Book Review: Rage

 

This is the second book written by famed journalist Bob Woodward about the 2017-2021 US presidential administration. Woodward covers events from throughout the administration but has a heavy focus on the response to Covid-19 and the relationships between the president and key members of his administration.

Specifically, Woodward talks about the relationship between the orange genital wart and members of the cabinet like Mattis, Tillerson, and Dan Coats (who was the Director of National Intelligence), and how all of their relationships soured with dipshit until they were fired or resigned. Woodward also discusses at length the love-note relationship between it and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Then, towards the end, Woodward goes on to discuss the disastrous Covid response that actually started out promising then went off the rails as t***p became more worried about getting reelected than he was about listening to medical experts. The big deal about this book as opposed to Woodward's first book is that t***p agreed to be interviewed, and taped, so Woodward uses t***p's own words throughout the book. 

The big takeaways from the book for me are, first, just how big a dipshit t***p really is, and two how much of an unjustified overinflated ego he has. For example, thinking he knows everything about science and technology just because his uncle taught electrical engineering at MIT when it is clear if you put any kind of physics or engineering problem in front of t***p and told him to work it out, his brain would explode. Secondly, just how stupid everyone around him found him to be and how frustrating it was to deal with his stream of consciousness jumping from topic to topic while still managing to say (or know) anything of substance. That is really borne out when Woodward reprints the exact questions he asked and exact quotes in response from t***p. 

Woodward does admit that many people he interviewed for the book only agreed to talk to him anonymously, but he also has about 400 endnotes that point to publically available sources for a lot of the material. Woodward is very critical of t***p and is clearly not a fan. But, he does give t***p credit for some things, such as his initial response to Covid, like restricting travel from China and Europe and then instituting the initial lockdowns. Unlike a lot of the journalists who have written books about t***p, Woodward does give his overall impressions and opinions of t**p and does not just stick to reciting facts and quoting sources. Woodward does not go as far as someone like Michael Wolff and actually call t***p batshit crazy, but you can tell that seems to be his impression of t***p. I do think Woodward can be fairly criticized for keeping what t***p truly knew about Covid versus what he was saying in public under wraps until his book came out. 

There is not a ton of new information in the book, especially if you are one who kept up with the news about that administration from reputable news sources. But, Woodward did manage to uncover details that flesh out the events he discusses in the book that I had not heard before. So, I do think that it is worth reading and definitely recommend it.