Claire Conger

Rage by Bob Woodward, he of Watergate fame, is yet another book about the Trump presidency. You’ve read all about it already, except this time the stories are based on actual recorded interviews–17!–with The Donald himself.

So I’ll get right down to the part that interested me the most.

Kushner says of his father-in-law, “’he’s proven time and time again to have good instincts’” (page 324), and offers a selection of four texts to help us understand him. From the four, Woodward deduces these primary traits: “crazy, aimless, stubborn, manipulative.” (page 327) What might these texts be?

1) crazy Peggy Noonan’s March 8, 2018, column in The Wall Street Journal “Over Trump, We’re as Divided as Ever” in which she uses descriptors such as “circus act” and “screwball tragedy” and concludes “What you feel is disquiet.” (Woodward’s quotes page 325) What could be more damning?

2) aimless Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the children’s classic in which, as we all know, young Alice falls down a rabbit hole. Kushner likens The Donald to the Cheshire Cat, and “paraphrases the cat: ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will get you there.’” (page 326)

3) stubborn The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, in which it’s author, Chris Wipple, concludes, as quoted by Woodward: “Trump ‘clearly had no idea how to govern.’” (page 326)

4) manipulative Scott Adam’s Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter. The title says it all.

Woodward is astonished, but Kushner thinks the texts portray winning attributes: crazy, Yes, like a fox!; aimless, Breast your cards and smile!; stubborn, Well he’s right, so he doesn’t give in!; manipulative, That’s a good thing!

Getting back to real life: Does The Donald really drink a dozen Diet Coke’s a day? Apparently so. Woodward describes him 20 minutes into a flight on Marine One, and he had already drunk two. I’m astonished.