1.トランプ本は"Devil's Bargain","Fire and Fury"と合わせて三冊読みましたが、これが一番面白くて確かなのでまずはこれを読みましょう。
2.作品の中ではトランプさん随分と意地悪な描かれ方をしてますが、既得権益と戦おうと思ったら物わかりの良い態度は取れないし、既得権益側がそれを描写したらこの作品のようになるんじゃないですかね?最近、オバマよりトランプの方が大統領として後世に影響を与える可能性を指摘する声がちらほらと聞こえてきますが、それはそのような事情によるものと思います。
3. そういえば、最近ナバロが「トランプ大統領の関税に関する考えに正当な評価を」とする記事をWSJ紙に書いていましたね。
4.本社は2017年初頭で終わっていますが、それから2年経ってホワイトハウスチームの熟れ具合も変わってきているように見えます。続編を是非期待したいです。

無料のKindleアプリをダウンロードして、スマートフォン、タブレット、またはコンピューターで今すぐKindle本を読むことができます。Kindleデバイスは必要ありません。
ウェブ版Kindleなら、お使いのブラウザですぐにお読みいただけます。
携帯電話のカメラを使用する - 以下のコードをスキャンし、Kindleアプリをダウンロードしてください。
Fear: Trump in the White House ペーパーバック – 2018/9/11
英語版
Bob Woodward
(著)
THE INSIDE STORY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, AS ONLY BOB WOODWARD CAN TELL IT.
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.
Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.
Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.
- 本の長さ448ページ
- 言語英語
- 出版社Simon & Schuster Ltd
- 発売日2018/9/11
- ISBN-101471181308
- ISBN-13978-1471181306
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レビュー
'In the worldwide capital of leaks and anonymous dishing that is Washington, secrets can be almost impossible to keep. But somehow over the past 19 months, the fact that America’s most famous investigative journalist was quietly chipping away at a book that delves into the dysfunctions of President Trump’s White House remained largely unknown.' ― The Washington Post
'Senior officials, acting as lone wolves concerned with preserving their own reputations, spoke to Woodward on their own ― with some granting him hours of their time out of a fear of being the last person in the room to offer his or her viewpoint. As one former administration official put it: "He hooked somebody, and that put the fear of God in everyone else." Another former official added: "It’s gonna be killer. Everyone talked with Woodward.”' ― Politico
'Donald Trump is about to get the Bob Woodward treatment.' ― CNN
'He has an extraordinary ability to get otherwise responsible adults to spill [their] guts to him...his ability to get people to talk about stuff they shouldn’t be talking about is just extraordinary and may be unique.' -- Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense, on Woodward
'I think you’ve always been fair.' -- President Donald J. Trump, in a call to Bob Woodward, August 14, 2018
'The sheer weight of anecdotes depicts a man with no empathy and a pathological capacity for lying.' ― The Financial Times
'Fuelling his narrative is an astonishing cast of rogues, ideologues, self-made millionaires and men in uniform who have spent the past two years in and out of Trump's administration.' ― The Sunday Times
'Woodward’s meticulous account of office intrigues, the president’s men don’t seem to be trembling with fright. What they mostly feel is contempt for Trump or pity for his ignorance and the “teenage logic” of his obsessively vented grievances.' ― The Observer
'Horribly fascinating. Strongly recommended. If you can bear it.' -- Richard Dawkins
'To me the standout message from the book...is that the president is a bit clueless, a bit vain, a bit dangerous even; but his people are utterly at sea…’ -- Justin Webb ― The Times
'He is the master and I'd trust him over politicians of either party any day of the week.' -- Peter Baker ― New York Times
'His work has been factually unassailable . . . In an age of ‘alternative facts’ and corrosive tweets about ‘fake news,’ Woodward is truth’s gold standard.' -- Jill Abramson ― The Washington Post
'Fear depicts a White House awash in dysfunction, where the Lord of the Fliesis the closest thing to an owner's manual.' ― The Guardian
'I wonder how many journalists have arrived in Washington over the years dreaming of becoming the next Bob Woodward . . . Though his books are often sensational, he is the opposite of sensationalist. He’s diligent, rigorous, fastidious about the facts, and studiously ethical. There’s something almost monastic about his method . . . He’s Washington's chronicler in chief.' -- Nick Bryant ― BBC
'I’ve been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn’t like. But never once―never―did I think Woodward made it up. Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays is straight.Someone told it to him.' -- Ari Fleisher, White House Press Secretary for George W. Bush
'Senior officials, acting as lone wolves concerned with preserving their own reputations, spoke to Woodward on their own ― with some granting him hours of their time out of a fear of being the last person in the room to offer his or her viewpoint. As one former administration official put it: "He hooked somebody, and that put the fear of God in everyone else." Another former official added: "It’s gonna be killer. Everyone talked with Woodward.”' ― Politico
'Donald Trump is about to get the Bob Woodward treatment.' ― CNN
'He has an extraordinary ability to get otherwise responsible adults to spill [their] guts to him...his ability to get people to talk about stuff they shouldn’t be talking about is just extraordinary and may be unique.' -- Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense, on Woodward
'I think you’ve always been fair.' -- President Donald J. Trump, in a call to Bob Woodward, August 14, 2018
'The sheer weight of anecdotes depicts a man with no empathy and a pathological capacity for lying.' ― The Financial Times
'Fuelling his narrative is an astonishing cast of rogues, ideologues, self-made millionaires and men in uniform who have spent the past two years in and out of Trump's administration.' ― The Sunday Times
'Woodward’s meticulous account of office intrigues, the president’s men don’t seem to be trembling with fright. What they mostly feel is contempt for Trump or pity for his ignorance and the “teenage logic” of his obsessively vented grievances.' ― The Observer
'Horribly fascinating. Strongly recommended. If you can bear it.' -- Richard Dawkins
'To me the standout message from the book...is that the president is a bit clueless, a bit vain, a bit dangerous even; but his people are utterly at sea…’ -- Justin Webb ― The Times
'He is the master and I'd trust him over politicians of either party any day of the week.' -- Peter Baker ― New York Times
'His work has been factually unassailable . . . In an age of ‘alternative facts’ and corrosive tweets about ‘fake news,’ Woodward is truth’s gold standard.' -- Jill Abramson ― The Washington Post
'Fear depicts a White House awash in dysfunction, where the Lord of the Fliesis the closest thing to an owner's manual.' ― The Guardian
'I wonder how many journalists have arrived in Washington over the years dreaming of becoming the next Bob Woodward . . . Though his books are often sensational, he is the opposite of sensationalist. He’s diligent, rigorous, fastidious about the facts, and studiously ethical. There’s something almost monastic about his method . . . He’s Washington's chronicler in chief.' -- Nick Bryant ― BBC
'I’ve been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn’t like. But never once―never―did I think Woodward made it up. Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays is straight.Someone told it to him.' -- Ari Fleisher, White House Press Secretary for George W. Bush
著者について
Bob Woodward is an associate editor at The Washington Post where he has worked for 49 years and reported on every American president from Nixon to Trump. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first for the Post's coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second 20 years later as the lead Post reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
著者について
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トップレビュー
上位レビュー、対象国: 日本
レビューのフィルタリング中に問題が発生しました。後でもう一度試してください。
2021年4月4日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
バイデン政権になって, はや3か月.
トランプ大統領というと, 遠い過去のようですが,
あの時, あの場所, ホワイトハウスで何が語られて
何がどのように決定されていたのか.
非常に細かい描写で, 彼の言動や性格が非常によく
わかる1冊となっています (^^)/
歴史の教科書では書けない米国外交政策の裏側.
そんな生々しい国際情勢を知りたい方にはおススメ.
※ 日本では馴染みのない政治家の登場も多いため,
星は1つマイナスで4つにさせていただきました.
トランプ大統領というと, 遠い過去のようですが,
あの時, あの場所, ホワイトハウスで何が語られて
何がどのように決定されていたのか.
非常に細かい描写で, 彼の言動や性格が非常によく
わかる1冊となっています (^^)/
歴史の教科書では書けない米国外交政策の裏側.
そんな生々しい国際情勢を知りたい方にはおススメ.
※ 日本では馴染みのない政治家の登場も多いため,
星は1つマイナスで4つにさせていただきました.
2019年9月6日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
good quality product ...hey ...bob woodward... what else is there to say about mr. watergate 😀
2019年3月1日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
B.Woodswardは辛辣なjournalist、あまり好みではないが
読むほどにTrumpの人柄にtytle 通りの「恐怖」お覚える。
米国ではこんな人物でも大統領になれるんだ。自浄能力も
あること期待して。
読むほどにTrumpの人柄にtytle 通りの「恐怖」お覚える。
米国ではこんな人物でも大統領になれるんだ。自浄能力も
あること期待して。
2018年9月23日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
米国内で流れているトランプ関係のニュースを追っていて、他のトランプ関連の書籍を読んでいれば、半分以上はもう分かっている情報。残りは、本書の紹介で報道されている内容。
インタビュー相手は明示してないけど、これを読むと誰が情報源かは大体分かる。
本書の内容は、Paul ManafortやMichael CohenたちがMuellerへの協力に応じる前で終わっている。
タイミングとしてはJohn Dowdが辞めるまで。
あまりにも内容が薄いので、ちょっと期待外れ。
Bob Woodwardの本を読むのはThe Commanders以来で、The Commandersは良かったから期待していたんだけど。
でも、日本メディアの報道しか見ていないのであれば、満足できるかもしれない。
インタビュー相手は明示してないけど、これを読むと誰が情報源かは大体分かる。
本書の内容は、Paul ManafortやMichael CohenたちがMuellerへの協力に応じる前で終わっている。
タイミングとしてはJohn Dowdが辞めるまで。
あまりにも内容が薄いので、ちょっと期待外れ。
Bob Woodwardの本を読むのはThe Commanders以来で、The Commandersは良かったから期待していたんだけど。
でも、日本メディアの報道しか見ていないのであれば、満足できるかもしれない。
2018年9月17日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
キンドルで予約していたら発売日の前に届いた。仕事の合間に読むのに1週間かかったが、調査報道の常道で迫力ある現場再現力で、半分以上の章が面白く読めた。
議会と司法によりチェックされる権限の抜け穴ををうまく使って大統領令を乱発し、公約の実現を図っているが、GSやエクソン出身の自分が指名した高官からはバカにされ、司法からはロシア疑惑の捜査を受け、議会対策も思うようにいかず、孤独をまぎらわすために1日6-8時間も自分が扱われているニュースショーを見てツイートするという、ファミリービジネスの自意識の強いワンマンオーナーが大統領になれるのがアメリカという国の面白いところ。ティラーソンが首になったマスコミへのリークも自分で最初にするところなど、愛すべき人間だ。
国の三権分立の統治の仕組みがしっかりしているので、大統領ともいえ、やりたい放題にはできないところが面白い。某国の首相のほうがそんたくする官僚と公認で縛られた議員を従えて、トランプよりはるかにやりたいほうだいができるのではなかろうか。
議会と司法によりチェックされる権限の抜け穴ををうまく使って大統領令を乱発し、公約の実現を図っているが、GSやエクソン出身の自分が指名した高官からはバカにされ、司法からはロシア疑惑の捜査を受け、議会対策も思うようにいかず、孤独をまぎらわすために1日6-8時間も自分が扱われているニュースショーを見てツイートするという、ファミリービジネスの自意識の強いワンマンオーナーが大統領になれるのがアメリカという国の面白いところ。ティラーソンが首になったマスコミへのリークも自分で最初にするところなど、愛すべき人間だ。
国の三権分立の統治の仕組みがしっかりしているので、大統領ともいえ、やりたい放題にはできないところが面白い。某国の首相のほうがそんたくする官僚と公認で縛られた議員を従えて、トランプよりはるかにやりたいほうだいができるのではなかろうか。
2018年11月30日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
本書で読む限り、トランプ大統領と言う「政治家」は、「政治家」の体をなしていない。街の飲み屋で酔っぱらったオッサンの素人政談か、わけしり顔の政治通が、床屋さんか、タクシーで垂れる政治講釈に過ぎない。
プロの政治家であれば、国内外の世論に配慮し、各種の情勢を分析し、制度上の制約を踏まて、結論を出すのだろう。ある種の「庶民感覚」で言えば、難しそうな小理屈を並べて学識を自慢し、挙句には、出来ない理由にするだけだと言うことになる。その対極にあるアマチュアの政治家がトランプ大統領と言うことになる。本書の中でも、専門知識を持つ閣僚や側近が、匙を投げ、自ら辞職し、或いは更迭されて行く。だが、中間選挙の結果は、想定内に収まった。アマチュア大統領「トランプ」の「偉大さ」を理解するには、最適の一冊だと思う。
トランプ大統領のアマチュアリズムは、米国と世界の政治をかき回しているのだが、予算や行政が混乱してまったくの機能不全に陥っている訳ではない。本書の中でも再三出てくるのだが、法律上出来ない、手続き上必要だと言われれば、大統領と言っても好き勝手は出来ない。トランプさんも不満気ではあるが、反論できるだけの法律や行政の知識がないので突破できない。「適正手続きの保障」、「手続き的正義の重視」と言う、米国の政治制度の偉大さも良く分かった。
政治におけるアマチュアリズムって厄介ですね。
プロの政治家であれば、国内外の世論に配慮し、各種の情勢を分析し、制度上の制約を踏まて、結論を出すのだろう。ある種の「庶民感覚」で言えば、難しそうな小理屈を並べて学識を自慢し、挙句には、出来ない理由にするだけだと言うことになる。その対極にあるアマチュアの政治家がトランプ大統領と言うことになる。本書の中でも、専門知識を持つ閣僚や側近が、匙を投げ、自ら辞職し、或いは更迭されて行く。だが、中間選挙の結果は、想定内に収まった。アマチュア大統領「トランプ」の「偉大さ」を理解するには、最適の一冊だと思う。
トランプ大統領のアマチュアリズムは、米国と世界の政治をかき回しているのだが、予算や行政が混乱してまったくの機能不全に陥っている訳ではない。本書の中でも再三出てくるのだが、法律上出来ない、手続き上必要だと言われれば、大統領と言っても好き勝手は出来ない。トランプさんも不満気ではあるが、反論できるだけの法律や行政の知識がないので突破できない。「適正手続きの保障」、「手続き的正義の重視」と言う、米国の政治制度の偉大さも良く分かった。
政治におけるアマチュアリズムって厄介ですね。
2019年6月24日に日本でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
内面がある程度わかりましたがやはりこの大統領は好きになれない。
他の国からのトップレビュー

Carlos
5つ星のうち5.0
Emocionante
2021年6月9日にブラジルでレビュー済みAmazonで購入
Excelente para melhorar a compreensão da língua inglesa. Bem escrito, prendeu minha atenção do começo ao fim.

K Spencer
5つ星のうち5.0
Well written and informative
2023年11月26日に英国でレビュー済みAmazonで購入
Excellent book

J A
5つ星のうち5.0
Impartial journalism
2020年9月24日にスペインでレビュー済みAmazonで購入
An excellent read from start to finish. A true insight into the Trump campaign and the first years of his presidency.

Mariana Nolasco
5つ星のうち5.0
Para entender el período presidencial de Trump, debe leerse a Woodward
2018年11月21日にメキシコでレビュー済みAmazonで購入
Bob Woodward siempre es una buena opción para leer, sin embargo, FEAR sobrepasa por mucho cualquier otro libro del autor. Su investigación nos delata todo lo que ha estado ocurriendo en la casa blanca por la llegada de Trump, y resuelve muchas preguntas que podamos hacernos sobre la administración.

gerald t. slevin
5つ星のうち5.0
Donald Trump's Demotion & Mike Pence's Promotion! When and How?
2018年9月11日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済みAmazonで購入
Bob Woodward has done it again. "Fear" is a remarkable and important book, especially because it is so current and revealing and is vouched for by this very credible reporter. Woodward's book confirms in much greater detail many earlier and less credible reports, plus many others --- establishing clearly that Donald Trump is not fit to be the US president --- politically, intellectually, psychologically or morally. Moreover, his erratic behavior is a threat to US national security, as Woodward's book and recent TV interviews make very clear. Of course, most of the media attention on this book has been and will continue to be on Woodward's many shocking scoops. The most important question, however, that the book raises, for me at least, is "When and how will Trump's reckless rule be retired?"
Mike Pence, the "Shadow President" and Trump's hand picked successor, will from many indications become president in the months following the November 6 election. That seems to be a high probability, even without Special Counsel Robert Mueller's likely devastating report on the Russian conspiracy to influence illegally the 2016 presidential elections and the related cover up obstructing Mueller's investigation of this conspiracy . The only unknown now is when and how Trump goes--- by the impeachment process or by simple resignation like Nixon did. We can expect Pence will then give Trump a full pardon, after Trump fully pardons some family members and close associates. Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort need not hold their breath waiting for a pardon. Trump, some of his family members and close associates will, of course, still be at risk of state law prosecutions, expecially in NY.
Trump has long used fear to exercise power over others. Fear, as Machiavelli strongly recommended five centuries ago to a corrupt pope's nephew, is preferable to and more effective than kindness. Paradoxically, Trump's own deep personal fear of failure still drives him desperately--- any means are justified to reach Trump's top goals of personal profit and glory forever. Any means is OK, including even orphaning innocent infants at the Mexican border, while other immigrants are welcomed to work temporarily at Mar-a-Lago. Woodward's book just reinforces these observations many have already made.
It is amazing to me that many of the so-called "adults in the room" cannot see that Trump is misbehaving as he always did. He cannot be changed, certainly not now and not by the many handlers selected seemingly because Trump can dominate them. That said, Trump still has more than two years remaining on his term!
I have strong reactions to Woodward's many disturbing disclosures, as (1) a former Harvard Law assistant to Archibald Cox (prior to his being the unforgettable Watergate Prosecutor and nailing Nixon), (2) a former high school chum of Rudy Guiliani (now an unimpressive key Trump advisor), (3) a former law firm colleague of Bob Khuzami (now the impressive head of NYC federal investigations of Trump criminal matters) and (4) a father and grandfather.
Initially, my strongest reaction to "Fear" was, in turn, real fear for the US and the world. How can the US survive two years more of Trump as president, especially given Woodward's very disturbing reports? On further reflection on the most likely outcomes, however, based on my experience, I am now less worried for the reasons indicated below. The US survived a Revolutionary War, a Civil War, a "Know Nothing" political party, two World Wars, a Korean War, an Iraq War and a Cold War, major Depressions, Prohibition and Nixon, et al. The US will survive Trump and Mike Pence!
Woodward’s book is extremely specific and very detailed--- describing relevant facts, documents, dates and meetings. Importantly, he reports on how some of Trump's policies are so haphazardly made, not just on the many bizarre episodes of Trump and his staff. Woodward draws some really important and very plausible inferences from the collective information of the many involved in specific presidential matters Woodward investigated. And his extensive tapes of his hundreds of hours of interviews of almost 100 relevant persons are available to "prove" his inferences. Trump and his cronies' predictable complaints of Woodward bias, if anything, just invite a closer look at Woodward's findings.
At 75 years old, Woodward clearly had a purpose in this voluntary and prodigious effort to research and write this book--- to flush out the true Donald Trump and show the danger he poses for US national security. Woodward, a Navy veteran like John McCain before him, is also a patriot. To paraphrase Trump, Woodward shows vividly that Trump's behavior is "very sad and really disgusting".
The media will have a field day with some of the troubling Trump episodes Woodward reports. Many persons cited in the book will challenge some of his reports. To be expected and perhaps understandable, given Trump's fiery temper about those he thinks are in any way disloyal to him. The facts will nevertheless prevail, as they have mostly for Woodward's earlier books about the many presidents who immediately preceded Trump.
More important, however, than specific episodes, is what the confluence of these troubling episodes clearly shows --- Trump is clearly unfit to be president! The longer he remains, the greater the risk in our nuclear age for the US, and the world as well. It is well to recall the near catastrophe last January when a Hawaiian technician pressed the wrong button indicating a non-existent "imminent" North Korean missile attack, following Trump's reckless rhetoric about the real North Korean threat. This must have sent a real chill down the spines of the leaders of all nuclear nations, and many others as well.
Will Trump then finish his first term? Very doubtful, it appears.
If the Democrats win a House majority in less than two months, prompt impeachment proceedings and numerous House investigations of Trump and his corrupt cronies appear to be inevitable. That dooms Trump.
Even if the Democrats remain the minority, impeachment is still likely to occur in my view as Mueller's efforts continue --- they cannot be stopped now. They will continue even if Mueller is fired as they continued after Nixon fired Archibald Cox. Moreover, there is a reasonable prospect that one or more of Trump's children and/or in-laws could soon be indicted.
Trump will after November be an increasingly unnecessary liability for Republicans, the GOP. Only 32% of voters currently polled even think Trump is honest. He has already done what the GOP and its billionaire backers like the Kochs and Devoses most wanted --- a major tax cut for the wealthiest, reckless deregulation, insuring a right wing judiciary majority, reducing drastically Federal revenues needed to fund the social safety net, et al.
Moreover, it seems unlikely that Trump will be able to handle the steadily growing pressure he faces. He may even elect to resign as Nixon did. Pence can finish up to the cheers of the Kochs, Devoses, et al.
For a fuller picture of what to expect from Pence when Trump "retires", please see the new comprehensive, readable and detailed biography of Mike Pence, "The Shadow President ..." by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter, Michael D'Antonio, and by his co-author, Peter Eisner. This book's findings dovetail nicely with the findings in "Fear".
Unlike Woodward, D'Antonio even got, for his recent excellent Trump biography, hours of direct interviews of Trump before the 2016 elections, until Trump abruptly ended the interviews apparently concerned that D'Antonio was writing a truthful book based on facts, not on Trump's limitless lies and specious spin. We now know from this important book on Pence why it is very unlikely that Pence will ever be able to clean up Donald Trump's mess. We also can understand much better why Trump recently predicted that stock markets would crash if he were to be impeached. Not too great an endorsement of his successor, Pence, by a reckless and incompetent boss who has now witnessed up close for almost two years the non-stop cheerleading of the "Shadow President", Mike Pence.
Pence successfully strived during the last two years behind the scenes, with Trump's apparent blessings, to advance his repressive and regressive fundamentalist Christian remaking of American society, including through administration and judicial right-wing appointments and adoption of fundamentalist social policies, like curtailing legal abortions and even limiting contraception access. Significantly, these policies mostly benefit in the end the already "uberrich" top 0.01% of Americans at the expense of the 99.99 % less fortunate--- how Christian is that?
Trump's and Pence's unfair tax cuts and excessive deregulation can readily be fixed by Democrats when they regain power. But Trump and Pence have already changed the Federal judiciary with their many right wing judges appointed for life. That is not so easily fixed.
This is scary stuff for a religiously diverse nation with constitutional safeguards of religious freedom that were extremely important for good reason to our Founding Fathers. They rejected a theocracy as well as a monarchy !
By providing a brisk and insightful history of Pence's personal and political journey, we are able with this book to see behind Pence's perpetual smile and smooth style. It is not a very pretty picture.
All, even Trump supporters, should read this book to understand better the threat Pence poses even for Trump. After the midterm elections, the "uberrich" will know they can fulfill all their remaining political and economic dreams through Pence, without having to put up any longer with Trump's erratic and at times almost bizarre policies and behavior. By mid-November, Trump will need Pence more than Pence will need Trump.
It is not surprising the Omarosa recently observed on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" show that she thinks one of Pence's staff was the author of the unprecedented and anonymous New York times Op Ed column that further undercuts Trump and re-inforces some of Woodward's revelations. As to be expected, Pence offers to swear under oath that HE did not write the Op Ed column, which denial leaves room that one of his staffers wrote it, no?
"Fear" and "The Shadow Presidency" raise a very ironic possibility in my mind. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, after the midterm elections in November, indicates that Trump and Pence were both implicated in Russian election conspiracy and/or in the subsequent cover-up, both of them could be removed from office or worse by a Congress forced by public outrage to act on Mueller's report. Even Nixon's base abandoned him once the true facts were widely known.
Pence often played a key role in the 2016 campaign, as well as during the two years since. Who knows what he said and did in secret? Who knows if Pence was recorded by Amarosa, an evangelical pastor, or Michael Cohen, a "tell all" third rate lawyer or someone else at the White House, including possibly Trump himself. I suspect that by now, Mueller knows!
If that happens, Nancy Pelosi could succeed after next January to the presidency as Speaker of the House, third in line after the President and Vice President. So much then for the great Trump/Pence strategy.
The Pence book makes very clear why Pence is to be feared, perhaps even more than Trump. The "god" of Trump is Trump --- in that sense, he is obvious and usually predictable. Pence's "god" is much darker and more dangerous, as well as unpredictable, as this book has confirmed for me. It may be that a needy and greedy Trump is a safer bet than a surreptitious and smiling religious zealot, Pence.
Pence legitimated Trump with the important and united fundamentalist voter base, who voted by over 80% to elect Trump! Trump also won 52% of Catholics' votes, while only 46% of the national vote. Who will legitimate Pence? This book suggests "good" fundamentalists should now vote against Pence if they ever find their Christian moorings again!
Pence appears determined to advance a repressive and regressive fundamentalist evangelical theocracy, even though most Americans, including most Christians, have no interest in a theocracy, Christian or otherwise. Our Founding Fathers were well aware of the brutal post-Reformation religious wars that some of their not too distant relatives had fled Europe to avoid.
Interestingly, Pence was a Catholic altar boy and Trump attended for two years a Jesuit college, Fordham. And the current four male Supreme Court conservative Catholic Justices and the newly nominated likely to be Justice, Brett Kavanagh, were also raised Catholic. Four of these five also went to Catholic schools --- Clarence Thomas to Jesuit Holy Cross College, Neil Gorsuch and Kavanagh to Jesuit Georgetown Prep and John Roberts to La Lumiere School. Samuel Alito was raised in a traditional Italian American Catholic family environment.
It seems clear to me, as a graduate of 16 years of Catholic schools, that each of these men in varying degrees may be unduly, even mistakenly, influenced by celibate Vatican officials' "infallible teachings" on reproductive matters.
In 1930, Pope Pius XI gratuitously (and "infallibly" {?}) condemned all birth control to help Mussolini and leaders of other Catholic Western European countries pump up their populations following the decline in births after World War I's slaughter of many potential Western European fathers. Pius XI, who had in 1920 seen up close in Poland the brutal atheistic Soviet threat in operation, was worried about expanding Soviet influence. Of course, Trump has now shown us that Putin and other former Soviets are the West's best friends!
The Vatican's position on women's reproductive rights, initially adopted in 1930 in Pope Pius XI's "infallible" condemnation of birth control, is not based on the interests of women or families or on any Biblical foundation or even on rigorous philosophical and scientific foundations. On the contrary, it is based solely on the Vatican's mythical claim since 1870 that "the pope is infallible" so what a pope said in 1930 remains the "Gospel Truth" forever.
The origin of the papal infallibility myth has recently been subjected to close and thorough analysis by the leading Catholic historian, Georgetown's 91 year old John O'Malley. A Jesuit, O'Malley has recently published a superb and short new book, "Vatican I", which documents in detail the 1870 invention in desperate circumstances by Pope Pius IX of "papal infallibility".
While I share an Ivy League law school background and a Catholic upbringing with the Supreme Court's likely new all male majority, thanks to the scholarship of John O'Malley, Hans Kung and other brave Catholic scholars, I do not share in their uninformed adoration for papal "infallible teachings".
Hopefully, some the these men will also read the important Vatican I book. If these male Catholic Justices are, based on their purported take on Catholic moral teachings, going to make legal rules for over 150 million American women about female reproductive matters, these Justices should at least understand the mythological origin of these teachings. They should all read O'Malley's new book and my Amazon review of it.
Of course., "infallible" popes since 1870 have greatly increased their power even over Cardinals and other Bishops by exploiting their newly invented unique claim to being infallible. Popes, much like Trump, want to retain their power even if hundreds of millions of women worldwide are denied reproductive justice to protect popes' mythical claims to infallibility. Popes have shown in their shameful cover-ups of priests' and bishops' sexual abuse of defenseless children that popes sin like other humans. The papal fixation on preserving their unique "infallible claims" to protect the power they have built up over the last 150 years is more important than any women or children, it appears.
If popes reverse themselves now on women's reproductive rights, their claims to the symbolic power of papal infallibility will fail. Of course, as few Catholics seem to know, popes have earlier reversed themselves on moral issues like slavery and usury. So much for unchanging infallible truths!
That said, with Kavanagh on the Supreme Court, as appears likely, Roe v. Wade can be expected to be limited greatly, executive authority will likely be almost unlimited in immigration, foreign relations and other important areas, and corporate political donations will remain almost unlimited. These surely are trying times for the US.
The push-back of majority voters will need to begin in earnest in less than 60 days in House and Senate elections, and again in 2020's presidential elections. In the 1930's FDR tamed a right wing court with the support of a majority of voters. This can happen again.
Mike Pence, the "Shadow President" and Trump's hand picked successor, will from many indications become president in the months following the November 6 election. That seems to be a high probability, even without Special Counsel Robert Mueller's likely devastating report on the Russian conspiracy to influence illegally the 2016 presidential elections and the related cover up obstructing Mueller's investigation of this conspiracy . The only unknown now is when and how Trump goes--- by the impeachment process or by simple resignation like Nixon did. We can expect Pence will then give Trump a full pardon, after Trump fully pardons some family members and close associates. Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort need not hold their breath waiting for a pardon. Trump, some of his family members and close associates will, of course, still be at risk of state law prosecutions, expecially in NY.
Trump has long used fear to exercise power over others. Fear, as Machiavelli strongly recommended five centuries ago to a corrupt pope's nephew, is preferable to and more effective than kindness. Paradoxically, Trump's own deep personal fear of failure still drives him desperately--- any means are justified to reach Trump's top goals of personal profit and glory forever. Any means is OK, including even orphaning innocent infants at the Mexican border, while other immigrants are welcomed to work temporarily at Mar-a-Lago. Woodward's book just reinforces these observations many have already made.
It is amazing to me that many of the so-called "adults in the room" cannot see that Trump is misbehaving as he always did. He cannot be changed, certainly not now and not by the many handlers selected seemingly because Trump can dominate them. That said, Trump still has more than two years remaining on his term!
I have strong reactions to Woodward's many disturbing disclosures, as (1) a former Harvard Law assistant to Archibald Cox (prior to his being the unforgettable Watergate Prosecutor and nailing Nixon), (2) a former high school chum of Rudy Guiliani (now an unimpressive key Trump advisor), (3) a former law firm colleague of Bob Khuzami (now the impressive head of NYC federal investigations of Trump criminal matters) and (4) a father and grandfather.
Initially, my strongest reaction to "Fear" was, in turn, real fear for the US and the world. How can the US survive two years more of Trump as president, especially given Woodward's very disturbing reports? On further reflection on the most likely outcomes, however, based on my experience, I am now less worried for the reasons indicated below. The US survived a Revolutionary War, a Civil War, a "Know Nothing" political party, two World Wars, a Korean War, an Iraq War and a Cold War, major Depressions, Prohibition and Nixon, et al. The US will survive Trump and Mike Pence!
Woodward’s book is extremely specific and very detailed--- describing relevant facts, documents, dates and meetings. Importantly, he reports on how some of Trump's policies are so haphazardly made, not just on the many bizarre episodes of Trump and his staff. Woodward draws some really important and very plausible inferences from the collective information of the many involved in specific presidential matters Woodward investigated. And his extensive tapes of his hundreds of hours of interviews of almost 100 relevant persons are available to "prove" his inferences. Trump and his cronies' predictable complaints of Woodward bias, if anything, just invite a closer look at Woodward's findings.
At 75 years old, Woodward clearly had a purpose in this voluntary and prodigious effort to research and write this book--- to flush out the true Donald Trump and show the danger he poses for US national security. Woodward, a Navy veteran like John McCain before him, is also a patriot. To paraphrase Trump, Woodward shows vividly that Trump's behavior is "very sad and really disgusting".
The media will have a field day with some of the troubling Trump episodes Woodward reports. Many persons cited in the book will challenge some of his reports. To be expected and perhaps understandable, given Trump's fiery temper about those he thinks are in any way disloyal to him. The facts will nevertheless prevail, as they have mostly for Woodward's earlier books about the many presidents who immediately preceded Trump.
More important, however, than specific episodes, is what the confluence of these troubling episodes clearly shows --- Trump is clearly unfit to be president! The longer he remains, the greater the risk in our nuclear age for the US, and the world as well. It is well to recall the near catastrophe last January when a Hawaiian technician pressed the wrong button indicating a non-existent "imminent" North Korean missile attack, following Trump's reckless rhetoric about the real North Korean threat. This must have sent a real chill down the spines of the leaders of all nuclear nations, and many others as well.
Will Trump then finish his first term? Very doubtful, it appears.
If the Democrats win a House majority in less than two months, prompt impeachment proceedings and numerous House investigations of Trump and his corrupt cronies appear to be inevitable. That dooms Trump.
Even if the Democrats remain the minority, impeachment is still likely to occur in my view as Mueller's efforts continue --- they cannot be stopped now. They will continue even if Mueller is fired as they continued after Nixon fired Archibald Cox. Moreover, there is a reasonable prospect that one or more of Trump's children and/or in-laws could soon be indicted.
Trump will after November be an increasingly unnecessary liability for Republicans, the GOP. Only 32% of voters currently polled even think Trump is honest. He has already done what the GOP and its billionaire backers like the Kochs and Devoses most wanted --- a major tax cut for the wealthiest, reckless deregulation, insuring a right wing judiciary majority, reducing drastically Federal revenues needed to fund the social safety net, et al.
Moreover, it seems unlikely that Trump will be able to handle the steadily growing pressure he faces. He may even elect to resign as Nixon did. Pence can finish up to the cheers of the Kochs, Devoses, et al.
For a fuller picture of what to expect from Pence when Trump "retires", please see the new comprehensive, readable and detailed biography of Mike Pence, "The Shadow President ..." by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter, Michael D'Antonio, and by his co-author, Peter Eisner. This book's findings dovetail nicely with the findings in "Fear".
Unlike Woodward, D'Antonio even got, for his recent excellent Trump biography, hours of direct interviews of Trump before the 2016 elections, until Trump abruptly ended the interviews apparently concerned that D'Antonio was writing a truthful book based on facts, not on Trump's limitless lies and specious spin. We now know from this important book on Pence why it is very unlikely that Pence will ever be able to clean up Donald Trump's mess. We also can understand much better why Trump recently predicted that stock markets would crash if he were to be impeached. Not too great an endorsement of his successor, Pence, by a reckless and incompetent boss who has now witnessed up close for almost two years the non-stop cheerleading of the "Shadow President", Mike Pence.
Pence successfully strived during the last two years behind the scenes, with Trump's apparent blessings, to advance his repressive and regressive fundamentalist Christian remaking of American society, including through administration and judicial right-wing appointments and adoption of fundamentalist social policies, like curtailing legal abortions and even limiting contraception access. Significantly, these policies mostly benefit in the end the already "uberrich" top 0.01% of Americans at the expense of the 99.99 % less fortunate--- how Christian is that?
Trump's and Pence's unfair tax cuts and excessive deregulation can readily be fixed by Democrats when they regain power. But Trump and Pence have already changed the Federal judiciary with their many right wing judges appointed for life. That is not so easily fixed.
This is scary stuff for a religiously diverse nation with constitutional safeguards of religious freedom that were extremely important for good reason to our Founding Fathers. They rejected a theocracy as well as a monarchy !
By providing a brisk and insightful history of Pence's personal and political journey, we are able with this book to see behind Pence's perpetual smile and smooth style. It is not a very pretty picture.
All, even Trump supporters, should read this book to understand better the threat Pence poses even for Trump. After the midterm elections, the "uberrich" will know they can fulfill all their remaining political and economic dreams through Pence, without having to put up any longer with Trump's erratic and at times almost bizarre policies and behavior. By mid-November, Trump will need Pence more than Pence will need Trump.
It is not surprising the Omarosa recently observed on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" show that she thinks one of Pence's staff was the author of the unprecedented and anonymous New York times Op Ed column that further undercuts Trump and re-inforces some of Woodward's revelations. As to be expected, Pence offers to swear under oath that HE did not write the Op Ed column, which denial leaves room that one of his staffers wrote it, no?
"Fear" and "The Shadow Presidency" raise a very ironic possibility in my mind. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, after the midterm elections in November, indicates that Trump and Pence were both implicated in Russian election conspiracy and/or in the subsequent cover-up, both of them could be removed from office or worse by a Congress forced by public outrage to act on Mueller's report. Even Nixon's base abandoned him once the true facts were widely known.
Pence often played a key role in the 2016 campaign, as well as during the two years since. Who knows what he said and did in secret? Who knows if Pence was recorded by Amarosa, an evangelical pastor, or Michael Cohen, a "tell all" third rate lawyer or someone else at the White House, including possibly Trump himself. I suspect that by now, Mueller knows!
If that happens, Nancy Pelosi could succeed after next January to the presidency as Speaker of the House, third in line after the President and Vice President. So much then for the great Trump/Pence strategy.
The Pence book makes very clear why Pence is to be feared, perhaps even more than Trump. The "god" of Trump is Trump --- in that sense, he is obvious and usually predictable. Pence's "god" is much darker and more dangerous, as well as unpredictable, as this book has confirmed for me. It may be that a needy and greedy Trump is a safer bet than a surreptitious and smiling religious zealot, Pence.
Pence legitimated Trump with the important and united fundamentalist voter base, who voted by over 80% to elect Trump! Trump also won 52% of Catholics' votes, while only 46% of the national vote. Who will legitimate Pence? This book suggests "good" fundamentalists should now vote against Pence if they ever find their Christian moorings again!
Pence appears determined to advance a repressive and regressive fundamentalist evangelical theocracy, even though most Americans, including most Christians, have no interest in a theocracy, Christian or otherwise. Our Founding Fathers were well aware of the brutal post-Reformation religious wars that some of their not too distant relatives had fled Europe to avoid.
Interestingly, Pence was a Catholic altar boy and Trump attended for two years a Jesuit college, Fordham. And the current four male Supreme Court conservative Catholic Justices and the newly nominated likely to be Justice, Brett Kavanagh, were also raised Catholic. Four of these five also went to Catholic schools --- Clarence Thomas to Jesuit Holy Cross College, Neil Gorsuch and Kavanagh to Jesuit Georgetown Prep and John Roberts to La Lumiere School. Samuel Alito was raised in a traditional Italian American Catholic family environment.
It seems clear to me, as a graduate of 16 years of Catholic schools, that each of these men in varying degrees may be unduly, even mistakenly, influenced by celibate Vatican officials' "infallible teachings" on reproductive matters.
In 1930, Pope Pius XI gratuitously (and "infallibly" {?}) condemned all birth control to help Mussolini and leaders of other Catholic Western European countries pump up their populations following the decline in births after World War I's slaughter of many potential Western European fathers. Pius XI, who had in 1920 seen up close in Poland the brutal atheistic Soviet threat in operation, was worried about expanding Soviet influence. Of course, Trump has now shown us that Putin and other former Soviets are the West's best friends!
The Vatican's position on women's reproductive rights, initially adopted in 1930 in Pope Pius XI's "infallible" condemnation of birth control, is not based on the interests of women or families or on any Biblical foundation or even on rigorous philosophical and scientific foundations. On the contrary, it is based solely on the Vatican's mythical claim since 1870 that "the pope is infallible" so what a pope said in 1930 remains the "Gospel Truth" forever.
The origin of the papal infallibility myth has recently been subjected to close and thorough analysis by the leading Catholic historian, Georgetown's 91 year old John O'Malley. A Jesuit, O'Malley has recently published a superb and short new book, "Vatican I", which documents in detail the 1870 invention in desperate circumstances by Pope Pius IX of "papal infallibility".
While I share an Ivy League law school background and a Catholic upbringing with the Supreme Court's likely new all male majority, thanks to the scholarship of John O'Malley, Hans Kung and other brave Catholic scholars, I do not share in their uninformed adoration for papal "infallible teachings".
Hopefully, some the these men will also read the important Vatican I book. If these male Catholic Justices are, based on their purported take on Catholic moral teachings, going to make legal rules for over 150 million American women about female reproductive matters, these Justices should at least understand the mythological origin of these teachings. They should all read O'Malley's new book and my Amazon review of it.
Of course., "infallible" popes since 1870 have greatly increased their power even over Cardinals and other Bishops by exploiting their newly invented unique claim to being infallible. Popes, much like Trump, want to retain their power even if hundreds of millions of women worldwide are denied reproductive justice to protect popes' mythical claims to infallibility. Popes have shown in their shameful cover-ups of priests' and bishops' sexual abuse of defenseless children that popes sin like other humans. The papal fixation on preserving their unique "infallible claims" to protect the power they have built up over the last 150 years is more important than any women or children, it appears.
If popes reverse themselves now on women's reproductive rights, their claims to the symbolic power of papal infallibility will fail. Of course, as few Catholics seem to know, popes have earlier reversed themselves on moral issues like slavery and usury. So much for unchanging infallible truths!
That said, with Kavanagh on the Supreme Court, as appears likely, Roe v. Wade can be expected to be limited greatly, executive authority will likely be almost unlimited in immigration, foreign relations and other important areas, and corporate political donations will remain almost unlimited. These surely are trying times for the US.
The push-back of majority voters will need to begin in earnest in less than 60 days in House and Senate elections, and again in 2020's presidential elections. In the 1930's FDR tamed a right wing court with the support of a majority of voters. This can happen again.