Bob Woodward says his interviews with Donald Trump show how 'dangerous' Trump can be

Bob Woodward says his interviews with Donald Trump show how ‘dangerous’ Trump can be

About 50 years in the past, along with his Washington Submit colleague Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward unraveled a few of the biggest political tales in historical past, reporting on the Watergate break-in that finally led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

As we speak, Woodward continues to supply hard-hitting reporting from the White Home. In an opinion essay for the Post on Sunday, Woodward wrote, “In over 50 years of reporting, I’ve by no means launched the uncooked interviews or the total transcripts of my work. However after listening once more to the 20 interviews I performed with President Donald Trump throughout his ultimate yr as CEO, I made a decision to take the bizarre step of publishing them. I used to be struck by how Trump hammered into my ears in a approach the printed web page can’t seize.

The essay was tailored from Woodward’s audiobook – “The Trump Tapes: Twenty Bob Woodward Interviews with President Donald Trump” – popping out this week. In all, Woodward had 16 telephone calls with Trump, 20 interviews in whole, or eight hours of conversations. Woodward ended up writing a trilogy of books on Trump earlier than publishing this assortment of interviews.

Woodward wrote, “I noticed I had turn out to be entangled within the mess of the Trump presidency. A casual observe has developed. Understanding that he may and would name me at any time, I began leaving recorders round my home. Understanding that I may name him and ask about something – together with the occasions of that day – was an unprecedented reporting alternative. It was additionally annoying. Trump turned the principle focus of my life for 9 months.

As for the tapes, Woodward needs individuals to listen to Trump and his solutions to a few of Woodward’s questions. For instance, Woodward requested Trump in regards to the summer time of 2020 when COVID-19 was wreaking havoc around the globe and in the US. Woodward requested, “Was there a second in all of this, previously two months, while you thought, ‘Ah, that is the management take a look at of a lifetime’?”

Trump stated, “No.”

Woodward now writes: “On the printed web page, his ‘no’ reads flat, a easy assertion. Now take heed to the audio of this trade. This “no” is assured, dismissive, stuffed with assurance. This leaves little question in regards to the finality of his judgment. This “no” removes him from all duty. Sound has extraordinary emotional energy, immediacy and authenticity. A listener is introduced into the room. It is a fully totally different expertise from studying Trump’s phrases or listening to excerpts from his interviews on tv or the Web.

Woodward goes on to put in writing, “In ‘The Trump Tapes,’ I share my private journey of reporting by the eight hours of interviews. I touch upon over 200 factors within the audiobook, explicitly providing my very own reactions, hesitations, conclusions and explanations on my technique of gathering and confirming info.

“CBS Sunday Morning” spoke to Woodward on Sunday. Woodward revealed the one time Trump gave him a no-comment. It was whereas Trump was nonetheless president and Woodward requested Trump about rumors that he would refuse to depart the White Home if he misplaced the 2020 election. do not even wish to touch upon that, Bob. I do not wish to touch upon that proper now. Hey, Bob, I’ve acquired all these individuals, I am going to speak to you later tonight!

On the finish of his guide “Rage,” additionally about Trump, Woodward wrote that Trump was “singularly unfit to be president.” After replaying all of the tapes, Woodward advised John Dickerson of “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Trump was the mistaken individual for the job. I notice now, two years later, that the entire January 6 rebel leads me to the conclusion that he’s not solely the mistaken individual for the job, however that he’s harmful, and that he’s a menace to democracy, and that he’s a menace to the presidency as a result of he doesn’t perceive the fundamental obligations that include that workplace.

On Trump, Liz Cheney — the Republican congresswoman from Wyoming and co-chair of the Home Choose Committee investigating the Jan. 6 rebel — stated the Republican Celebration would “crash” if Trump had been the presidential nominee for the gone in 2024. She made these feedback on Meeting with the Sunday press on NBC.

Cheney advised moderator Chuck Todd: ‘I believe the occasion both has to come back again from the place we’re proper now, which is a really harmful and poisonous place, or the occasion will break up and there will probably be a brand new Conservative occasion that can break up. will rise. . And if Donald Trump is the candidate of the Republican Celebration, the occasion will break up and there will probably be a conservative occasion that can rise as a substitute.

Todd requested Cheney if she would take into account operating for president, however Cheney wouldn’t commit in some way. Todd then requested, “Some persons are suggesting that for those who had been a third-party candidate, that may be sufficient to cease Trump.”

Cheney stated, “Nicely, we’ll do no matter it takes, like I stated. He’ll not be President of the US.

Relating to the January 6 committee, Todd requested Cheney what crimes she believed Trump had dedicated. Cheney stated: “I believe there are a number of felony offenses – I do not wish to come earlier than the committee – however which we’re taking a look at. And I believe it is essential for everybody to acknowledge that while you’re confronted with a set of information, while you’re confronted with proof as clear as this, and a few have stated, properly, , we do not know what his intention was. Possibly he actually thought he had gained the election. We really know that is not the case. We offered testimonials that confirmed he admitted he misplaced. However even when, even when he thought he had gained, you may’t ship an armed mob to the Capitol, you may’t sit round for 187 minutes and refuse to cease the assault whereas it is in progress. . You possibly can’t ship a tweet that incites extra violence. So we have been very clear on various totally different felony offenses which can be most likely at situation right here. If the Division of Justice determines that he has the proof that we imagine exists and he decides to not prosecute. I believe that actually calls into query whether or not or not we’re a nation of legal guidelines.

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Steve Eder of The New York Instances revealed a brand new article: “For Trump supporters in Congress, ‘evil terms’ help rally voters.”

The Instances has examined partisan language over the previous 10 years. They wrote: “The evaluation of congressional tweets, Fb advertisements, newsletters and speeches – greater than 3.7 million gadgets in whole – relied closely on pure language processing, a method that makes use of software program to extract info from giant quantities of textual content. The Instances counted phrases that had been linked in tutorial analysis to divisive political content material, in addition to these recognized by linguists and laptop scientists as being utilized in polarizing methods – “fascist” and “socialist”, for instance, “excessive proper” and “excessive proper”. left.'”

The consequence?

The Instances wrote, “Republican representatives have escalated such rhetoric since former President Donald J. Trump took workplace, the evaluation discovered. Within the yr and a half for the reason that Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill, Republicans have used divisive phrases and phrases on common greater than twice as typically as Democrats in tweets and 6 occasions as typically in emails to voters. On the forefront of this polarization are Republicans who voted to reject the Electoral School outcomes that cemented Mr. Trump’s defeat final yr. A latest Instances investigation revealed how these lawmakers helped embed the parable of a stolen election into occasion orthodoxy. Now, a Instances evaluation reveals that the language of the 139 objecting members is considerably extra hostile than that of different Republicans and Democrats. Of their narrative, those that oppose it not solely get some insurance policies mistaken, but additionally hate their nation.

None of that is stunning for those who take note of the information and social media, however it’s troubling nonetheless. Take the time to learn this vital story.

Throughout an look on CNN’s “State of the Union” final week, Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, a former native information anchor, wouldn’t decide to accepting the outcomes of the following elections. CNN’s Dana Bash requested her thrice if she would settle for the outcomes, and the one reply she gave was, “I’ll win the election and I am going to settle for this consequence.”

The identical topic got here up throughout Lake’s Sunday interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” Lake advised Karl, “I’ll settle for the outcomes of this election if we’ve a good, sincere and clear election. Completely, 100%. So long as it is truthful, sincere and clear.

Lake repeatedly raised unsubstantiated allegations in regards to the 2020 election. She did so once more with Karl after which stated she needed to speak about different matters, to which Karl replied, “We talked about the whole lot. a bunch of different stuff.” He later added, “I did not ask you about 2020. You introduced it up.”

It was strong work from Karl.

Dominion Voting Programs CEO John Poulos is interviewed for Sunday evening’s 60 Minutes. (Courtesy of CBS Information.)

Dominion Voting Programs CEO John Poulos was interviewed by Anderson Cooper for “60 Minutes” Sunday evening. Dominion has filed eight lawsuits searching for greater than $10 billion from Fox Information and different conservative information networks and people. Dominion claims to have defamed the corporate by repeatedly making false accusations that Dominion voting machines rigged the election in opposition to Donald Trump. (Fox stated he merely reported the claims of Trump and his representatives.)

Poulos advised Cooper: “Individuals have been put in peril. Their households had been put in peril. Their lives have been turned the other way up and all due to lies. It was a really clear calculation that they knew they had been lies. And so they repeated them and authorised them.

Poulos advised Cooper the harassment continued, saying, “I do not wish to sit right here and say that is one thing that occurred 18 months in the past. It is one thing that continues to occur on daily basis for us. Final Friday, we had an workplace in confinement. Two days earlier than that, I used to be on the telephone with certainly one of our workers who’s a mom of two youngsters. Uh, very upset and crying – exhausting to speak about.

When requested what occurred, Poulos replied, “A really disgusting dying menace in nice element…on his private cellphone.”

Atlantic’s David French with “Herschel Walker and the Fate of the True Conservative Voter.”

FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver that includes “Why am I telling my friends the Senate is a toss-up.”

‘CBS Sunday Morning’ profiles F1 star Lewis Hamilton in “Lewis Hamilton on increasing diversity in Formula 1 racing.”

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