Rage
Bob Woodward
Investigative Journalist Bob Woodward has written or co-written 19 books - all of them national best sellers - over the last 35 years with 13 of them number 1 national best sellers. He has written books about 9 consecutive presidents and Rage is Woodward's second book about Trump (Fear). Evelyn M. Duffy has assisted Woodward on six books over the past 13 years and Steve Riley has worked with him over the past year. Rage discusses topics and events that have dominated the news for the past four years but the book puts meat on the bone. Woodward and his team build this book around 17 on the record interviews with Trump, 25 personal letters between Trump and North Korea's Kim Jun Ung. Woodward then interviews key reflectors such as Lindsay Graham, James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, Rod Rosenstein, Anthony Fauci, Dan Coats, Jared Kushner, Brad Parscale and others. Woodward and his team also conducted hundreds of hours of interviews under the journalistic ground rule of "deep background" meaning he can use the information but can not say who said it. In Woodward's eyes Trump emerges as a man who sees life and the world as a zero sum game. Someone else's gain is his loss and vice versa. Through the prism of those who surround Trump we learn about his heavy-handedness, lack of loyalty and the depths of the pain and agony he causes all whom he touches. Trump is a man who absorbs all the credit and trashes those around him. Woodward makes us feel their pain. Woodward also shows us the full dimension of Trump's obsession with public relations, media and extravagance. Woodward visits all the important topics - Russia, North Korea, the Covid Pandemic, race, the stock market, and other issues and visits the people around the events. Woodward's coverage of the Covid-19 virus is damning and will provide ample ammunition to Trump's opponents for a very long time. Woodward, especially as the book winds to a close, continually presses Trump on the Covid-19 virus and Trump demonstrates an impressive ability to divert the conversation elsewhere. Woodward lays bare Trump's total imperviousness on issues such as race, where Trump fires up hatred and controversy with racist memes and dog whistles while claiming to do more for the Black Community than any president since Lincoln. Woodward's coverage of the Trump campaign machine is a must read and throughout he peppers the book with stunning observations such as Kushner's claim that controversy elevates the message - with the result that his followers forget the content of the message while remembering that there is a message there somewhere. We have lived through this but Woodward gives us more depth of meaning and a deeper understanding of what truly confronts us and pulls back the curtain to give us a behind the scenes view. Woodward concludes with the message: "When his performance is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job." This is a must read book.