Review: Fear: Trump in the White House

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have refrained from reading books on our current POTUS (as I do with any past POTUS's during their tenure) but decided to read this one simply because I like the journalism of Bob Woodward, who along with Carl Bernstein uncovered the events of Watergate in such great detail. His investigative journalism garnered the Pulitzer for his work at the Washington Post.

The title Fear comes from a comment that Donald Trump made to Woodward during an interview stating "Real Power is - I don't even want to use the word - fear." That really sums up Trump in many ways. He feels he rules with power through intimidation and fear. Others fear him because of the power he holds and uses, unwisely. They fear the effects of knee-jerk reactions and decisions that are made on his own with or without counsel. As a newcomer to politics and Washington, DC, it has been essential that POTUS leans on members of his staff to brief him on all areas affecting his presidency. Most of the time he listens, but it seems that he rarely heeds that advice and instead governs by a spur of the moment decision and reaction.

The focus of this book was on the constant changes in staff through early 2018, relations with North / South Korea, and China, the Mueller investigation, and Trump's obsession with following his own gut instincts and running the government via Twitter. I felt like Woodward was painting Trump to be a new age Nixon. I often found myself wondering if Nixon would have reacted similiarly if Twitter was around for his administration. He also seems as obsessed with watching TV / the news as LBJ was.

I don't feel the book offered any new insights into Trump that have not already being confabulated by the media. However, I trust what Woodward presents and he presents a picture of a, at times, chaotic and energetic administration. Woodward presents the good and the bad. Most of the book follows Steve Bannon's term as White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President. Bannon had been the voice of reason that tried to keep Trump focused on his own agenda. Woodward presents Trump as a person who is often easily distracted by policy threads that slide through his brain. As easily as he narrows in on a topic, he can often be distracted onto a new one. This has given his staff time to do some possible damage control in cases where Trump may not want to wait for needed briefings and direction.

Most of what Woodward focuses on are foreign policy issues and Trump's obsession with making financial decisions. After all, he is a businessman and he is running the country like a business. According to Woodward, he often does not take in the full implications of changes, specifically the strategic repercussions of any foreign policy change. An example being changes in trade agreements with South Korea. Major changes could adversely affect our ability to react to North Korean threats because the US would lose their physical presence in South Korea.

One thing that bothered me about Woodward's writing in this book is the occasional interjection of information that had no bearing on that chapter's thesis. Usually, these were comments about a relative or close staffer. Ivanka was the source of most of these comments. It might be some interjection of a smart-alec or entitled comment that she might make, but had nothing to do with the events being described. Very little was mentioned about Melania or Barron, again, except for one or two comments about something frivolous like Barron interrupting Trump's day for a picture for his friend. It just seemed out of place since 99% of the book is about Trump's governance and relationships with his staff and policy advisors.

The focus of this book is very narrow and not a comprehensive look at Trump's life and all of what he faces as POTUS. This is not a tell-all book and it does not cover the various scandalous topics that have surrounded Trump since he announced his candidacy. I still like Woodward's writing, but I think he would have had a stronger book if he had waited until the end of Trump's administration to see what the final result is of his term as POTUS.

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