Ian's Reviews > Peril

3.4⭐
I liked this book better than Woodward's last one-word-title book about Donald Trump, 'Rage'.
Likely because 'Rage' was based largely on interviews with Trump which were, naturally, self serving b.s. In this volume Woodward says, and I have no reason to doubt him, he and his co-author conducted hundreds of interviews with the cast and crew of the 2020 Trump election/coup d'etat/insurrection follies. These were all conducted on "deep background" so there's no attribution or sourcing of the reconstituted "quotes" that make up much of the book, something that always makes me nervous. To be fair, I'm sure the account is mostly accurate- it is mostly a recapitulation of previously reported incidents and events, although I don't doubt for a moment Woodward and his associates did their own legwork.

The book starts where the last one left off, with Trump's first impeachment and the onset of the COVID19 pandemic. The true focus of the book, though, is the 2020 U.S. Presidential election campaign, Trumps efforts to discredit the results and the January 6 storming of the Capitol building.

With his usual eye for drama ( and a good lead) Woodward begins his tale with the efforts of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to reassure both the Chinese and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Trump won't be allowed to start WWW3 on his way out the door. He takes events up to the spring of 2021 and Joe Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, but prior to the Taliban victory. I found the account of the decision enlightening- clearly Biden knew the risks but nobody expected the Afghan government to collapse so quickly and completely.

Woodward is an acknowledged Republican and it shows but one thing I find truely baffling is, despite his careful documentation of Trump's attempted procedural coup after the election, he paints the worst of Trump's enablers, notably Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Mike Pence and Mitch McConnell, in a sympathetic light, like they were victims of circumstances. He seems to feel McConnell's mild indignation after January 6th washes away the four years he supported and largely created Trump. I guess Mitch or his minions must have been a willing source of deep background.

Anyway it's another useful 'first draft of history' that the author excels at.