[ad_1]
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward, author of three books about Donald Trump and a new audiobook of tapes of their conversations, says the former president’s narcissism was evident in those interviews.
Speaking on CNN on Tuesday, Mr. Woodward elaborated on what he observed during his long interactions with Mr. Trump during his presidency.
“My assistant, Claire McMullen, has listened to these tapes many, many times,” Mr Woodward said. “And she found that once Trump referred to the American people, 100 times he referred to himself, what he knows.”
This self-obsession was unique among the ten American presidents Mr. Woodward covered in his storied career at The Washington Post – most famously, Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.
Mr. Woodward told CNN’s John Berman and Brianna Kaylar that Mr. Trump relies on his personal instincts more than any other president and completely rejects expert opinion that contradicts his own ideas.
The journalist cited the former president’s apparent admiration for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as an example.
“To Kim Jong-un, the CIA says he’s stupid, Trump says, ‘Oh no, he’s smart,’ and then Trump says … ‘Only I know,'” Mr. Woodward explained.
“I’ve never heard … of any of the dozen presidents I’ve reported on come close to the matter. Now maybe they thought that sometimes only they knew. But to say that… that’s the message that it’s all about him.
He continued: “On the strategy for dealing with North Korea, I asked if he’s trying to drive, to get Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, the thug of all time who’s starving his own people, are you trying to get him to the table for negotiation? And Trump says “Oh no, it’s instinct, it’s all about instinct.”
Mr Woodward added: “This is a historic moment, a challenge and a historic danger to deal with North Korea in this way and it’s all done on instinct?”
During Trump’s presidency, Mr. Woodward wrote fear, Rageand Dangercovering the various phases of administration.
In writing them, he repeatedly spoke with then-President Trump, recording hours of their conversations, which have now been released as an audiobook Trump tapes.
In another excerpt of the tapes released ahead of publication, Mr Trump showed Mr Woodward the letters sent between him and Kim Jong-un and asked him not to tell anyone he had.
Mr Woodward also wrote a scathing op-ed for his own newspaper, explaining how he decided to release the tapes because: “I was struck by how Trump was banging on my ears in a way that the printed page couldn’t capture.”
He noted that he had concluded a previous book about Mr. Trump by saying “when his performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only come to one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job.”
“Two years later, I realize that I have not gone far enough,” the journalist wrote in the material published on Sunday. “Trump is an unparalleled danger. When you listen to him on a range of issues from foreign policy to the virus to racial injustice, it’s clear he didn’t know what to do. Trump was overwhelmed with work. He was largely detached from society’s needs and leadership expectations, and his absolute self-focus became the presidency.
“Trump’s record leaves no doubt that after four years in office, Trump has learned where the levers of power are and total control means installing absolute loyalists in key Cabinet and White House positions,” Mr. Woodward added. “The record now shows that Trump led — and continues to lead — a seditious conspiracy to nullify the 2020 election, which is in effect an attempt to destroy democracy.”
[ad_2]
Source link