Bob Woodward teases tantalising details about the mayhem of the Trump White House

Another rough day for the self-proclaimed ‘Ernest Hemingway’ of Twitter

Bob Woodward arrives at Trump Tower
NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 3: Journalist Bob Woodward arrives at Trump Tower, January 3, 2017 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling cabinet and other high level positions for the new administration. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Should President Trump be afraid of Bob Woodward’s new 448-page book Fear: Trump in the White House? Both CNN and the Washington Post are featuring scoops from the book which is slated to be released on September 11. So far, the White House itself has remained mum about the book, which is a major mistake that indicates it is as ill-prepared for Woodward’s assault as it was for Michael Wolff’s. But it seems likely to elicit further fire and fury from Trump, at least in the form of aggrieved tweets that will inadvertently serve to confirm the veracity of the very…

Should President Trump be afraid of Bob Woodward’s new 448-page book Fear: Trump in the White House? Both CNN and the Washington Post are featuring scoops from the book which is slated to be released on September 11. So far, the White House itself has remained mum about the book, which is a major mistake that indicates it is as ill-prepared for Woodward’s assault as it was for Michael Wolff’s. But it seems likely to elicit further fire and fury from Trump, at least in the form of aggrieved tweets that will inadvertently serve to confirm the veracity of the very statements they are meant to impugn.

Among the gems are that Trump’s lawyer John Dowd told him that he’ll end up in an ‘orange jumpsuit’ if he testifies to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and explained to Mueller that in an interview Trump would surely prevaricate. It also seems that Trump demanded a plan for a preemptive plan of attack against North Korea one month into his presidency and wanted to assassinate Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Then there is the revelation that advisers have filched documents from Trump’s Oval Office desk to ensure that he couldn’t actually sign them — ‘Got to protect the country’ said his economic adviser Gary Cohn. Nor did Trump confine his penchant for insults to Twitter: among other things, he apparently called Attorney General Jeff Sessions ‘a dumb southerner’ and Reince Priebus ‘a little rat.’ For his part, Priebus called the presidential bedroom, where Trump composed his tweets, the ‘devil’s workshop.’

Lest anyone doubt Woodward’s anecdotes, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer is serving as what amounts to a character witness. He tweeted, ‘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 [sic] straight. Someone told it to him.’ Trump himself called Woodward on August 14 to lament that he had not been interviewed for the book and to claim that he had never been told by aides about Woodward’s repeated requests — even though he concedes that Sen. Lindsey Graham told him about the project.

Trump’s mood is unlikely to be improved by a fresh Washington Post-ABC News poll that indicates a 14-point spread has opened up between Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress. The poll indicates that a majority of voters want Congress to serve as a check on Trump. When it comes to Trump, 63 per cent say that he is out of touch with the average person’s concerns. The trend is clear and it’s against Trump and the GOP.

Maybe voters are getting tired of what Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly refer to as ‘Crazytown.’ Trump himself is cited by Woodward as calling himself the ‘Ernest Hemingway’ of Twitter. For whom the bell tolls could end up being a good description of his young presidency.