Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I like the Woodward trilogy titles: “FEAR” was a reminder of what Donald Trump thought was important in order to get power. “RAGE” came from Trump’s proud observation of the emotion he could create in others. And “PERIL” shows how the chaos, anger and fear came together in the final year of Trump’s presidency, placing the presidency and even democracy in danger. “Peril” begins with America in danger from Trump. It ends the same way. Trump hasn’t gone and neither is the threat he poses to democracy. Woodward is working with Washington Post’s Robert Costa, but the style of research and writing is the same. It’s a lot of interviews –over 200—and a lot of work putting them together in a way that will hold interest. Sometimes they succeed in this and create real scenes—other times, you see the problem of having so much detail that you just –have- to include it. Storytelling sometimes takes a back seat to recounting details that aren’t always that significant. That’s one problem. A bigger one is that Woodward has always been kind to people who are his sources. Typically, they are some of the most complicit people, but are allowed to spin themselves into heroes. Here, that’s General Milley, Bill Barr, Lindsey Graham, Kellyanne Conway, among others who need to be scrutinized in a harsher light. “PERIL” has many unnerving descriptions of Trump’s instability and apparent unwillingness to accept the reality of losing the election. Some of the above people made some efforts to save us from disaster. But most of the staffers and Republican officials around Trump do little to protect democracy. Barr’s there, and Pence, But where’s the rest of the Cabinet? The president described here is a danger to the country. Where were the Republicanns in the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment? Why were McCarthy and McConnell so complacent? There are no answers here. Pence’s decision-making process made this a worthwhile read for me. He did the right thing—in the end—including staying at the Capitol during the insurrection. But he clearly wanted to cooperate with Trump if at all possible under the Constitution. It was only after everyone he consulted – including Dan Quayle, who comes across well here – that Pence agrees to do the right thing—and do it without equivocation. (For a time, he dithered about possibly expressing sympathy with those who wanted to throw out Biden votes). About a third of the book is about Biden—his campaign, transition, and early presidency. But, as in real life, it’s Trump who takes the air out of the room. Even ten months after losing, he is still sending letters to Georgia’s secretary of state as he did last Friday, demanding that the electors be “decertified or whatever the legal remedy is.” It would be comical. If it wasn’t so delusional and dangerous. “Peril”, indeed.