Fear Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

Donald Trump, an inexperienced political leader, created a chaotic and tense White House from his first day in office. The cabinet fought about economic and foreign policy issues, with Trump refusing to listen to the experts he hired. Many of the advisors appointed to his office resigned within a couple of years, citing Trump’s refusal to listen to any advice and his erratic and stubborn behavior. This petulance, however, is a part of his appeal. He told his supporters what they wanted to hear, particularly by bullying the opposition, often in improvised lies.

About the Author

Bob Woodward is an American investigative journalist. He started working for the Washington Post in 1971 and is currently Associate Editor. In 1972, he did much of the original reporting on the Watergate scandal which led to the resignation of Richard Nixon. Since then, he has written 19 books on American politics and presidents.

Topics

Biography & Memoir Politics

Fear Book Summary Preview

Who should read this

Those who want a look inside the walls of the White House.

Those looking for insight into Trump’s daily life, behavior, and the reasons behind some of his decisions.

Those interested in the history of the Trump administration.

What you will learn

What difficulties Trump’s staffers and advisors face.

Assessments of Trump’s understanding of political issues like globalism, the economy, and white supremacy.

Why Trump is so popular with certain demographics.

Key Insights

In this book, journalist Bob Woodward, famed for his coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 70s, turns his investigations towards the Trump administration. Drawing on hours of witness interviews with insiders, he gives an even-handed account of the dynamics inside the White House, particularly how Trump’s infamous temperament has played out in practice, creating a chaotic and ill-prepared White House. Ultimately, he paints a frightening picture of Trump’s volatility and ignorance and the mounting anxieties of his advisors and staff.

Trump was a political novice and Steve Bannon stepped in to organize the dysfunctional campaign.

In 2010, Donald Trump was considering a potential candidacy in the 2012 elections. Steve Bannon, then the leader of far-right political outlet Breitbart, visited Trump to speak about it. Bannon liked Trump and felt his populist attitude and disdain of political correctness meant that he could stand up for “the little man”. But quickly, Bannon started to realize the extent of Trump’s political inexperience and naivety.

As they spoke, Trump insisted that he had voted in every election (not realizing that public voting records indicated that he had only voted in a single primary in his lifetime). Donation records also indicated that most of his political donations had gone to Democrats. Bannon tried to explain how this could affect his chances as a candidate, but Trump couldn’t understand how this was relevant. Bannon struggled to take him very seriously.

When Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination, Bannon was surprised but intrigued. He noticed that the Trump campaign was getting far less positive coverage than Clinton, and there were stories everywhere about the messiness and disorganization of the campaign. With 85 days left before the election, Bannon went to work on the Trump campaign, re-organizing the agenda. Going forward, he said, they would focus on three issues: immigration, jobs, and foreign wars.

Bannon considered these things to be what set him most apart from his competitor, Democrat Hillary Clinton. He knew that Clinton would have trouble defending herself on these issues— she was a globalist who wanted to soften immigration rules, which Trump argued would lead to a loss of American jobs to foreign competitors— and a part of the political establishment that had brought about too many foreign military conflicts. As long as Trump emphasized these weaknesses, he had a chance at becoming President.

When the votes came in and Trump won the election, even Trump was caught off-guard. He hadn’t spent much time considering who he would employ in his transition to the White House. While Hillary Clinton had spent her entire life preparing to be president, says Woodward, Trump didn’t...