- I’ve always found the Bob Woodward books I’ve read rather tedious and hard-going. His prose is anything but fluent. But this one is a riveting read because it’s mainly conversations between the players in a madhouse (via subsequent interviews recorded with permission). And they hold nothing back. It’s war.
- ‘Fear’ is not a good title. ‘Mayhem’, ‘Madhouse’, ‘Dysfunction’, ‘Chaos’, would have been far better. They mean a lot more, and are far more accurate and powerful descriptions of the essence of Trump and the cause of the constant frustrations of his staff.
- The book is a collection of fascinating and detailed snippets and conversations about all sorts of things that went on in Trump’s White House after the election. McMaster’s job interview with Trump and Bannon is a classic! (86ff)
- Chapter 14 on Lebanon/Hezbollah/Iran v Israel/Saudi Arabia is enlightening and frightening at the same time.
- Chapter 17 on trade is about profound ignorance versus facts and expertise. Guess which side Trump is on.
- What surprises me is that there were a number of reasonably competent, intelligent and cool-headed members of Trump’s White House staff amidst the caravan of fools and toadies. National Security and Trade officials in particular were always trying to contain Trump’s worst impulses, eg, Gary Cohn, H.R.McMaster, James Mattis, Rob Porter. Even Steve Bannon, for God’s sake, sometimes comes across as one of the wiser heads. (Even though Bannon’s shtick is seeing ‘enemies’ everywhere, China in particular).
- Trump’s tweets infuriate every one of them. He’s uncontrollable. But they’re his ‘megaphone to his base’ as Hope Hicks described it. He needs Twitter, unfiltered.
- ‘It’s all bullshit’ is a favourite Trump phrase. That's how he constantly describes the rules-based international democratic order that has brought stability, security and prosperity for decades. ‘Trade deficits are growing the US economy’ Cohn asserted. ‘I don’t want to hear that’ Trump said. ‘It’s all bullshit!’
- ‘He’s a fucking moron’, Tillerson said after one particularly crazy meeting. ‘He’s an idiot’ said Kelly. ‘You’re a fucking liar’ thought John Dowd, Trump’s lawyer for the Mueller investigation.
- But sometimes Trump gets it right - On Afghanistan, Trump told Porter, ‘It’s a disaster there. It’s never going to be a functioning democracy. We ought to just exit completely’.
- The major reason this book works as a riveting story is that Woodward brings all the main players alive. They are characters in a novel. You feel all their frustrations.
- It is impossible to imagine Trump having another four year term in office. Madness would no doubt descend to utter calamity.
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