered little guidance and no leadership. To Rex Tillerson, Trump is “a f****** moron”, to Chief of Staff General Kelly “an idiot”, to Gary Cohn “a f****** a******”and so on. Trump reciprocates, repeatedly and openly referring to members of his staff in expletive- and obscenity-laden language.People are hired and fired not face-to-face in a respectful way, but are shocked to discover they are no longer working for the administration when announced to the world by tweet. Trump has no understanding of trade or economics, for example he refuses to understand the difference between the balance of traded goods across borders – which is of no economic consequence – and the national debt, as increased by >US$1.5 trillion in the GOP’s 2017 congressional tax bill, of great economic consequence. Trump is obsessed with destroying trade and security treaties with allies and refuses to listen to expert advice that these agreements are in America’s interest and to destroy them will do harm to the country, but he doesn’t care and won’t listen, declaring repeatedly that “this is all bull****” and storming out of meetings.Woodward goes very lightly on the Special Council’s Russia investigation instigated by Trump appointee Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein following the sudden firing of James Comey, but does focus on Trump’s obsession with it and reports on several interactions between Mueller’s team and Trump’s lawyers. Faced with Trump’s determination to meet with Bob Mueller, Trump’s lawyers Sekulow, Cobb and Dowd attempt to prepare him. As usual, Trump doesn’t answer the questions asked but goes off on a rant; rambles, evades, denies, cries “fake news”, repeatedly contradicts himself. Dowd admits to Woodward that he couldn’t bring himself to tell Trump to his face what he really thought: “Mr. President, you’re a f****** liar.”The book runs to 357 pages excluding an extensive notes section and index, and has a 16-page centre section of colour photos of the main players. Overall, ‘Fear’ is a meticulously researched reportage, though apart from some peripheral details you probably won’t learn anything you didn’t already know. The writing style is literate but not exactly racy, more documentary-reporting in style. Woodward tried for weeks to reach Trump for an interview for the book through six different channels including Kellyanne Conway, but Trump reportedly remained unresponsive to these interview requests so is not interviewed in the book.

⭐In contrast with Michael Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury’ which is far removed from impartial, Bob Woodward’s ‘Fear’ strives to be scrupulously fair. Woodward has put together a wealth of convincing material to support his narrative. The conclusions to be drawn are clear: that Trump appears to have serious difficulty when it comes to consistent adherence to the truth; and that Robert Mueller and his team have behaved like partisan Democrats bent on overturning the 2016 Presidential election. It’s a pity that Woodward did not hire Michael Lewis as a ghost writer. Lewis would have given the book greater coherence and a much more lively style. Woodward can be a little wooden at times. Essential reading.

⭐In general this was a decent, well researched and footnoted read, although the reviews that you’ll see disclose most of the more significant parts. What really stuck out for me though was the structure of the book, or apparent lack thereof. It read more like a series of tidied up reporter’s notes than a narrative built from those notes. While there was some attempt at assembling chapters around certain topics, this approach also wound up causing you to move back and forth in time, which was a fairly jarring experience, not unlike Trump’s presidency. For me, that took something away from the book as it really felt only coarsely assembled. It’s unclear whether a chronological narrative would have been impossible due to the chaotic nature of the Trump White House or if such an approach is difficult with any White House based on the demands on those who work there. You may be able to save yourself the time and expense by reading the news coverage of the book instead of the actual book itself; there’s really not that much added by the presentation of the more significant anecdotes from the news. I guess I was hoping for more.

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