Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

Fear: Trump in the White House

by Bob Woodward

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Politics & Power

How far can you trust a book built mostly on deep-background interviews? Woodward's account of Trump's early presidency rests on hundreds of hours of them, and the White House called its stories fabricated. In one scene, Gary Cohn takes a draft letter ending a trade deal with South Korea off Trump's desk.

Core ideas
  • An administrative coup: That's his term for senior aides blocking or stalling orders they judged dangerous, and Trump apparently never noticed the missing letter.
  • Disputed quotes: The book reports Mattis ignoring an order to have Bashar al-Assad killed, and both Mattis and Kelly disputed quotes attributed to them.
  • The Mueller question: John Dowd warned Trump against an interview with Robert Mueller, and the book follows the negotiations with the special counsel.
Published2018
Pages448
ISBN9781501175510
ReadDec 2023

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