FEAR: TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE by Bob Woodward. (Simon & Schuster, September 2018) Hardcover, 420 pages. ISBN # 1501175513 / 9781501175510. Nominated for Goodreads Choice Award For Nonfiction 2018.
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, 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.
Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. 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.
Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.
My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
Sometime in the future, students of history will pick up this book in order to help understand how things went wrong. While it doesn't clearly establish the how and why of Trump's popularity and loyalty among his subordinates, FEAR does clearly shed light on how chaotic the day-to-day business of the White House under Trump is conducted. It's frightening. And it's not over. I only hope we can all get through this.
Some near-disasters and incredibly bonehead decisions have already been averted (as revealed in this book). I sincerely hope there are still some responsible people left in the West Wing to continue to provide a check against the worst instincts of a man who is clearly out of touch and living within a personal fantasy world.
To his credit, Bob Woodward does not stray from the fact-based journalism that he's built a reputation on. There is no analysis or criticism here on his part, just the words of others as they confided in him (knowing that he protects his sources, and remains steadfast in that respect). Well-researched, this covers the interior workings of the White House staff regarding several critical issues.
The way that Trump makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies is appalling. He ignores the information and careful explanations of his staff experts, often becoming bored when meetings go on too long, and refuses to change his predetermined positions. Once he states his opinion, he ignores facts and refuses to be swayed - almost as if he's afraid of exposing himself if he admits that he was misinformed or truly didn't understand the issue.
Woodward's book confirms what I suspected and fears - - Trump is not fit to serve as President. He lacks the stuff. He never feels empathy; he's incapable of it. As Rex Tillerson is alleged to have stated (and Woodward confirms it) - - he is "a fucking moron."
It's too much to hope that Trump loyalists will read FEAR and re-consider their support of who, in my mind, is the absolute worst President in our lifetime. Hopefully, enough objective-minded voters will take note and get off the fence.
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