War, veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s reportorial narrative nonfiction book, takes readers behind the scenes for an insider’s look at conflicts on three fronts: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Israeli war on Hamas, and the political war, if you will, between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It is the sort of reportage that has won Woodward two Pulitzers over the course of a decades’ long career.
War – Woodward writes – is the result of hundreds of hours of interviews. Both Trump and Biden, the author notes – declined to be interviewed. Not a problem. So many others agreed to go on the record, the story does not suffer. Then, too, there are the multitudes of other sources who provided frank answers to questions in exchange for being granted anonymity due to sensitive subject matter or to preserve relationships that might otherwise be damaged.
Curiously, the book’s prologue begins at a party in Manhattan in 1989. Trump, then working in New York real estate, Carl Bernstein, Woodward’s colleague at The Washington Post, and the author were all in attendance.
As Woodward recalls, Trump approached them and asked if it wouldn’t be interesting for the reporters if they interviewed him, a self-promoter more accustomed to popping up in gossip columns and the like. Mind you, these are the two sleuths who broke the Watergate story.
But interview him, they did. Subsequently, the tapes were transcribed by typewriter, placed in a file folder, and there they remained, misplaced for the better part of three decades.
When Woodward found the file in a box long unopened, he read Trump’s answers to questions the author suggests underpin Trump’s worldview back then: an instinctive (Trump’s term) trait that, in time, would evolve into what the author refers to as “Trumpism.”
“‘Here, in this interview 35 years ago, we see the origin of Trumpism in the words of Trump himself.’” And there ends the prologue.
The first chapter begins with the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Trump, having riled up his thousands of angry supporters, is back at the White House, safely ensconced in his private dining room, watching the rampage play out. Much of what follows covers ground well-known to most readers.
Not until Chapter Two does Joe Biden occupy the Oval Office. He had barely settled into his presidency when his national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, noticed more than 100 thousand Russian troops massed on the border with Ukraine.
We know from news reports over the last four years what’s taking place both in Ukraine and in Israel. What Woodward does so meticulously in War is to fill in the context in which events transpired as well as the thinking, the comments, and the interactions between significant players and their contributions in shaping those events.
Woodward makes Biden’s contempt for Russian President Putin as well as for Israeli Prime Minister crystal clear. The exhaustive efforts to bolster Ukraine’s defense as well as to mitigate suffering in Gaza are well-documented; likewise,Israel’s escalation of hostilities with Iran and its other proxy, Hezbollah. Juicy quotes abound. No spoilers here.
This book hit shelves two weeks prior to election day, November 5, 2024, so Woodward had no way of knowing who would win. But an excerpt at the end of Chapter One suggests that he had an idea which way the wind was blowing. It’s a quote from Ron Klain, Biden’s first chief of staff. The remarks came well in advance of the 2024 election, and the irony is self-evident. Talking about Trump’s 2020 loss, Klain said this:
“‘We as a country still need to process this Trump thing a bit. The way we’re doing it is by showing the American people that the presidency can work again.That they can have a decent person in the White House. In the end Donald Trump lost because he didn’t control the pandemic and the economy. Notwithstanding the stock market, the real economy where people live got worse on his watch….Donald Trump can stand in as many arenas as he wants…as loudly as he wants…Donald Trump will be a side show,’ Klain said confidently.”
As for how the author’s thoughts on the Biden presidency, Woodward wrote these words:
“The legacy of the Biden administration will be the core national security team that he built and kept in place for nearly four years. They brought decades of experience as well as basic human decency.”
