Woodward book on Trump

[UncleMark]

Nothing to see here...

Bob Woodward’s new book reveals a ‘nervous breakdown’ of Trump’s presidency

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...f63ab8b1370_story.html?utm_term=.67e063fb9f3f

John Dowd was convinced that President Trump would commit perjury if he talked to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. So, on Jan. 27, the president’s then-personal attorney staged a practice session to try to make his point.

In the White House residence, Dowd peppered Trump with questions about the Russia investigation, provoking stumbles, contradictions and lies until the president eventually lost his cool.

“This thing’s a goddamn hoax,” Trump erupted at the start of a 30-minute rant that finished with him saying, “I don’t really want to testify.”​

 

[Fro]

And before ya'll say it's FAKE NEWS and Woodward is teh biased (even though he legit has tapes of all his sources)

 

[Marvin the Martian]

I took today off and am listening to the discussion of the book. This should be devastating to the White House. Calling Sessions a "dumb southerner" would normally kill any New Yorker in the south. But it will be excused.

 

[twenty02]

LOL...


The book is said to claim:

• One month after Trump became president, he asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford for plans for a preemptive strike on North Korea.
• After a chemical attack in April 2017 was tied to the Syrian regime and President Bashar al-Assad, Trump told Defense Secretary James Mattis that he wanted Assad assassinated, saying, “Let’s ****ing kill him! Let’s go in.”
• During Trump’s practice session with his lawyers for a potential interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, he disastrously melted down — which led his then-attorney John Dowd to tell him, “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.”

Much like Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, the book portrays President Trump as detested and scorned by many of his top advisers, who are said to see themselves as working to protect the country from someone they see as ignorant and irresponsible.

• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly purportedly called Trump an “idiot” and “off the rails,” and said “we’re in Crazytown.”
• Mattis is described as telling associates that Trump acted like, and had the understanding of, “a fifth- or sixth-grader.”
• Former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn purportedly took trade-related documents off Trump’s desk to prevent him from signing them and causing crises.
• Dowd is described as believing Trump to be a “****ing liar.”

Trump himself, meanwhile, is described insulting current or former aides such as Reince Priebus (“like a little rat”), H.R. McMaster (“like a beer salesman”), Jeff Sessions (“mentally retarded, he’s this dumb Southerner”), Wilbur Ross (“past your prime”), and Rudy Giuliani (“you’re like a little baby”).

 

[Bill4411]

LOL...


The book is said to claim:

• One month after Trump became president, he asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford for plans for a preemptive strike on North Korea.
• After a chemical attack in April 2017 was tied to the Syrian regime and President Bashar al-Assad, Trump told Defense Secretary James Mattis that he wanted Assad assassinated, saying, “Let’s ****ing kill him! Let’s go in.”
• During Trump’s practice session with his lawyers for a potential interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, he disastrously melted down — which led his then-attorney John Dowd to tell him, “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.”

Much like Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, the book portrays President Trump as detested and scorned by many of his top advisers, who are said to see themselves as working to protect the country from someone they see as ignorant and irresponsible.

• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly purportedly called Trump an “idiot” and “off the rails,” and said “we’re in Crazytown.”
• Mattis is described as telling associates that Trump acted like, and had the understanding of, “a fifth- or sixth-grader.”
• Former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn purportedly took trade-related documents off Trump’s desk to prevent him from signing them and causing crises.
• Dowd is described as believing Trump to be a “****ing liar.”

Trump himself, meanwhile, is described insulting current or former aides such as Reince Priebus (“like a little rat”), H.R. McMaster (“like a beer salesman”), Jeff Sessions (“mentally retarded, he’s this dumb Southerner”), Wilbur Ross (“past your prime”), and Rudy Giuliani (“you’re like a little baby”).

Thanks Bob for the book as you are probably going to eliminate what little sanity remains in this administration as John Kelly is going to be getting the boot ala Rex Tillerson for saying something negative about the stable genius. Bob to sell a few books you are probably hurting this country as you know Trump supporters won't read it.

 

[Fro]

Thanks Bob for the book as you are probably going to eliminate what little sanity remains in this administration as John Kelly is going to be getting the boot ala Rex Tillerson for saying something negative about the stable genius. Bob to sell a few books you are probably hurting this country as you know Trump supporters won't read it.

I'm going to buy it and print out the Trump tweet I posted earlier and put it on a Trumper's desk at work after I read it.

 

[Ladoga]

I'm going to buy it and print out the Trump tweet I posted earlier and put it on a Trumper's desk at work after I read it.

Has the Trumper been mean and cruel to you? Mistreated you? Take a chill, Fro, hate has you wound around your own axle. You're about to start a fight with someone because they don't share your political view.

 

[Sope Creek]

Has the Trumper been mean and cruel to you? Mistreated you? Take a chill, Fro, hate has you wound around your own axle. You're about to start a fight with someone because they don't share your political view.

LOL.

 

[Sope Creek]

And before ya'll say it's FAKE NEWS and Woodward is teh biased (even though he legit has tapes of all his sources)

View embedded media

Obama must've been a helluva lot better president, to be able to get away with attacking Bob Woodward. Trump's admitting to his own inadequacies . . . like he constantly does.

 

[RBB89]

Has the Trumper been mean and cruel to you? Mistreated you? Take a chill, Fro, hate has you wound around your own axle. You're about to start a fight with someone because they don't share your political view.

Are you for real? You constantly rail against LEFTISTS! on here and how they’re the downfall of civilization. Even though they just disagree with you politically.

He’s going to point out hypocrisy to someone. You’re just a hypocrite.

 

[zeke4ahs]

Love this part: In scenes with Cohn trying to explain trade deficits and the service economy to Trump, answers the question people always ask about Trump. Hasn’t anyone ever told him that XYZ isn’t true? Yes, people often do. It has no impact on his existing thinking.
Lord help us. History and our children are going to wonder how we let this happen. Hope you are comfortable explaining your part .

 

[UncleMark]

Woodward has all his sources on tape, and the book was written directly from those interviews. I'm thinking all the people who have issued denials may not have understood that.

 

[Morrison]

I’m having a hard time accepting the narrative that some officials inside the White House only stay in their jobs to “save the country” from Trump. I’m sure a small few have that mind set, but I think most are looking for an excuse, or even praise for their complicity in working for an unhinged, anti-American buffoon, if and when the history of this administration is written. Paul Ryan recently described himself in this way. I see Paul Ryan as an embarrassingly weak man, however, and I actually liked and respected the guy before he became SOTH.

 

[Scheffler90]

Ok, this is pretty funny.

Woodward pp133: Sean Spicer...tried several times to persuade Mattis to appear on Sunday talk shows... The answer was always no. 'Sean," Mattis finally said, "I've killed people for a living. If you call me again, I'm going to ****ing send you to Afghanistan. Are we clear?"

 

[sglowrider]

8 explosive moments from Donald Trump book
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/8-explosive-moments-bob-woodwards-13194062

1. When the President’s own chief of staff called him an “idiot” and declared: “We’re in crazytown”

General John Kelly, who was brought into the White House team to introduce some discipline - both to Trump and his staff - reportedly fumed at one meeting: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

Kelly denies ever calling Trump an idiot.

2. The John McCain rant

Trump, in a dinner with military chiefs, reportedly claimed former Presidential Candidate and fierce Trump critic John McCain was a “coward” because he had ‘taken early release from a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam because of his father’s military rank.’

In fact, McCain, who died last week, turned down early release, and spent five years being brutally tortured.

3. When Trump called his own Attorney General ‘retarded’

Trump has long been angry about Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation early on.

According to Woodward’s book, Trump said to his staff secretary Rob Porter that Sessions was a “traitor” and added: “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

4. When Trump ordered the assassination of Bashar Al-Assad, but the Defence Secretary ignored him

One astonishing exchange reportedly took place after the Assad regime used chemical weapons on civilians in Syria in April 2017.

Trump reportedly called Defence Secretary James Mattis and yelled: “Let’s f***ing kill him. Let’s go in. Let’s kill the f***ing lot of them.”

According to the account of the exchange in the Washington Post, Mattis told Trump he would get right on it…and then told his staff “We’re not going to do any of that.”

5. This is how former chief of staff Reince Priebus described the atmosphere in the early days of the Trump White House

“When you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls, things start getting nasty and bloody”

6. And this is why Trump’s personal lawyer quit

According to Woodward, lawyer John Dowd staged a practice session in case Trump was called to give an interview to Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
He was reportedly so bad under tough questioning from his own lawyer, Dowd told the President: “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.”
When Trump protested, insisting he’d be a “real good witness”, Dowd reportedly told him “Mr President, I just can’t help you.”

Dowd resigned the next morning.

7. When staffers literally stole papers off Trump’s Oval Office desk so he couldn’t read or sign them

Then-chief economic adviser Gary Cohn reportedly “stole a letter of Trump’s desk” which if the President had signed it would have withdrawn the US from a trade agreement with South Korea.

Trump didn’t notice.

8. ‘I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his a** six different times’

Gary Cohn, who is Jewish, was furious about Trump’s handling of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in August 2017.
After eventually condemning the neo-Nazis behind the rally, Trump reportedly told aides it was “the biggest f***ing mistake I’ve made.”
Cohn eventually decided to quit after his daughter found a swastika daubed on her college dorm room.

Trump convinced him to stay on - but John Kelly told Cohn he was furious too, and he would have “taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his a** six different times.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Its one of those moments when it's funny and scary at the same time!!

 

[futueteipsum]

What do you expect when you have a drumpf in the Oval Orifice?

 

[sglowrider]

Plus if I am not mistaken, Woodward is a Republican.

 

[Scheffler90]

View embedded media

Plus if I am not mistaken, Woodward is a Republican.

He is. If you know his upbringing, he's from very old school GOP set.

That helped him a lot during Watergate. He could get guys like Hugh Sloan to talk because he knew how to talk to them as a fellow Republican, which helped at times because his partner (Bernstein) was a brash liberal who never could gain that same trust.

 

[sglowrider]

Spoiler: Trump Tweet

 

[Morrison]

View embedded media

Spoiler: Trump Tweet

And 95% of, um Southerners, just breathed a sigh of relief now that their honest leader cleared that up for them.

 

[sglowrider]

And 95% of, um Southerners, just breathed a sigh of relief now that their honest leader cleared that up for them.

 

[futueteipsum]

Drumpf yuck.

 

[JamieDimonsBalls]

 

[twenty02]

That's as worthwhile as my used toilet paper.

Bob Woodward isn't a hack that would fabricate material. He's done these books on every admin....and there has been plenty that those people didn't like. But nobody has called the guy dishonest in decades of reporting/writing.

So Trump admin official vs Woodward? I'll take Woodward every day and twice on Sunday.


I'll add....it's all totally believable. These are all very accomplished people, working for someone that's a total shitshow. I've not seen one quote that seems the least bit questionable. It would be like a car salesman came in and started running your investment bank.....while having 0 days experience in banking at any level. But he was great at selling cars and is sure he's the smartest guy in the room.

Everyone would want to kill him immediately.

 

[zeke4ahs]

Yup. Trump retweeted several of those. I would imagine a few will be embarrassed when they hear tapes Woodward has. He’s a Pulitzer Prize winner. He’s not going to ruin his reputation by making things up.

 

[sglowrider]

That's as worthwhile as my used toilet paper.

Bob Woodward isn't a hack that would fabricate material. He's done these books on every admin....and there has been plenty that those people didn't like. But nobody has called the guy dishonest in decades of reporting/writing.

So Trump admin official vs Woodward? I'll take Woodward every day and twice on Sunday.


I'll add....it's all totally believable. These are all very accomplished people, working for someone that's a total shitshow. I've not seen one quote that seems the least bit questionable. It would be like a car salesman came in and started running your investment bank.....while having 0 days experience in banking at any level. But he was great at selling cars and is sure he's the smartest guy in the room.

Everyone would want to kill him immediately.

 

[Scheffler90]

This is typical in such cases to as it relates to the attribution of quotes to WH insiders who still desire to keep their job. And that's the challenge to take for those who are claiming this is fake.......Assuming he did say it, what is the logical alternative to Mattis' reply? What options does he have?

1. Say nothing
2. Confirm it
3. Deny it

1 and 2 will end your job. A Sec Def can't keep his job if he doesn't affirm his support for the President publically and deny the attribution. 2 will end your job just like #1, only faster. #3, while an unfortunate choice, may be the only reasonable option if job security is paramount. Also, there me be risk if POTUS made his staff sign Non-Disclosure/Non-Disparagement Agreements.

 

[zeke4ahs]

Seems pretty important note that Trump’s attorney told him if he testified, he’d be going to jail. Does that sound like an innocent man to you?

 

[sglowrider]

This is typical in such cases to as it relates to the attribution of quotes to WH insiders who still desire to keep their job. And that's the challenge to take for those who are claiming this is fake.......Assuming he did say it, what is the logical alternative to Mattis' reply? What options does he have?

1. Say nothing
2. Confirm it
3. Deny it

1 and 2 will end your job. A Sec Def can't keep his job if he doesn't affirm his support for the President publically and deny the attribution. 2 will end your job just like #1, only faster. #3, while an unfortunate choice, may be the only reasonable option if job security is paramount. Also, there me be risk if POTUS made his staff sign Non-Disclosure/Non-Disparagement Agreements.

Its a good thing that Trump doesnt read -- or the various mentioned players will have to be more imaginative to come up with new tricks (besides stealing documents off his desk etc) to avoid WW3.

 

[Rockfish1]

Trump is a corrupt unfit imbecile. His supporters don’t care because (1) they’re Dunning-Krugers like Trump; or (2) they’re sociopaths like Trump. They are the real problem, not Trump.

 

[sglowrider]

Poor Spicy:

 

[sglowrider]

This they get upset but not everything else!!

What a bunch of spineless self-serving blobs of snot.

 

[anon_mlxxvlbug9dpa]

Trump is a corrupt unfit imbecile. His supporters don’t care because (1) they’re Dunning-Krugers like Trump; or (2) they’re sociopaths like Trump. They are the real problem, not Trump.

It’s literally time to move to President Pence.

https://www.axios.com/bob-woodward-...ump-9f7fa27f-7c8b-4f28-bcc1-99fcb22be315.html

“The book's last paragraph: "n the man and his presidency [former Trump lawyer John] Dowd had seen the tragic flaw. In the political back-and-forth, the evasions, the denials, the tweeting, the obscuring, crying 'Fake News,' the indignation, Trump had one overriding problem that Dowd knew but could not bring himself to say to the president: 'You're a f@#$ing liar.'"​

 

[Sope Creek]

It’s literally time to move to President Pence.

https://www.axios.com/bob-woodward-...ump-9f7fa27f-7c8b-4f28-bcc1-99fcb22be315.html

“The book's last paragraph: "n the man and his presidency [former Trump lawyer John] Dowd had seen the tragic flaw. In the political back-and-forth, the evasions, the denials, the tweeting, the obscuring, crying 'Fake News,' the indignation, Trump had one overriding problem that Dowd knew but could not bring himself to say to the president: 'You're a f@#$ing liar.'"​

That's probably the core problem with Trump, and it manifests itself in him lying to himself to such an extent that he doesn't know reality from his own fantasy . . .

. . . and that begets another flaw that precludes his qualification as president . . .
. . . he doesn't know what he doesn't know. That's an elemental skill for any type of leadership.

 

[anon_mlxxvlbug9dpa]

That's probably the core problem with Trump, and it manifests itself in him lying to himself to such an extent that he doesn't know reality from his own fantasy . . .

. . . and that begets another flaw that preclude his qualification as president . . .
. . . he doesn't know what he doesn't know. That's an elemental skill for any type of leadership.

If half of what those sources told Woodward (on tape is what they’re reporting now) is true, the man is a clear and present danger to the nation.

 

[Sope Creek]

If half of what those sources told Woodward (on tape is what they’re reporting now) is true, the man is a clear and present danger to the nation.

There's no question in my mind that Trump is a clear and present danger to the US because of his character alone. . . and that's without ascertaining in fact whether he is acting under undue influence of Putin, or worse even being a Russian agent.

 

[UncleMark]

Bob Woodward isn't a hack that would fabricate material. He's done these books on every admin....and there has been plenty that those people didn't like. But nobody has called the guy dishonest in decades of reporting/writing.

So Trump admin official vs Woodward? I'll take Woodward every day and twice on Sunday.

It's Shakespearean. Once competent and honorable men are reduced to lying sniveling shills by their association with Trump. They will never be viewed with anything but contempt and derision.

 

[futueteipsum]

Trump is a corrupt unfit imbecile. His supporters don’t care because (1) they’re Dunning-Krugers like Trump; or (2) they’re sociopaths like Trump. They are the real problem, not Trump.

They and the people who knowingly voted for Trump and knowingly still support Trump.

 

[futueteipsum]

View embedded media

This they get upset but not everything else!!

What a bunch of spineless self-serving blobs of snot.

I feel sorry for those with spiny self-serving blobs of snot.

 

[futueteipsum]

It's Shakespearean. Once competent and honorable men are reduced to lying sniveling shills by their association with Trump. They will never be viewed with anything but contempt and derision.

Believe that and I've got a bubble for you...