Fear: Trump in the White House is a 2018 (non-fiction, unfortunately) book by Bob Woodward.

For those who don’t know (I feel like most people do, but just in case), Bob Woodward is a renowned journalist best known as part of the Washington Post team that investigated and reported on the Watergate break-ins in the 1970s. This eventually led to scandal, exposing President Richard Nixon as a corrupt, paranoid lunatic and forcing his subsequent resignation of the presidency. Every idealistic teenager who wants to be an investigative journalist wants to be Bob Woodward, and he’s one of the most trusted journalists in the United States.

So Woodward’s investigative efforts carry weight, which is why this book was so damning. The book itself is based on hundred of hours interviews with first hand sources (which Woodward recorded), copious meeting notes, etc…

The book delves into the experiences of the people around President Trump, including but not limited to his (former) personal lawyer John M. Dowd, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and Chief of Staff John M. Kelly. Mattis and Kelly both deny passages about them but it seems unlikely Woodward would flat out lie about them.

This book came out before the midterm elections of Trump’s (first) term, and portrays the administration as chaotic and unprepared, led by a nutcase who was not suitable for the job but who wasn’t even capable of understanding how over his head he was.

I am pretty skeptical on many books based around current affairs, even by journalists as well respected as Woodward, because current affairs are often very nuanced and it’s hard to look at them objectively and gauge how accurate they are without historical hindsight.

That said, I struggle to find fault with this book, even though this book more or less confirms my view of Trump (I am/was not a Trump supporter). I am afraid of confirmation bias, but anybody who grew up on the New York area in the last 30-50 years knows exactly what kind of person Donald Trump is. Full disclosure: I am a 33 year old female from New York who grew up in the Westchester ‘burbs. My entire family on all sides came to the States in the early 1900s and has its roots in the Bronx. I’ve been exposed to Donald Trump for a large part of my life through local media, and my family has been hearing about him for the better part of half a century. The stories/descriptions of his words/actions in this book match previous patterns of things he’s said/done.

Watch what he does, not what he says. If you care to look, you will find stories dating back decades of how he’d hire contractors to do a job and not pay them, knowing they’d have to take the loss because they didn’t have the time or money for a long legal battle. He has a history of belittling employees and his “inferiors.” He shows up to major events unannounced and takes credit for things he had nothing to do with. He talks a big game and never backs it up. He is the worst breed of New Yorker. Every once and a while, he blunders his way into being right about something. The guy is and always has been a loud mouthed, narcissistic conman selling snake oil to the naïve. New Yorkers know this.

Plus, Woodward doesn’t just make shit up. He’s fair and he has a good track record of being critical and skeptical of all people in power, regardless of their political affiliation. I have trouble believing that he would suddenly become a sensationalist with an agenda to push out of dislike of Donald Trump. More likely, he’s observing the realizations of high ranking officials within the administration coming to terms with what at least two generations of New Yorkers who pay attention already know: Trump is not playing twelve dimensional chess, as his supporters and sycophants like to claim. He is in no way, shape, or form, fit to be President of the United States.

This book was disturbing but enjoyable, and the kind of high quality journalism we’ve come to expect from Bob Woodward. It’s a little dated at this point, but I think Woodward’s book will eventually be seen as a reliable record of an uncertain time in American history – a current events book at its best.

Tagged: authors: bob woodward, books: fear: trump in the white house, genre: current affairs, genre: non-fiction