Rage

Narration was natural, like Bob Woodward in the room. Some interview segments were dramatic, full on salesman versus journalist. Woodward concludes Trump is dangerous threat and seems to have suppressed an early desire to come to this conclusion. \’Rage’ tells how Covid was downplayed, how Trump\’s methods got denounced by James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, Dan Coats, John Bolton and John Kelly, feeling he\’s disorganized, untrusting of his advisors, changes the subject, repeats himself to run out the clock. Featured is Trump\’s call with Chinese counterpart who denied visas to US health experts, after which Trump messaged corona virus not real concern, looking weak and more concerned about the hotel business. My fave was Lindsey Graham who tried steering Trump to productive directions. Son in law Jared Kushner, described as yin to Trump\’s yang, said of Trump that \”controversy elevates the message.\” Woodward suggested Bill Gates lead Covid response. For Woodward, Covid is defining issue, says presidential power expands over time. I wonder what happens if this trend continues and how presidents make money we don\’t know about.

Woodward does in this book what no one else could have done. He penetrates the consciousness of Donald Trump with deft questioning. He manages to remain tethered to reality and resists the urge to either turn away from Trump in disgust, or fall under his spell. As a reader I felt myself empathizing with Mattis, Coats, Tillerson, and others who tried desperately to manage the impulsive and erratic president and the fallout from his disastrous decisions. More surprisingly, I felt empathy and even a very conflicted gratitude to Kushner and Graham who have managed to maintain trust with Trump while trying in vain to help him grow into the office. Donald Trump is a skilled manipulator and entertainer. He can be charming and seductive, but he is tragically self absorbed. Even when an action is clearly in his self-interest, he is simply incapable of doing it. As a mother of young children, I know when something is simply beyond my child’s developmental capacity. Donald Trump would like voters to see him as a victim. He is, but not a victim of the deep state or the liberal media. He is a victim of his own hubris. He believes he is a great leader and has nothing to learn from others. He is not a leader and making him president was a mistake. Some people may have been able to grow into the office, but he has shown himself unable to do that. This book highlights as no other book I have read that Donald Trump cannot lead. He cannot inspire anything but rage. He is the dynamite behind the door.

Few hours in. Story-telling is excellent and easy to follow while doing other tasks. Narration is exceptional.

If you read ONE book about this administration, read the one with 25% of the content in Trump\’s voice, his own words. Not a second-hand interpretation, no filters, but the \”real\” Donald Trump. Rage is fundamentally a Q & A discussion with Bob Woodward – a talented author who has documented the administrations of 20% of America\’s presidents. There is commentary in the book relating to others in the Trump circle, Woodward notes – primarily details of taped conversations. The author goes to some length conveying authenticity, but there are a few elements of his observations and opinion. Woodward is not a lightweight, and nothing in this book can be disputed. If so, where are the libel suits? Crickets chirp. There are many books documenting the first term of Donald Trump as President of the United States, including Woodward\’s \”Fear\”, Cohen\’s \”Disloyal\”. Books by Mary Trump, John Bolton, Brian Stelter, more, and I\’ve read these and more. Full disclosure: I will not and have not read anything by Sinclair talk radio hosts nor Fox News entertainment anchors. (FYI, Hannity is a dropout – Maddow has a Ph.D. in Political Science – any questions?) That said, it is not likely a Trump devotee will read this book, and that is a tragedy. Rage reveals the real man, worts and all. Narration by Robert Petkoff is fine, just over 13 hours of listening in audiobook format, released by Simon & Shuster on September 15, 2020. Recommended.

The many people who back up these accounts and the deep reporting that is done to understand how Trump operates. It’s actually scary. Woodward does a great job providing an understanding of Trump’s methodology & psychology of his decision making process. I feel like I better understand that I keep thinking Trump is insane when he actually is very calculating which again is very disturbing. I would recommend this book.

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