I've just read Fear, by Bob Woodward. It was available in my library, and an actual book, in Dutch, is still more convenient to read than e-books. It's an interesting read. On Trump I've read The fifth risk (by Lewis), A very stable genius (by Leonnig & Rucker) and Game theory in the age of chaos (Selinker). While good books, they are - admittedly - aimed at sensationalism, and hardly objective if at all. Far more than the others, Woodward tries to make himself invisible, letting the interviewers do the talking. Oh, and perhaps I should note that Fear is Woodward's first book on Trump. He's currently bestselling Rage (which I haven't yet read).
The read was...interesting. I mean, sure, the media has largely pointed out that most if not everyone of his staff thinks Trump's an idiot and/or a liar. All of that was "known" by most non-republicans already at that time (the book is from 2018), and I doubt it convinced many (I mean...IIRC, fire & fury was the first book that outlined that, yes, Trump's character is represented in his tweets). I probably wouldn't even have finished reading the book if it was just Trump being ridiculed.
The interesting part is really how this impression is formed. The sometimes given impression that Donald is lazy or just plays golf is, flat out, wrong. The Trump that gives fiery speeches, that leads meetings and tells others what to do...he does that all the time, it seems. He's passionate about his ideas, has a goal in mind and pushes (well...pushed: the book's 2 years old at this time) the agenda forward. Those are, in itself, very worthy treats.
The thing is: this all is marred with a complete lack of study, an incredible amount of television watching and blatantly ignoring even previously agreed upon things. During the reading, I suddenly realised: "hang on...Trump's acting like my dad!
"
You've probably have persons like this in your family as well. The stubborn-beyond-belief types that you end up ignoring. To me, it has come to confrontations with my dad. When I was young, he renovated our childhood home. Didn't exactly learn much and did it his own way (with help from a few friends), but...it held. As a kid I didn't know much better, so I didn't think of it much. At most a "hey...other houses look nicer!" at times. But now that my girlfriend and me have bought a house, and my father-in-law turns out to be a great handyman...my dad feels left out. There are jobs at our house we planned on doing this way, but he insisted it had to be that way. We started with explaining. He...sort of listened and looked away...and after some days he still insisted we should do it that way. It took me at least a dozen tries to get him using e-mail properly, each of the repeating times making the exact same mistakes. Often with a "...but it SHOULD work THIS way. Why doesn't it work THIS way?". As if I personally wrote the entire world's mailing protocol as well as outlook.
Luckily for the world (and especially any staff), my dad isn't president of the USA. It's one thing to constantly forget how to use e-mail...but quite something different if it's about global trading. The book describes how Gary Cohn made all sorts of preparations on why a trade deficit wasn't bad and even profitable to the USA. Trump didn't read it, but instead put him against probably the only economist that followed Trump's idea that trade deficits were bad (Peter Navarro). The result was one of many internal fights that would turn the white house into a 'game of thrones'-like situation where the staff had to engage in all sorts of activities to prevent disasters. Both Rob Porter (Trump's assistant) and Gary Cohn describe how they've stolen documents from Trump's desk before he could sign them. This went without consequences because Trump isn't one to follow up on something.
Another feud was between Bannon and Jared & Ivanka. It has since been public knowledge, but at least at the start, neither Jared nor Ivanka had any official clearance...yet they acted as if they owned the place. Reince Priebus is described as a chief of staff who sort of wants to keep things running smoothly, but is sabotaged on any sides. The interesting part is that Trump is never directly blamed for all these internal wars: he acts at best as if he's just a witness, but it's pretty implied that he's sowing intrigue for his own benefit. Like when Lindsey Graham and another republican (forgot the name) came to talk to Trump about an immigration proposal, they were greeted with an entire "lynching party" who shot holes all in their reasoning.
The funny thing is: Trump is pretty clear in all of this. I mean...erm...How do I explain this? Look: if you're asking yourself why amnesia happens so much in stories, it's because of a simple reason: it allows the author to tell a story from scratch. It allows the audience to feel for the character because they're equally ignorant of the world, the upcoming story, the central conflict...whatever's the story is about. Politics, on the other hand, is usually a heavy subject because it doesn't just "start" at some point. The current politics have reasons that are rooted in the past for reasons the general audience often doesn't care to understand.
So in that sense, voters got exactly what they requested with Trump: someone who has no idea how politics work yet has A Very Clear Opinion On What Should Be Done. And boy, does he talk BUSINESS in this book! "Our army is in Afghanistan. What are they doing there? Why aren't the locals paying them? Why don't we pull all our troops back?".
I won't lie: as an European, I sort of wanted to be in that meeting between Trump and his generals. With popcorn. The USA (or at least the army) considers itself the police force of the democratic world. But the local population considers the US invaders forcing a standard of living they simply do not care about, let alone want. Of course the top of the army is offended to be regarded as mere mercenaries. Like...my position's not too different from Trump, but at the very least respect the guys who risk their lives and - more important - the lives of their men on the field! But no...the meeting was held by the top army staff to try to persuade Trump into their view of the world and how it should kept safe...and instead it blew up in all sorts of ways.
You remember the Rocketman tweets? Well...a lot of their staff had all the trouble in the world both averting Trump from actually sending a tweet that would cause nuclear war AND keeping South Korea as an ally ("no, they don't pay us for our presence. But we can intercept missiles heading to the US FAR more efficiently from there!").
The Mueller investigation wasn't over by the time this book was released (and hadn't gotten to Cohen yet...at least he's not mentioned anywhere). But on this one, I've got to agree mostly with republican critics that Trump was convicted without due trial. Flynn talking to Russians was a mistake, but all seems to point that Trump simply had no idea that this was political suicide. Dowd, Trump's representative in this situation, comes across as a smart guy. The thing is: he accidentally pretty much proves that Trump ordered Comey to go easy on Flynn. If my knowledge of US history is intact, that fact's akin to that Saturday Night Massacre that lead to Nixon's impeachment. But it's Dowd who plays it smart and goes against the president's wish to be interrogated by Mueller. For the reason he cannot really say to his client: that Trump is a notorious liar.
The book stops pretty abrupt, but considering it was only the first two years of the presidency, that was to be expected. But my main takeaway is how NORMAL everything seemed to be just two years ago. Of course an escalating trade conflict out of nowhere, nearly a nuclear war with North Korea, ripping up Iran's nuclear deal (also against most of the staff's desire, btw) and more feuds than in Shakespearean drama's is pretty hefty, but compared to that longest government shutdown, the Ukranian affair, Stormy Daniels, Cohen's testimony and - of course - the pandemic manhandling it's like it's not so bad. Like I said: my own father would barely be a better president. So...yeah.
The read was...interesting. I mean, sure, the media has largely pointed out that most if not everyone of his staff thinks Trump's an idiot and/or a liar. All of that was "known" by most non-republicans already at that time (the book is from 2018), and I doubt it convinced many (I mean...IIRC, fire & fury was the first book that outlined that, yes, Trump's character is represented in his tweets). I probably wouldn't even have finished reading the book if it was just Trump being ridiculed.
The interesting part is really how this impression is formed. The sometimes given impression that Donald is lazy or just plays golf is, flat out, wrong. The Trump that gives fiery speeches, that leads meetings and tells others what to do...he does that all the time, it seems. He's passionate about his ideas, has a goal in mind and pushes (well...pushed: the book's 2 years old at this time) the agenda forward. Those are, in itself, very worthy treats.
The thing is: this all is marred with a complete lack of study, an incredible amount of television watching and blatantly ignoring even previously agreed upon things. During the reading, I suddenly realised: "hang on...Trump's acting like my dad!
"You've probably have persons like this in your family as well. The stubborn-beyond-belief types that you end up ignoring. To me, it has come to confrontations with my dad. When I was young, he renovated our childhood home. Didn't exactly learn much and did it his own way (with help from a few friends), but...it held. As a kid I didn't know much better, so I didn't think of it much. At most a "hey...other houses look nicer!" at times. But now that my girlfriend and me have bought a house, and my father-in-law turns out to be a great handyman...my dad feels left out. There are jobs at our house we planned on doing this way, but he insisted it had to be that way. We started with explaining. He...sort of listened and looked away...and after some days he still insisted we should do it that way. It took me at least a dozen tries to get him using e-mail properly, each of the repeating times making the exact same mistakes. Often with a "...but it SHOULD work THIS way. Why doesn't it work THIS way?". As if I personally wrote the entire world's mailing protocol as well as outlook.
Luckily for the world (and especially any staff), my dad isn't president of the USA. It's one thing to constantly forget how to use e-mail...but quite something different if it's about global trading. The book describes how Gary Cohn made all sorts of preparations on why a trade deficit wasn't bad and even profitable to the USA. Trump didn't read it, but instead put him against probably the only economist that followed Trump's idea that trade deficits were bad (Peter Navarro). The result was one of many internal fights that would turn the white house into a 'game of thrones'-like situation where the staff had to engage in all sorts of activities to prevent disasters. Both Rob Porter (Trump's assistant) and Gary Cohn describe how they've stolen documents from Trump's desk before he could sign them. This went without consequences because Trump isn't one to follow up on something.
Another feud was between Bannon and Jared & Ivanka. It has since been public knowledge, but at least at the start, neither Jared nor Ivanka had any official clearance...yet they acted as if they owned the place. Reince Priebus is described as a chief of staff who sort of wants to keep things running smoothly, but is sabotaged on any sides. The interesting part is that Trump is never directly blamed for all these internal wars: he acts at best as if he's just a witness, but it's pretty implied that he's sowing intrigue for his own benefit. Like when Lindsey Graham and another republican (forgot the name) came to talk to Trump about an immigration proposal, they were greeted with an entire "lynching party" who shot holes all in their reasoning.
The funny thing is: Trump is pretty clear in all of this. I mean...erm...How do I explain this? Look: if you're asking yourself why amnesia happens so much in stories, it's because of a simple reason: it allows the author to tell a story from scratch. It allows the audience to feel for the character because they're equally ignorant of the world, the upcoming story, the central conflict...whatever's the story is about. Politics, on the other hand, is usually a heavy subject because it doesn't just "start" at some point. The current politics have reasons that are rooted in the past for reasons the general audience often doesn't care to understand.
So in that sense, voters got exactly what they requested with Trump: someone who has no idea how politics work yet has A Very Clear Opinion On What Should Be Done. And boy, does he talk BUSINESS in this book! "Our army is in Afghanistan. What are they doing there? Why aren't the locals paying them? Why don't we pull all our troops back?".
I won't lie: as an European, I sort of wanted to be in that meeting between Trump and his generals. With popcorn. The USA (or at least the army) considers itself the police force of the democratic world. But the local population considers the US invaders forcing a standard of living they simply do not care about, let alone want. Of course the top of the army is offended to be regarded as mere mercenaries. Like...my position's not too different from Trump, but at the very least respect the guys who risk their lives and - more important - the lives of their men on the field! But no...the meeting was held by the top army staff to try to persuade Trump into their view of the world and how it should kept safe...and instead it blew up in all sorts of ways.
You remember the Rocketman tweets? Well...a lot of their staff had all the trouble in the world both averting Trump from actually sending a tweet that would cause nuclear war AND keeping South Korea as an ally ("no, they don't pay us for our presence. But we can intercept missiles heading to the US FAR more efficiently from there!").
The Mueller investigation wasn't over by the time this book was released (and hadn't gotten to Cohen yet...at least he's not mentioned anywhere). But on this one, I've got to agree mostly with republican critics that Trump was convicted without due trial. Flynn talking to Russians was a mistake, but all seems to point that Trump simply had no idea that this was political suicide. Dowd, Trump's representative in this situation, comes across as a smart guy. The thing is: he accidentally pretty much proves that Trump ordered Comey to go easy on Flynn. If my knowledge of US history is intact, that fact's akin to that Saturday Night Massacre that lead to Nixon's impeachment. But it's Dowd who plays it smart and goes against the president's wish to be interrogated by Mueller. For the reason he cannot really say to his client: that Trump is a notorious liar.
The book stops pretty abrupt, but considering it was only the first two years of the presidency, that was to be expected. But my main takeaway is how NORMAL everything seemed to be just two years ago. Of course an escalating trade conflict out of nowhere, nearly a nuclear war with North Korea, ripping up Iran's nuclear deal (also against most of the staff's desire, btw) and more feuds than in Shakespearean drama's is pretty hefty, but compared to that longest government shutdown, the Ukranian affair, Stormy Daniels, Cohen's testimony and - of course - the pandemic manhandling it's like it's not so bad. Like I said: my own father would barely be a better president. So...yeah.
