# Excerpts from new Woodward book on Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745 "2018-09-04T16:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/22 "2018-09-04T21:09:47Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > That’s okay. No one believed him, anyway. Yeah, that “correction” sounded pretty much like a kid being forced by his parents to apologize for his misbehavior, without having any conviction behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/23 "2018-09-04T21:21:07Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I can’t wait for the Coen Brothers movie based on this book. It’s basically [_The Hudsucker Proxy_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110074/) meets [_Burn After Reading_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887883/): _CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer? CIA Officer: I don’t know, sir. CIA Superior: I don’t fuckin’ know either. I guess we learned not to do it again. CIA Officer: Yes, sir. CIA Superior: I’m fucked if I know what we did. CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it’s, uh, hard to say CIA Superior: Jesus Fucking Christ._ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/24 "2018-09-04T21:29:42Z")
One of my favorite movie scenes ever. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/25 "2018-09-04T21:42:07Z")
I’m just waiting for Brad Pitt’s body to turn up in the Chesapeake with no ID or identifying labels. “Report back to me when, uh…I don’t know, when it makes sense.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/26 "2018-09-04T22:32:09Z")
I’m a little concerned that multiple accounts of top aides literally stealing stuff off his desk so he wouldn’t see it will be seen by his slack-jawed supporters as the deep state torpedoing his presidency. I just don’t want them to have any more conspiracy fodder because that’s the only thing that could save his presidency/reputation ultimately. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/27 "2018-09-04T22:50:43Z")
I sometimes read the City-Data politics forum (always regret it). There’s a thread on Woodward’s book there now. The trumpists are calling it Deep State You Can’t Trust the Lying Media Smear Campaign. The best one came up with was that Woodward used to be a good journalist once, but now, obviously, he has been bought by the powers of darkness like all the rest. In other words, no, the book won’t change any minds which are zipped closed and siliconed shut. It is the swing voters everybody’s after though, of course. The stay at homers and the swingers. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/28 "2018-09-05T01:40:22Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I can’t wait for the Coen Brothers movie based on this book. I can’t wait for the Zucker brothers movie based on this book. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/29 "2018-09-05T01:55:08Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I wish I could say that I agree with you. > > The sorts of things that are in that Post excerpt are similar to the sorts of events and conversations that Michael Wolff had in “Fire and Fury,” earlier this year. The big difference, of course, is that Wolff apparently didn’t have a great reputation as a journalist even before that book, whereas Woodward has won a ton of journalism awards (including involvement in two Pulitzer-winning projects, one of which was the Watergate investigation), and is broadly seen as one of the (if not _the_) best investigative journalists of his generation. > > That said, I’ve come to realize that Trump’s fervent supporters have become fact-resistant humans. and at this point, they’re so deep in their adoration for him that nothing is going to sway them. I have no doubt that Trump or his proxies will shortly issue statements accusing Woodward of being complicit in the whole “rigged witch hunt,” and Trump’s supporters will dismiss anything in Woodward’s book out of hand. There will always be a healthy 15-25% of people in a democracy who are resistant to democracy. I don’t want to speak to soon but I sometimes get the feeling that Trump’s act is just getting old. Remember, the Republicans still have Mike Pence as their spare tire. That being said, Pence is a potential nightmare in his own right. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/30 "2018-09-05T02:16:40Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > And then there’s this: > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodwards-new-book-reveals-a-nervous-breakdown-of-trumps-presidency/2018/09/04/b27a389e-ac60-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370\_story.html?noredirect=on&utm\_term=.b2559881b0e3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodwards-new-book-reveals-a-nervous-breakdown-of-trumps-presidency/2018/09/04/b27a389e-ac60-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b2559881b0e3) > > How’d that one taste, Dixie? As a southerner I would find it offensive if I thought Sessions had anything to offer the south other than his accent. He don’t impress me at all. No more than DJT. ETA omg, Pence is scary. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/31 "2018-09-05T02:47:20Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I can’t wait for the Zucker brothers movie based on this book. Titled _Surely You Can’t Be Serious_, or maybe _I Picked the Wrong Week to Give Up Sniffing Glue_. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/32 "2018-09-05T08:01:04Z")
The most telling relevation I’ve seen here is how, in January, Loser Donald’s lawyers put him through a mock deposition to prep him for an interview with Mueller, and he almost immediately perjured himself before going on a half-hour tirade at his own staff. John Dowd quit the next day when Loser Donald _still_ claimed he’d done great in the mock depo and would be fine testifying to Mueller. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/33 "2018-09-05T09:12:10Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > I’m a little concerned that multiple accounts of top aides literally stealing stuff off his desk so he wouldn’t see it will be seen by his slack-jawed supporters as the deep state torpedoing his presidency. I just don’t want them to have any more conspiracy fodder because that’s the only thing that could save his presidency/reputation ultimately. It goes without saying that if there is a problem in Trump’s life that can be blamed on the “Deep State”, it will be blamed on them. However, the implications of this one would be pretty staggering. It would mean that deep state operatives (somehow posing as senior aides) are boldly violating the sanctity of one of the most heavily guarded offices in one of the most heavily guarded buildings on the planet. They are taking documents off of the desk, documents that should be missed by the person who left them there! If the deep state is teabagging the Resolute Desk, Trump is well and truly fucked. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/34 "2018-09-05T10:00:42Z")
Does this book by itself change anything? Not much, but maybe a little. And in tandem with everything else, I think the book matters. The recent polls suggest that people might be starting to wake up a little, starting to realize that he needlessly waged a blood feud with a dead American hero because he’s a petty piece of shit - just like Woodward’s book and everyone else willing to speak on the record have said. It’s not that Woodward’s work changes everything, but it does corroborate everything that has been said before, and Woodward is arguably more credible than a Michael Wolff or Omarosa Manigault or even a James Comey. There comes a point where even skeptics have to acknowledge that everyone who knows Trump agrees: this guy ain’t normal. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/35 "2018-09-05T10:14:17Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Does this book by itself change anything? Not much, but maybe a little. And in tandem with everything else, I think the book matters… There comes a point where even skeptics have to acknowledge that everyone who knows Trump agrees: this guy ain’t normal. No, the book won’t make any difference. The people who actually read books don’t need any convincing. The people who don’t read, won’t read this one either. Woodward may have worked hard, but it’s just preaching to the choir. Nothing’s changed. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/36 "2018-09-05T10:44:49Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > No, the book won’t make any difference. > The people who actually read books don’t need any convincing. > The people who don’t read, won’t read this one either. > > Woodward may have worked hard, but it’s just preaching to the choir. Nothing’s changed. But Trump got elected with some support from independents and softer, more moderate Republicans. He was even elected with some help from traditionally Democratic-leaning constituencies. I think he’s losing that support. His base is only 30% or so of the voting population. It’s a strong, fact-resistant base for sure, but his support could erode. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/37 "2018-09-05T10:56:16Z")
Trump fans don’t care about negative stuff. It’s like the Animal House scene where the guy is getting paddled and after every hit he says “thank you sir, may I have another?” ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/38 "2018-09-05T12:40:54Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > And then there’s this: > > > [@](#): > > > > Mocking Sessions’s accent, Trump added, “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.” > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodwards-new-book-reveals-a-nervous-breakdown-of-trumps-presidency/2018/09/04/b27a389e-ac60-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370\_story.html?noredirect=on&utm\_term=.b2559881b0e3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodwards-new-book-reveals-a-nervous-breakdown-of-trumps-presidency/2018/09/04/b27a389e-ac60-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b2559881b0e3) > > How’d that one taste, Dixie? In [a tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037173907625832448), he claimed that he “never used those terms on anyone.” But he has called someone retarded, on a radio show, [at least twice](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-retarded-history_us_58011198e4b0e8c198a7d5ad). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/39 "2018-09-05T13:01:41Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > The people who actually read books don’t need any convincing. > The people who don’t read, won’t read this one either. Both people will hear the news reports, late night comedy and other discussions about it though. You don’t need to buy the book to hear that people were literally stopping Trump from doing dumbshit things by quietly slipping the forms off his desk and Trump never noticed. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/40 "2018-09-05T13:30:33Z")
Sadly, any marginal Trump supporters who may be persuadable but reads the fox news website may never get the chance to evaluate whether Woodward is credible or not because for the last two days the story has been in the side column, seven slots down. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745/41 "2018-09-05T13:39:36Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > In [a tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037173907625832448), he claimed that he “never used those terms on anyone.” > > But he has called someone retarded, on a radio show, [at least twice](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-retarded-history_us_58011198e4b0e8c198a7d5ad). “That wasn’t my voice on those tapes.” Hey, he said it about the interview with Bush, why not use that lie again? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excerpts-from-new-woodward-book-on-trump/820745.md?page=3)