Bookishrealm's Reviews > Peril

Whew....this was a heck of a read. I think that this is the longest of the three books in relationship to Trump's presidency. What's most intriguing about this book in the series is that it highlights the transition of power between Trump and Biden and also a little about the beginning of Biden's term. These books always have the potential to be emotionally draining for me as a reader and this was no different. Overall, I did enjoy all of the learning that came from reading it.

I've followed each of the books that Woodward has put out in relation to the Trump presidency. It was without fail that I was eventually going to pick this one up. What always scares me is that some of the material in this book often reads as though it is happening in a fictional world; however, these are all events that the world witnessed. Woodward and Costa do an excellent job in capturing Trump's fiery desire to overturn a fair election to his silent support of the January 6th insurrection. There wasn't much that necessarily surprised me about the events because it's all still vivid in my memory; nevertheless, having it replayed for me through the text made me ask, "what has happened to this country." Trump was so hell bent on getting reelected that he was even willing to throw Pence under the table and/or to the sharks. The most disturbing facets of this book were not only in Trumps behavior, but also the behavior of those politicians that enabled his behavior. From my understanding, a lot of decisions were made in relation to future ambitions. No one wanted to risk their political aspirations to tell this man that he was wrong. That's the most damning thing about this whole situation. We have elected officials who are supposed to serve the people, but do everything but that (and I say this for both parties).

While the text does cover in great detail the final days of Trump's presidency, readers are also given the opportunity to get a glimpse into the beginning of Biden's presidency. One thing that I appreciate about Woodward and Costa's narrative is that it doesn't make Biden exempt from making mistakes; however, it does illustrate the contrast between the two presidents and the legacy that Trump left behind for Biden to work through. It was particularly interested learning more about the relationships that Biden holds with other politicians as well as other world leaders. Of course, there's more that I want to learn about Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan. It's something that I think will be a huge part of Biden's legacy as president. There were some interesting tid-bits that are from the perspective of Senator Lindsey Graham and while he's not my favorite person at all, I think it was interesting to see how he challenged "his friend" when it came to the election results. Unfortunately, readers didn't have get the opportunity to hear directly from Trump or Biden as they both declined interviews.

There were aspects of this book that were dry and long-winded, but for the most part I think it's a good reminder of how unstable our democracy was and has potential to be. It makes me extremely nervous for the elections that will take place next year and the presidential election of 2024. It clears from the narrative of this text and things that have been in the news that Trump is far from gone. I definitely recommend checking out all of the books in this trilogy.