THE TRUMP TAPES by Bob Woodward

THE TRUMP TAPES, from the publisher: “The Trump Tapes is the intimate and astonishing audio archive of Bob Woodward’s 20 interviews with Donald Trump. Featuring more than eight hours of Woodward/Trump conversations, The Trump Tapes is as historically important as the Frost/Nixon interviews. In this up-close, unvarnished self-portrait of Trump and his presidency, listeners will hear Trump as Woodward did: profane, incautious, divisive, and deceptive, but also engaging and entertaining, ever the host and the salesman, trying to sell his presidency to win Woodward over. Relying on familiar devices—airing grievances, stoking divisions, repeating himself to a staggering degree, as if saying something often and loud enough will make something true—Trump uses his voice as a concussive instrument, pounding in the listener’s ear. In new commentary created exclusively for The Trump Tapes, Woodward at times breaks frame from the interviews to provide essential context or clarification. But for the most part the interviews proceed uninterrupted, fulfilling Woodward’s goal of presenting Trump’s voice and words for the historical record, and offering listeners the chance to hear and judge and make their own assessments. As relevant as ever to the task of understanding Donald Trump, The Trump Tapes reveal Trump in his own words—a man consumed by the past and clinging to his grievances, unable to understand his responsibilities as president or address the crises affecting the country.” Woodward also wrote OBAMA’S WARS,among others.

Review: This audiobook reveals to listeners a Donald Trump that few really know.  Trump trusted Woodward more than any journalist, even through he hadn’t read another book on Trump by Woodward.  Trump tends to change the subject often, his mind wandering, with Woodward constantly bringing him back to the subject at hand.  Trump believed he could solve all problems, on his own. World leaders knew they had to placate him—even another narcissist, Kim Jong-un. Trump got 11 letters from Kim and Woodward is shown them and photos never released to the press. This 11 hour audiobook, released today, answers many questions too numerous to name here. It is mind boggling. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio Originals for a download so fascinating I listened late into the night! Trump is smart, media savvy, with perfect memory and an inability to apologize for anything. “I’m always right,” he says. “And people hate me.” Woodward, for his part, knows how to probe, with vast experience and perfect memory too. This is why Trump liked him: S&S is right in saying this is the equivalent to the Frost/Nixon interviews. Recommended for anyone with an interest in politics and Presidential history. It is the best book about Trump out there because it is Trump himself exclusively, in his own words. A print edition would make no sense to those who want to hear the inflections, the tone, and the personality behind the words.

(J. Lowe is author of Fame Island, which became Lottery Island in 2018, the partly true story of John Caldwell, developer of Palm Island in the Grenadines. Trump once looked into buying, but was told, “Why should I sell? Every time my wife and I meet that’s a board meeting!” A Trump quote in the novel is, “People are impressed by fame. Think big,and live large.”)