Bob Woodward’s books, in my opinion, qualify neither as
journalism nor as history. I suppose his style is the watered down residue left
by the New Journalism of the 60s and 70s, lacking any of the artistry and
insight comparable to its most famous practitioners like Truman Capote or
Hunter S. Thompson. Where the greatest New Journalism writers had vivid
personalities and perspectives to go along with their talent, Woodward has the
dry, vapid, patrician WASP voice of the Beltway political class. To my
knowledge, he has never addressed the central conundrum raised by his work; the
fact that his easy access to major power players makes him more of a pawn in
their various agendas than an impartial unmasker of the truth. Whether he is
naïve enough to believe that his “deep background” sources are always motivated
by the highest ethics, or accepts that he is part of the game being played in
Washington D.C., it is equally disquieting. I suspect the reality lies
somewhere in between, which is no more reassuring, and the monumental book
sales he enjoys certainly make it easier for him to sweep under the carpet the
implications of what he does, especially in a new era of “fake news” and the
anti-journalism sentiment in the country that gave us, and continues to fuel,
the current administration.
Much like Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury from earlier this year, Fear depends extensively on interview sources who have all quit or
been fired from the White House in the past year-and-a-half; in this case,
apparently, Reince Priebus, H.R. McMaster, Gary Cohn, Rob Porter and others.
But while the Wolff book, a certain flimsiness notwithstanding, had some kind
of structure and a defined, meaningful beginning and end, Woodward’s book
barely attempts to conceal its rushed production. Going more-or-less
chronologically, it seems to jump around between subjects based not on any kind
of logic that will be recognizable to the reader but on whatever his sources
have information on or complaints about. Woodward’s writing would earn him a
solid C in any eighth grade English class. Short, declarative sentences are devoid
of any big words. No pesky quotation marks or italics suggest when characters
are talking versus merely thinking. Descriptions of meetings go on for several
paragraphs before Woodward lets us know who all is in the room.
I don’t doubt that everything in the book is true, at least
from the point-of-view of Woodward’s sources, (even though Woodward himself, as
always, wastes no breath allowing for the possibility that there may be other
sides to the stories). It’s all fascinating and sobering stuff. Highlights:
- Democratic, Jewish New Yorker (and Goldman Sachs president)
Gary Cohn wows Trump and is made chair of the Council of Economic Advisors,
only because Trump had already promised the Treasury Secretary job to Cohn’s
fellow Goldman honcho Steve Mnuchin. Months later, Cohn, now condemned by Trump
as a “globalist,” is reduced to swiping memos out of the Oval Office before
Trump can sign them. (Stealing documents off the president’s desk happens a lot
in this book, an act usually followed by Trump either forgetting entirely about
the issue or bringing it up anew days or weeks later.) Months after that, Cohn
quits once his conscience starts to bother him after Trump fails to see any
difference between conservative activists and neo-Nazis during the
Charlottesville crisis.
- Key cabinet members and staffers repeatedly refer to Trump
as an “idiot,” or more often, “a f***ing idiot.” Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chief of Staff John Kelly all
mutter “idiot” to each other several times. If there’s a centerpiece to the
book, it would probably have to be an extended, dramatic scene in the Pentagon
where the National Security Council has invited Trump to a special tutorial
where they attempt to educate him on foreign affairs. The meeting deteriorates
into Trump folding his arms, shaking his head and saying “No, no, no”
defiantly. (I have to be honest and say that, although the intent was certainly
to demonstrate Trump’s belligerent ignorance about how the world works, I
rather admired his refusal to be intimidated by his committee of experts.
That’s precisely what he was elected to do, wasn’t it?)
- One thing I took away from the book is how clear it is that no one in the administration, past and present, including Trump himself, actually believes that any news from the major outlets is “fake.” In scene after scene, they all freely describe getting their news from CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post and the New York Times; most of all the New York Times. Fox News is used not for news but as a source of comfort and reassurance for the president, and often as a resource of advice; which he accepts just as seriously as he hears the counsel of his staff and cabinet.
Bottom line: If you’re like me and addicted to stories about how dangerously uninformed Trump is, Fear certainly won’t disappoint. If you’re a Trump supporter, you may enjoy the book as evidence of the “deep state”/media conspiracy to undermine the presidency. It’s all of the above, but objectively speaking, I strongly suggest not regarding it as legitimate history as much as a collection of grievances by recently retired Trump advisers, dutifully transcribed by hagiographer-extraordinaire Bob Woodward.
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