America is at a ‘dangerous moment’, says legendary Watergate reporter Bob Woodward
The renowned journalist and author, Bob Woodward, talks to Troy Bramston about the US election and what is at stake.
Legendary Watergate reporter Bob Woodward believes if Americans re-elect Donald Trump to the presidency, the US will be in a “dangerous” situation with a country led by a man who does not believe in democratic institutions or sound policymaking but relies on a gut “instinct” for making even the most important decisions.
In an exclusive interview, Woodward, author of the No.1 best-selling nonfiction book in the US, War, said if Americans choose the former president over Vice-President Kamala Harris, then they’ve failed to heed warning signs about the consequences.
“They will have a president who really is an outlier,” Woodward said. “He doesn’t believe in the law and doesn’t believe in the constitution. Having studied him and spent years on it, you know what he believes in? His instincts. He thinks his instincts are pure and that’s an acceptable structure for running the government, and it’s not.
“You can’t run the government in any country, in Australia, the US, on one person’s instincts. You need a team and you need a plan. And if it’s just, ‘Oh, today, I feel this way. Let’s do that.’ And that’s the way Trump is. That’s the way he operates. It’s too random, and it’s very, very dangerous.”
While polls show Australians overwhelmingly prefer Ms Harris to Mr Trump, Americans are divided over the choice for president, with many not listening to the sharp criticisms by Mr Trump’s former senior top staff, cabinet officials and military leaders.
Woodward reports that Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2019-23), told him that Mr Trump was a “fascist” who needed to be stopped and represented a clear and present threat to the US and the world. “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country,” General Milley said.
“They’re not listening to the evidence that’s available to their own ears or what is in plain sight about the way he operates,” Woodward said if Americans re-elect Mr Trump. “So America is at one of its most dangerous moments in its very long history.”
“He does not want advice. He does not like the truth. He does not believe in the constitutional order we have in this country. He really doesn’t believe in democracy. He believes in himself. And when he lost in 2020 to Joe Biden, he still likes to pretend or maintain that he won. He did not.”
In the book, Woodward reports on Mr Biden’s evident cognitive decline, most notable during his debate with Mr Trump, and told The Weekend Australian that the President “was totally out of it” in the debate. “I was shocked,” he recalled. “Never seen anything like that as a reporter.”
However, he rates Mr Biden’s national security team highly, including Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and CIA director Bill Burns, saying they are among the best “example of steady and purposeful leadership” he has covered in more than half a century.
Woodward said Ms Harris, as Vice-President, had been at “graduate school in the presidency” and he was “surprised” to learn “how tough she is” in meetings with leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After the Watergate burglary in June 1972, Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigated and reported the cover-up in Richard Nixon’s White House which led to the president’s resignation. Woodward assesses that Mr Trump is “far worse” than Nixon and is “unfit to lead the country”.
In February 1989, Woodward and Bernstein met Mr Trump at a dinner party in New York and interviewed him at Trump Tower the following day. He recently rediscovered the tape recording.
“Some of the basic premises of the way he operates as a politician became evident,” he said. “You could see he was aiming for something beyond just real estate.”
Bob Woodward’s War is published by Simon & Schuster Australia
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