Author and investigative journalist Bob Woodward speaks at The Town Hall in New York on April 8.KARSTEN MORAN/The New York Times News Service
Bob Woodward is 81 years old, the same age as Joe Biden, but still shining a spotlight on the dark corners of the White House.
The locator of Deep Throats in every administration for the last half century was on the phone from Washington discussing his latest book called – he loves one-word titles – War.
It makes the case that Mr. Biden’s Democrats have been a force for good, but prompting more headlines has been his takedown of Donald Trump, whom he considers worse, far worse, than Richard Nixon.
I started the conversation by pointing out that only about 20 per cent of Canadians have a favourable view of Mr. Trump, while in the U.S. it’s more than double that number. I thought that might elicit a compliment from the world’s most famous journalist as to our better judgment.
It didn’t. Just silence.
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There’s no doubt, however, that Mr. Woodward wishes Americans held the former president in such low regard. His new book is different from his others. In those he lets his reporting speak for itself. In War, he lets loose.
Why the change? “Trump is such a threat to the country,” Mr. Woodward said. “I had to state it directly and unambiguously.”
He recalled the assessment of Mark Milley, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who was appointed by Mr. Trump. Gen. Milley buttonholed Mr. Woodward at a Washington reception last year and told him he had to stop the demagogue because “no one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump.” The general said he had deep suspicions about Mr. Trump when he served under him, but now realized he was “a total fascist.” Mr. Woodward agrees.
Kamala Harris’s campaigners have found that it’s the evaluations from those, like Gen. Milley, who used to work beside Mr. Trump that are scoring for them.
In his first presidency, there were those around Mr. Trump who kept his authoritarian instincts in check. This time, if he’s elected, there will only be fawners. Fascists espouse nationalism, racial purity, suppression of the media and opponents. Donald Trump has such leanings.
Mr. Woodward revealed in the book that since leaving the presidency, Mr. Trump has been secretly in touch with his chum Vladimir Putin. “And let’s face it, Putin is the Adolf Hitler of this century,” Mr. Woodward told me.
War offers many criticisms of the Biden administration, but concludes by saluting old Joe’s “steady and purposeful leadership,” which restored faith in the presidency. Mr. Woodward contends that the world came much closer to a nuclear conflict with Russia than realized, but it was Mr. Biden’s savvy diplomacy that helped prevent one.
Notable is the Watergate sleuth’s revelation that Mr. Biden privately railed about how former president Barack Obama screwed up by letting Mr. Putin walk into Crimea and the Donbas in 2014. Mr. Obama “did nothing” and it emboldened the Russian leader to launch the later invasion. Mr. Biden felt that “Barack did not understand Putin,” Mr. Woodward said in the interview.
Surprisingly, Mr. Woodward failed to get an interview with Mr. Biden. He doesn’t know why. Many top White House officials co-operated, however, providing tantalizing disclosures – such as Mr. Biden swearing up and down about the frustrations of dealing with “bad guy” Benjamin Netanyahu – that illuminate what went on during the Biden administration in ways other scribes have not.
There’s a danger in Mr. Woodward’s granting many sources anonymity – that they’ll feel more at liberty to distort. In reporting on the George W. Bush administration, for instance, Mr. Woodward got suckered into believing tall tales about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But over time, his track record has been good. He told me he’s now planning to write a memoir focusing on his career as a reporter from beginning to end.
During this election campaign, Mr. Woodward said the media have done a lot of excellent work, though he feels there’s been a collective amnesia in respect to Mr. Trump’s criminal convictions, outstanding indictments and sexual-abuse findings. They’ve barely been mentioned, which is due, in part, to the Harris campaign’s failure to focus on them.
Mr. Woodward wouldn’t speculate on the election outcome, but said he sees “no evidence” the Republican Party will be able to rid itself anytime soon of Trumpism and return to its conventional moorings.
There’s an assumption within the media establishment that the traditional form of democracy is what Americans want. Mr. Trump’s continued strength suggests they’ve soured on it and may want something else.