In the global arena, his outlook was equally simplistic.

On economic matters, Trump ‘clung to an outdated view of America – locomotives, factories with huge smokestacks, workers busy on assembly lines’. From the outset, Trump’s ignorance startles his advisers. While Trump may have tweeted ‘so many lies and phony sources’ in response to Fear, it speaks to Woodward’s stature and credibility that his reporting on ‘deep background’ is so widely accepted.Īcross policy debates, staff firings, international crises, and presidential temper tantrums, Fear paints a damning picture of the president by meticulously reporting the words and actions of those closest to him. His great talent is getting well-placed sources close enough to open up to him, albeit on the condition of anonymity. In the more than four decades since, he has continued to chronicle the American presidency. With Carl Bernstein, he exposed Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate break-in and brought down a president in 1974. Woodward is a legend in American political reporting. Cohn decided he could not afford to take the risk: ‘I stole it off his desk.

The letter purported to terminate America’s free trade agreement with South Korea – a vital US ally in the Asia–Pacific. In September 2017, Gary Cohn, President Trump’s top economic adviser, removed a letter from the president’s desk. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward opens with an astonishing incident.

Fear woodward review