Trump Lashes Out at Bob Woodward Ahead of the Release of His New Book "Rage"
Early on Saturday afternoon, while en route to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to survey damage caused by Hurricane Laura, President Trump took to Twitter to hate-tweet about the authors of recently published books related to his presidency. In a string of incoherent tweets, Trump stated that “the only way a person is able to write a book on me is if they agree that it will contain as much bad 'stuff' as possible, much of which is lies.”
He then cited “dumb warmongers like John Bolton” — Bolton previously served as a national security adviser to Trump— “social pretenders” like the legendary investigative journalist Bob Woodward, and his niece “who was rightfully shunned, scorned and mocked her entire life, and never even liked by her own very kind & caring grandfather,” as examples of authors who were willing to include “bad stuff” and “lies.”
While trying to pinpoint exactly what set Trump off is as futile and hopeless an effort as asking a 2-year-old to reflect on his latest tantrum, the timing of the president’s tweets coupled with his known penchant for binge-watching cable news, leads us to believe it may be related to Bob Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” which CNN anchor Don Lemon discussed on air Friday night. The book is said to include up-to-date reporting on Trump's reactions to the Black Lives Matter movement, the Coronavirus, and issues related to national security.
“Rage” is the follow-up to Woodward's 2018 bestseller “Fear,” which detailed the extraordinary lengths Trump’s staffers went to to try and prevent him from acting on his impulses. It also included multiple candid quotes from sources such as former Chief of Staff John Kelly who called President Trump “crazytown.” Upon the release of “Fear” nearly 2 years ago, Trump trashed the book often and claimed to have never received Woodward’s many requests for interviews.
Unfortunately for the president, he won’t be able to make the same denial this time around because according to CNN, “Woodward conducted 17 interviews with Trump for 'Rage' at the White House, Mar-a-Lago and over the phone between December 2019 and late July 2020.” CNN also said that,"Woodward is known to record all of his interviews with the permission of his subjects and sources."
Claiming that a book you actively participated in the creation of is full of "bad stuff" and "lies" is a bizarre thing to do, even by Trump's standards. It's as if he instinctively knows better than to stand by anything he says because so much of what comes out of mouth is wrong, racist, dangerous, or all of the above. The claim also demonstrates Trump's instinct to deny everything at all costs, even if it is something he said to a reporter, on the record, multiple times. No matter how you interpret the situation, it's clear Bob Woodward's book has Trump on edge, and that he is already afraid of the things he might've said.
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