Potus Geeks Book Review: Rage by Bob Woodward
President Donald Trump refused to meet with veteran reporter and author Bob Woodward when Woodward was writing his first book on the Trump Presidency, his 2018 work entitled Fear: Trump in the White House (reviewed here in this community.) Seeing this as a mistake, President Trump agreed to a series of 17 interviews with Woodward, who has written about every President since Richard Nixon, in preparation for Woodward's latest work entitled Rage. The interviews were cordial, and in them the President is sometimes rambling, sometimes blunt. When the President learns that the book is due to be available in the fall, just as the election campaign is in full swing, he tells Woodward that he suspects that the book will be an attempt to smear him and that Woodward is just another cog in the left-wing media machine that is out to get him, adding that if Woodward is fair, the book will be a success, but otherwise it will be a dismal failure. Woodward promises to let the facts speak for themselves and for the most part he does so, save for an epilogue in which the veteran newsman tells the reader what he really thinks about the president.
Woodward covers a number of recent events in the Trump presidency, including the hiring and firing of a number of prominent administration officials such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. The book also looks up close at the dealings between the President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the conclusion of the Muller Investigation as well as the Impeachment proceedings against the President. But the largest subject of the book is the cornavirus pandemic. Woodward recounts his discussions with the President concerning the initial stages of the pandemic, giving him credit for the early travel ban of those coming to the US from China and Europe. The book provides insight to the lack of cooperation from the Chinese government following the outbreak of the pandemic and to the conflicting and competing interests confronted by the President in seeking to keep the death toll from the virus down, while preventing complete economic collapse. The book recounts fascinating discussions between the author and the president on the administration's process and plan for meeting the challenges presented by the coronavirus. In these discussions, President Trump rejects the author's suggestion that his re-election will hinge on how he handles the pandemic, and how the nation perceives the leadership coming from the White House. Instead, the President believes that his success as a miracle worker for the economy will make his re-election a slam dunk.
The book also discusses the President's response to the death of George Floyd, his bible-wielding photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church and the early stages on the 2020 election campaign (the book went to press in the summer.) It is enhanced by interviews with a number of those close to the events described, including Senator Lindsay Graham and Jared Kusher, both of whom Woodward is complimentary towards for their efforts to be the voice of reason in difficult circumstances, as well as from Mattis, Tillerson and Coats, and also from the three leading doctors in the fight against the pandemic. Of Graham, Woodward says he has unfairly "been portrayed as embarrassingly and shamelessly subservient to the president, but actually at times provided wise counsel, urging Trump to take a strategic view."
While the tone of the discussions between the reporter and president are civil, respectful and even chummy, Woodward is not gentle in his final assessment of the President, who he describes as "the dynamite behind the door." He criticizes Trump for a multitude of sins, including his failure to organize, his lack of discipline, his lack of trust in those he appointed and in his experts, his inability to be a calming and healing voice, his unwillingness to admit mistakes and learn from them, his lack of preparation, his poor listening skills, and his inability to plan. He concludes that when Trump's "performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job."
In a few weeks the world will know if Woodward is correct in his conclusion that the 2020 election will be a referendum on how President Trump has handled the Covid-19 pandemic. If current polling is any indication, the electorate's assessment may be similar to Woodward's. Readers of this book will debate whether or not Woodward has crossed the line from reporting "just the facts" to taking a side and make their own assessment.
Woodward covers a number of recent events in the Trump presidency, including the hiring and firing of a number of prominent administration officials such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. The book also looks up close at the dealings between the President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the conclusion of the Muller Investigation as well as the Impeachment proceedings against the President. But the largest subject of the book is the cornavirus pandemic. Woodward recounts his discussions with the President concerning the initial stages of the pandemic, giving him credit for the early travel ban of those coming to the US from China and Europe. The book provides insight to the lack of cooperation from the Chinese government following the outbreak of the pandemic and to the conflicting and competing interests confronted by the President in seeking to keep the death toll from the virus down, while preventing complete economic collapse. The book recounts fascinating discussions between the author and the president on the administration's process and plan for meeting the challenges presented by the coronavirus. In these discussions, President Trump rejects the author's suggestion that his re-election will hinge on how he handles the pandemic, and how the nation perceives the leadership coming from the White House. Instead, the President believes that his success as a miracle worker for the economy will make his re-election a slam dunk.
The book also discusses the President's response to the death of George Floyd, his bible-wielding photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church and the early stages on the 2020 election campaign (the book went to press in the summer.) It is enhanced by interviews with a number of those close to the events described, including Senator Lindsay Graham and Jared Kusher, both of whom Woodward is complimentary towards for their efforts to be the voice of reason in difficult circumstances, as well as from Mattis, Tillerson and Coats, and also from the three leading doctors in the fight against the pandemic. Of Graham, Woodward says he has unfairly "been portrayed as embarrassingly and shamelessly subservient to the president, but actually at times provided wise counsel, urging Trump to take a strategic view."
While the tone of the discussions between the reporter and president are civil, respectful and even chummy, Woodward is not gentle in his final assessment of the President, who he describes as "the dynamite behind the door." He criticizes Trump for a multitude of sins, including his failure to organize, his lack of discipline, his lack of trust in those he appointed and in his experts, his inability to be a calming and healing voice, his unwillingness to admit mistakes and learn from them, his lack of preparation, his poor listening skills, and his inability to plan. He concludes that when Trump's "performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job."
In a few weeks the world will know if Woodward is correct in his conclusion that the 2020 election will be a referendum on how President Trump has handled the Covid-19 pandemic. If current polling is any indication, the electorate's assessment may be similar to Woodward's. Readers of this book will debate whether or not Woodward has crossed the line from reporting "just the facts" to taking a side and make their own assessment.