Ray's Reviews > Fear: Trump in the White House

So you should all know the headlines at this point. The really attention-grabbing ones aren't the main point though, the main point of the book is of course about how 45 is a horrible boss and constantly fighting with his staff: to be specific, there's the military angle and the "globalism" free trade angle. Again and again it comes to that.

The main protagonist is Gary Cohn, who fought against protectionism but spoiler alert he loses in the end. The whole thing is just so frustrating to read. For fuck's sake, really, why is 45 so stupid when it comes to the meaning of trade deficits? And now we know, he will never ever learn.

Then there are the fights with the military. Mattis and McMaster always trying to keep the world order stable, and guess who wants to upend it? Another thing I learned is how much 45 hates South Korea for some reason, it came up quite a lot.

In trying to figure out just what 45 believes in, if there's any consistent set of values, it seems to be that he likes everyone who works for him to be miserable all the time and he likes to think of businessmen as superior to all other humans. This is a point of contention with those in the military, that they don't believe y'know that everything the United States does should be rated solely by money.

At this point one can't help thinking a military coup may be the lesser evil.

Lastly, there's the value system of how personal relationships are all that matters internationally. Like, being friends with Xi and liking him is gong to save the world. It is self-evident how stupid and overly simplistic that is.

All in all, read this and learn about the inner workings of the current chaotic white house and despair. Fire and Fury may make for a better read, but this is Woodward so we should be able to trust this. I suppose there are some criticism that Woodward is too deferential to the military/intelligence complex and the free trade status quo, usually sympathetic to their arguments. But, can't blame him at this point.

To be honest, who fucking cares. This is depressing. This is what? The fourth 45 book I've read lately? The dozenth best-seller out now? How much more does the public have to know before this is over already? These are objectively bad times, there's no rational defense anymore unless you really live in kookoo land, this administration is a disgrace. When are consequences going to catch up?

When is it going to end? On a very personal note, I need it to end soon because I can't think about this for much longer.