I’ve just finished FEAR: The MP in the White House, fast and furious, like the trashy tabloid read it is, not meant as an insult, just a seasoned reader’s point of view.
It’s entertaining, as if the National Enquirer became expensively bound with a creepy cover, Donald Trump giving off a satanic glow.
I’m glad it was a library book since, there was no way I’d buy something so garish for my esteemed coffee table.
Next to the Kearns’s, Leadership in Turbulent Times with Lincoln , and Meacham’s, The Soul of America, the beautiful Childe Hassam’s flags gracing its front
, it would be like adding pasties to an Audrey dress.
FEAR, oddly enough, is nothing shocking, since our 45th President does that regularly, but you do see his White House is more Tammany Hall, than Jeffersonian.
There’s no decorum among its members, playing the game my friend Ed calls—Whose Dick is Bigger.
Trump is portrayed as anything but cerebral, more meat and potatoes in the way he thinks and views the world. But it’s how be became so successful, cutting everything right down the center, indifferent to casualties along the way.
In other words, he runs his Oval Office same as any other, never apologizing nor trying to pretend he’s anybody but who he is.
Andrew Jackson, our 7th President, also considered uncouth and crude, comes to mind.
I smiled, reading how he hates homework, rarely reading anything. I immediately saw a snot nosed school kid watching the clock, waiting for the bell to ring.
He hires and fires like he’s changing lunch orders, Tweeting more than a fucking canary.
After a few chapters, you see respect has no place in his White House, the players garroting one another for sport.
Rudeness rules, like when Steve Bannon told Ivanka she was just a staffer and nothing more. Imagine saying that to the First Daughter, which can explain why he’s history, as they say.
My favorite tale is how Mr. Trump didn’t understand why the Mint just can’t make more money. I thought that too, when I was 12.
It sounds as if the Leader of the Free World, has a few marbles missing minus middle ground. It’s either yes or no, black or white, fuck you or, why not stay for lunch.
Gary Cohn, his former chief economic advisor, quaintly called him, a professional liar.
The delicious details in FEAR makes it a page-turner, not to mention quite daunting hoping much of it isn’t true since, our president seems reckless, especially when it comes to nuclear war. He needs to go back and review JFK’s actions daintily performed, during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis for tips on how to keep the country safe.
Bob Woodward has been known to embellish to sell books, so I’m hoping that’s the case here.
If only the Resolute Desk in the Oval could talk, then maybe we’d finally know…
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…
SB
Unfortunately I’m thinking there’s more truth to the book than not. I heard one of the night time guys say that Trump has made America read again! So many books, so little comfort.
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You said it. Timing s everything, and I finished it on the heels of the Kavanaugh vote that took away my appetite. Too much unsavory info in that book. Scary as all hell. 🙂
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What your post reminded me was that we had this situation before and survived. Hopefully….
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Have you ever read 13 DAYS. It’s a small book Bobby Kennedy wrote about the crisis and how it was handled. It’s a great read, that’s positively fascinating.
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No I didn’t. It’s probably at my library.
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I’m sure. An oldie but goodie. Should be considered Kennedy’s greatest moment in his short stay in office. Bobby too who was smart alongside him.
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Nowadays, by the time a politician is even remotely approaching Senate, Congress, or White House level, I believe they are no longer serving their constituents. If the candidate for office is still ethical and not self-serving he hasn’t got a chance of being allowed to run successfully. It’s really a contest of who can play the game the best. You can’t reach high office without stepping on lots of toes and leaving a swath of bodies.
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OMG, do I sound cynical this morning!
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It’s an inflamed subject Skinny. That book just poured a silo of salt on the wound.
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Well, if that’s the case, the Trump White House is the Battle of Waterloo. Sigh.
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There are days I am very happy to be old with less future and more past in my life.
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That’s so poignant, though melancholy. It’s a brave way to feel. Admiration is in the house.
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One thing I can say with great certainty: when dealing with politicians, you will NEVER know the truth.
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I’m afraid that’s probably true, especially nowadays, though I’m sure there was much deceit through the years, how they told lies for gain. Anything to win.
I mentioned Andrew Jackson. He was very disliked my many, especially the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay. As lore has it, he spread the rumor Jackson was a bigamist…not as simple as all that…his beloved wife, Raquel’s, first husband was believed dead but turned out wasn’t after she had married Andrew, but it was immediately emended…divorce, and a remarriage, but Clay took it and used it against him. Raquel, who had a very weak heart, when she learned of the slander, had a massive heart attack and died.
Jackson never forgave Clay, who denied it, but…well…is all fair in love and politics? I’m voting know. sigh
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I’d like to read it, although as you say, it’s nothing we don’t hear on the news every day anyway. Still,l I’m glad Bob Woodward was the one to write it since he has credibility.
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I’m a little sorry I read it frankly. It upset me, especially on the heels of the Kavanaugh hearings. It’s like a lavish governmental game of truth or dare.
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