The Washington Post obtained an advance copy of legendary reporter Bob Woodward’s soon-to-be-released White House memoir “Fear.”
Here are the most stunning episodes from the report:
Trump constantly mocks and puts down his own staff
- Trump called former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus a “little rat” who “scurries around”
- Trump said former Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster dresses like a “beer salesman”
- Trump told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that he was “past his prime” and that he didn’t trust him to make deals
- Trump said that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is “mentally retarded” and a “dumb Southerner”
White House staffers often mock the President behind his back and fight internally
- Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that Trump has the understanding of “a fifth or sixth grader”
- Chief of Staff John Kelly called Trump an “idiot” and said that being his chief of staff was “the worst job” he ever had
- Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called Ivanka Trump just a “goddamn staffer” —she retorted that as first daughter, she would never be a regular staffer
Trump told Mattis to “fucking kill” Assad
Trump told Mattis to “fucking kill” Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad after he attacked his own people, and Mattis ignored the order and deescalated the situation after the President left. Trump also reportedly asked for plans of a preemptive military strike on North Korea only one month into his presidency.
Trump waffled on testifying for the Mueller probe, frustrating legal team
Trump and his legal team did a mock sit-down interview with a fake Special Counsel Robert Mueller—it did not go well.
Per the Washington Post, after grilling, Trump exploded, saying: “This thing’s a goddamn hoax” and “I don’t really want to testify.”
Later, Trump’s former personal attorney John Dowd told the President to his face about how he’d fare in the real scenario when the President gained confidence in his abilities again.
“Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit,” Dowd reportedly told Trump.
“I’ll be a real good witness,” Trump told Dowd, according to Woodward.
“You are not a good witness,” Dowd replied. “Mr. President, I’m afraid I just can’t help you.”
Dowd resigned the next morning.
Read the full Washington Post report here.
Not all that shocking to me. Juicy, yes. Shocking, no.
Whoa daddy… I gotta get this book. No doubt about it
It is not often one sees the words “fucking idiot” on cnn tv or .com
Dear G-d, please oh please oh please let him testify…
The biggest tell is not the Trump is crazy and an idiot, that ought to be clear to everyone. What is most interesting to me is the reporting this am that Trump is mad that Woodward did not interview him. Trump continues to think he is so smart and can fix it all, and believes that had he just been able to talk to the legendary Woodward he would have convinced him about what a stable genius he is.
His staff knows better and blocked an interview, Trump is now fuming.
Along with Trump’s craziness and stupidity and impulsiveness is a huge dose of narcissism, which will ultimately be his undoing.
I’ll add a link to the very revealing phone call with Woodward about Trump wanting to be interviewed, but his staff keeping it from him. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/04/transcript-phone-call-between-president-trump-journalist-bob-woodward/?utm_term=.f39e0e7201f2 entire process of trying to shield Trump from his own crazy is very clear.
The understanding of a 5th or 6th grader?
Nah, my grandson who is a 4th grader is waaaay ahead of trump.