Published 13:53 IST, September 11th 2020
From playing down COVID to being Kim's confidante, 4 takeaways from 'Rage' about Trump
American journalist Bob Woodward’s book ‘Rage’ has become the talk of the town much before its official launch on September 15
American journalist Bob Woodward’s book ‘Rage’ has become the talk of the town much before its official launch on September 15. In a series of 18 interviews, Woodward has managed to get key insights into the Trump-led administration through discussions with top officials of the White House and the President himself. Ahead of the highly-anticipated US Elections in November, Woodward's book 'Rage', which comes as a sequel to his 'Fear: Trump in the White House' is being seen as a 'political hit job' by President Trump, while others welcome it as an expose into the commander-in-chief's pandemic response amongst other things.
Here are some key takeaways from the book
Trump played down COVID-19
The biggest insight from the book is probably Trump's lookout on the Coronavirus pandemic which turned the United States into the worst-affected country across the globe crossing 6.41 million infections. While critics badgered Trump over his handling of the pandemic, an interview from March 19, has revealed that Trump, in fact, did want to play down the pandemic, to avoid panic. "I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic," Trump told Woodward on March 19.
Kim Jong-Un shares 'everything' with Trump
Woodward has allegedly portrayed the power play between Trump and Kim Jong-Un as a 'friendly' relationship. Woodward, quoting a part of his interview with the President has claimed that Kim Jong-Un saw Trump as his 'confidante', revealing that the North Korean dictator shared 'everything' with the US President including 'details' of how he had his uncle Jang Song Thaek executed in 2013.
Trump's lukewarm response to Racism
Woodward in his book has claimed that he approached the President trying to understand if he accepted the concept of White Privilege and whether he felt he should have a better understanding of it. “No, I don’t feel that at all," is allegedly what Trump responded. Highlighting that systematic racism was present everywhere Trump said, "I think (its) probably less here than most places. Or less here than many places."
Did Trump belittle service personnel?
The American journalist's book has also claimed that Trump has verbally attacked army personnel including belittling top generals, on numerous occasions. Woodward claimed that during an interview with him, Trump called the U.S. military “suckers” for paying extensive costs to protect South Korea. He also quoted a part of Trump's statement to his trade adviser Peter Navarro in 2017 where he has again said to have used questionable language against military personnel.
(With Agency Inputs)
Updated 13:53 IST, September 11th 2020