Just Finished Reading Fear by Bob Woodward

Renowned investigative journalist Bob Woodward, who in 1973 collaborated with his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein to uncover the Nixon administration's Watergate scandal, came out last year with a new book: Fear.  It portrays Donald Trump, both on the campaign trail and in a little more than the first year of his presidency, from the experiences of people working for and with him over that period.  Woodward claims to have interviewed hundreds and employed strict journalism standards with this project.  When it first came out last September, the main things that were publicized were critical of Trump, with examples of his aides and cabinet members regularly insulting him behind his back while surreptitiously undercutting his authority in light of what they regarded as his impulsive and harmful decisions.  The President's backers...as well as Donald Trump himself...predictably panned Fear while his detractors jumped on the most scurrilous passages to point out Trump's unfitness for this high office.  My reactions?

Fear is generally presented in a chronological fashion, touching upon the different events in the Trump campaign, the transition period, and his early presidency as different people floated in and out of close association with him.  The way Woodward paints it, Steve Bannon of Breitbart was crucial in keeping Trump's campaign on track during crisis moments when others were throwing in the towel, as well as encouraging him to stick with the promises he made to his political base after taking office.  Eventually Bannon would go his own way and leave the administration, which turned into a massive revolving door for staff and cabinet.  Trump, not a reader and possessing a very short attention span, would not even stay attentive beyond a few minutes to those briefing him on various important issues, and would often agree with his advisors on a particular issue only to Tweet a completely different policy soon thereafter...Senator Chuck Schumer characterized this trait of his as like "negotiating with Jell-O". Trump also demanded complete loyalty from everyone around him while showing little in return.  And the capper was that he was a compulsive liar, saying whatever he thought fit the moment regardless whether it was true or not...this trait of his convinced his then-personal attorney John M. Dowd to strongly urge him not to allow independent counsel Robert Mueller to interview him.  Dowd was convinced...and I believe confirmed in his belief...that Mueller did not have evidence in his Russian investigation to charge Trump with either conspiracy or obstruction, and that his main motive was to trap the President on perjury.  And since he saw Donald Trump as a natural born liar, his attorney knew that Mueller would get him on that...

I recommend Fear, unless of course you've already made up your mind about Donald Trump and won't allow anything to change your narrative.  It tends, in my opinion, to exonerate him from the Russian controversy and explain his suspicious behavior in that area in terms of just being his own self: an extremely narcissistic, selfish and immature boy-man who never admits to being wrong and who never learned that lying is not a good thing.  His propensity for throwing people under the bus makes me marvel as to why anyone would want to work for him...unless they're masochists, that is.  By the way, the book's title is based on one of Trump's espoused tenets: for leadership to work effectively, an atmosphere of fear must be cultivated...