My Amazon Review of Bob Woodward's and Robert Costa's "Peril"

 

Dangerous Transition

 

Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa have written a widely quoted book on the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency and the first six months of Biden’s.  When reading about Trump’s last days in office I was expecting the worst and it was far worse than what I imagined. The man is evil. Fortunately, there were a few people in the Trump Administration who put the Constitution over their boss.

 

Now when reading an unsourced book that is Woodward’s style you have to guess who his sources were and what were their motivations. It is obvious that Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley was a source and he just today admitted he spoke to the authors and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was obviously a source. They both come off well. A.G. William Barr was certainly a source and after enabling Trump early on, he refuses to go along with Trump’s “stop the steal.” My guess in talking to the authors he was trying to salvage his reputation. We also have Senator Lindsey Graham singing arias to the authors. He wants to have it both ways by saying Trump lost while remaining his golf buddy.

 

We saw a torn Vice President Mike Pence who finally goes along with Dan Quayle’s advice that he had no discretion in counting the electoral college ballots. How after the January 6^th insurrection, could Pence remain loyal to Trump is beyond me? Indeed, Milley characterized January 6^th as a dress rehearsal for what was to come, alluding to the 1905 uprising in Russia. Further Utah Senator Mike Lee played an important role in keeping Pence on the straight and narrow. Further with all of the subpoenas flying from the January 6^th Committee we will soon find out what exactly happened in the Trump White House on that day. What Woodward and Costa disclose has been widely reported, but I am sure there is much more.

 

The authors also discuss the Biden campaign and the early months of his administration. They portray Biden as very hands on with COVID-19 asking penetrating questions and the same goes double for his questions on Afghanistan. My guess the authors got their information from Mike Donilon and now Chief of Staff Ron Klain. I wish it were true, but my guess is that they were exaggerating.

 

With respect to Afghanistan, we all know that Biden supported withdrawal in the early days of the Obama Administration. Biden believed that the military rolled Obama and that was not going to happen to him. Simply put he was dead set on withdrawal. According to Woodward and Costa Biden asked many questions pertaining to Afghanistan, but not very many about the geo-strategic consequences. Several years ago, I had the good fortune to discuss this issue with former Joint Chiefs Chair Mike Mullen and former Secretary of Defense/CIA Director Bob Gates. My question to them was whether or not the U.S.’s retreat from the broader Middle-East (Morocco to Pakistan) was strategic or tactical? Both answered tactical with the hope it wasn’t strategic. Well, Biden answered that question with disastrous consequences. It is strategic. Further the way too academic Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan turned out to be completely clueless about what would happen after the U.S. announced its withdrawal.

 

With respect to domestic policy the authors go into a great deal of detail in examining how the $1.9 Trillion rescue plan passed. Then as now Senator Joe Manchin was a key player. The bottom line is that Manchin did not want Biden to fail on his first major effort and that is why it passed. Biden may not be so lucky with his reconciliation bill now before the Congress.

 

Woodward and Costa have written a very important first draft of history. It is well worth the read. And with Trump still holding sway over the GOP, we are still in peril.

For the full Amazon URL see: Dangerous Transition (amazon.com)