FEAR

That is the title of the soon-to-be-released bombshell book by Pulitzer Prize winning veteran reporter Bob Woodward about the utterly dysfunctional and chaotic workings inside the Trump White House. I assume the title also reflects what we should all feel about what is happening and its implications for our country. Early release of excerpts from the book, which is reportedly based on mostly taped interviews with dozens of both current and former high-level White House staffers, portray a disorganized mess with constant attempts by staff to contain Trump’s erratic impulses, bad judgment and, per Defense Secretary Mattis, a level of understanding of a fifth or sixth grader! They reportedly see themselves as guardians protecting our national security from a volatile and incompetent president who threatens it. And then there are quotes of Trump’s outrageous insults of everyone around him, as well as their comments about him, e.g. idiot, moron, unhinged, liar, etc. There are reportedly lots of other important details in the book, the gist of which is consistent with the several previous exposes by less credentialed and less credible authors. There is even a taped phone conversation in which Trump is caught lying to Woodward, claiming he was never told that Woodward wanted to interview him for the book and then admitting he was told! Of course none of this should be at all surprising to anyone on our side, and probably none of it will be believed by or make any difference to Trump cult members, particularly in view of the denials that are already coming from White House staff and Trump himself, who, after previously praising Woodward on multiple occasions, is now predictably vilifying him. One can only hope it will peel off a few more percent of independents and maybe even a few congressional Republicans supporters (although that is doubtful).

The book also describes a mock Mueller interview session that Trump’s lawyers staged with him, which he failed miserably, after which the lawyers reportedly went to Muller and actually told him that Trump could not testify because he was incapable of giving a truthful interview!!  Stuff like that would be hard to make up!  Meanwhile, it is being reported that Mueller continues to negotiate with the White House over possible POTUS testimony before his team, and is now reportedly willing to settle for written answers to questions about Russia. Given that it is pretty obvious by now that Trump has no intention to voluntarily give a personal interview, it looks to me as if Mueller is trying to get whatever he can without issuing a subpoena, which he probably can no longer do because Trump is now a target of his investigation. 

Also meanwhile, after a dramatic day one of Senate committee hearings, it still looks like nothing will stop Brett Kavanaugh’s path to the Supreme Court, which is probably one of the biggest prizes for congressional Republicans and their biggest reason for going along with a POTUS that probably at least half of them privately hold in contempt.