'FEAR' by Bob Woodward

Finished Fr 12/7/18

From the author's page at wikipedia-

"Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter and is now an associate editor there.

While a young reporter for The Washington Post in 1972, Woodward teamed up with Carl Bernstein; the two did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. The work of Woodward and Bernstein was called "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time" by longtime journalism figure Gene Roberts.

Woodward continued to work for The Washington Post after his reporting on Watergate. He has since written 18 books on American politics, 13 of which topped best-seller lists."



My notes for the write up of - 'Fear':

The book reveals Trump to be a narcissistic, headstrong, bully who suffers from low self esteem, although it's not a complete hatchet job. And, the 'Fear' in the title, I think, refers to the complete disarray of the West Wing at the White House. There is no real leadership 'at the top' and how can the most powerful country in the world exist in this manner?

Trump has about the same worldview as the average American fifth grader.

Although he is a major fan of Tweeting, he does not use a computer keyboard and cannot touch type. I thought that this was very weird- prefers 'thumb typing' and obviously very good at it.

He actually believes that he hasn't made a single mistake in all of his 71 years, and he will never admit that he's been wrong.  If anyone who dares to call him on a misstep,  he violently pushes back. 'Never Admit, Always Deny'

Kellyanne Conway- He's an idiot. Crazy Town. Worse job ever.

Dowd; lawyer- couldn't get Trump coached to testify. Had to resign. 'What do you do for a living' turned into a sixteen page answer. This is the hallmark of a very bad witness:  'You are a liar'.

Several staffers taking papers off of Trump's desk to keep the country from falling apart. They do this because Trump's ideas are so obviously wrong and if implemented would cause worldwide disruptions.

Won't listen if his mind is already made up.

What about the Ukrainians interfering to help Hillary? Why aren't they investigating that? The intelligence services knew that this was a Russian bot, but Trump refused to believe it.

Melania's job is to raise their twelve year old son, Baron. She did pitch in to try to stop his position on The Dreamers because she's from a 'shit hole country'. What's that mean that her main job is to raise her son....doesn't he go to school all day.

After Trump's 'Twitter War' with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he wanted to evacuate all American civilians from South Korean. Had no idea what kind of a panic this would cause.

Trump is incapable of empathy

Only thinks in terms of how much it costs. and has no idea about diplomacy, alliances, or pledges and agreements that have been signed by former American leaders.

Likes hot dogs and hamburgers

Watches six to eight hours of TV a day and even devotes time to the 'D List' political discussions on Sunday Morning CNN.

The kind of guy that wouldn't study, but on the night before the test, would borrow his fraternity brothers' notes, study all night, and get a 'C'. He felt he only needed to pass because he was going to become a billionaire.

He has declared bankruptcy six times...THIS ALONE SHOULD HAVE BARRED HIM FROM BECOMING PRESIDENT.

Tillerson, ex-CEO of Exxon/Mobil called him a fucking moron because of his views on Importing more than we Export- (Trade Deficit).   'We can buy excellent TV's for $250 and if they were made here, they would be much more expensive. Consumers can invest this saving into other products, so it's an actual boost to he economy.'


Had an incredibly short attention span. Staffers must pitch accordingly and they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time crafting their positions because of this deficit.