Longtime Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, who made his career during coverage of the Watergate scandal, has made critical comments about former President Donald Trump, calling him “an unparallelled danger”.
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Mr Woodward wrote that in “more than 50 years of reporting, I have never disclosed the raw interviews or full transcripts of my work. But after listening again to the 20 interviews I conducted with President Donald Trump during his last year as chief executive, I have decided to take the unusual step of releasing them. I was struck by how Trump pounded in my ears in a way the printed page cannot capture”.
Mr Woodward noted that he ended a previous book about Mr Trump, entitled Rage, with the words “when his performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job”.
“Two years later, I realize I didn’t go far enough,” the journalist wrote in the piece published on Sunday. “Trump is an unparalleled danger. When you listen to him on the range of issues from foreign policy to the virus to racial injustice, it’s clear he did not know what to do. Trump was overwhelmed by the job. He was largely disconnected from the needs and leadership expectations of the public and his absolute self-focus became the presidency.”
“‘The Trump Tapes’ leaves no doubt that after four years in the presidency, Trump has learned where the levers of power are, and full control means installing absolute loyalists in key Cabinet and White House posts, Mr Woodward added. “The record now shows that Trump has led — and continues to lead — a seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, which in effect is an effort to destroy democracy.”
The 79-year-old journalist added that “the record now shows that Trump has led — and continues to lead — a seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, which in effect is an effort to destroy democracy”.
He wrote that Mr Trump serves as a reminder of “how easy it is to break things you do not understand — democracy and the presidency”.
Mr Woodward said that “at one point in June 2020, I asked Trump if he had assistance with a speech he had given about law and order”.
“I get people, they come up with ideas. But, the ideas are mine, Bob. Want to know something? Everything is mine,” Mr Trump told him.
Mr Woodward said “the voice, almost whispering and intimate, is so revealing. I believe that is Trump’s view of the presidency. Everything is mine. The presidency is mine. It is still mine. The only view that matters is mine”.
