The History Book Club discussion

SPOILER THREAD - SPOILER THREAD -SPOILER THREAD

This is the glossary thread and is a Spoiler Thread.

DAILY INTELLIGENCER - THE NEW YORK MAGAZINE:

Bob Woodward on the ‘Best Obtainable Version of the Truth’ About Trump By Olivia Nuzzi

Bob Woodward's 'Fear' sells 750,000 copies in 1st day, breaks Simon & Schuster's all-time pre-order sales record

Bob Woodward's in-depth look at the chaos of President Donald Trump's White House just broke a 94-year sales record.

The celebrated Watergate reporter's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," boasted higher pre-order sales than any other title in the history of its publisher, Simon & Schuster, the company said.

The tell-all book, released Sept. 11, sold more than 750,000 copies in just one day, according to a press release from the company.

Remainder of article:


Source: CNBC

Fareed Zakaria on GPS has Bob Woodward as guest today.

Excerpt:



Another Excerpt:



More:


There is a replay at 1PM on CNN

Rachel Maddow - full interview:

Rachel Maddow Full Interview Bob Woodward 9/11/18 Expose The Fatal Flaw That Dooms Trump To Failure



Source: Youtube and MSNBC

Fox News - on the Daily Briefing



Source: Fox News Inside

Review from the New Yorker:



Source: The New Yorker

What is KORUS?

The United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement (officially: Free trade agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea), also known as KORUS FTA, is a trade agreement between the United States and the Republic of Korea. Negotiations were announced on February 2, 2006, and concluded on April 1, 2007. The treaty was first signed on June 30, 2007, with a renegotiated version signed in early December 2010.

The agreement was ratified by the United States on October 12, 2011, with the Senate passing it 83–15 and the House 278-151.

It was ratified by the National Assembly of South Korea on November 22, 2011, with a vote of 151–7, with 12 abstentions.

The agreement entered into effect in March 2012. Another renegotiation took place from late 2017 to late March 2018, when an agreement was reached between both governments.

The trade agreement involves an estimated 362 million consumers in the United States and the Republic of Korea.

The treaty's provisions eliminate 95% of each nation's tariffs on goods within five years, and create new protections for multinational financial services and other firms.

For the United States, the treaty was the first free trade agreement (FTA) with a major Asian economy and the largest trade deal since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993. For South Korea, the KORUS FTA is second in size only to the FTA signed with the European Union and dwarfs recent FTAs signed with Chile, Singapore, the European Free Trade Area and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

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Source(s): Wikipedia, Office of the United States Trade Representative, The Heritage Foundation, The Washington Post, CNN Money, Bloomberg

THAAD


A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor being fired during an exercise in 2013

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase (descent or reentry) by intercepting with a hit-to-kill approach.

THAAD was developed after the experience of Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War in 1991.

The THAAD interceptor carries no warhead, but relies on its kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. A kinetic energy hit minimizes the risk of exploding conventional-warhead ballistic missiles, and the warhead of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles will not detonate on a kinetic-energy hit.

Originally a United States Army program, THAAD has come under the umbrella of the Missile Defense Agency. The Navy has a similar program, the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, which now has a land component as well ("Aegis ashore").

THAAD was originally scheduled for deployment in 2012, but initial deployment took place in May 2008.

THAAD has been deployed in Guam, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea.

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Source: Wikipedia, Lockheed Martin, Missile Defense Agency, The Diplomat, CNBC

Business Insider - Gary Cohn confirmed a major revelation about the GOP tax bill fight from Bob Woodward's new book



Source: Business Insider

Hi there! I'm new to GoodReads.

I "read" this as an Audible audio book. Since I am new to Audible, I haven't yet figured out how to cite pages and quotes from the audiobook. Please forgive my ignorance.

(view spoiler)[Does it feel like Bob Woodward was "outing" Mattis or implying that Mattis is gay? Woodward goes out of his way to point out that Mattis is a lifelong bachelor before he tells the story about Mattis's deputy showing up to the bachelor officer's quarters to find all of his stuff had been moved out and then was told it had been moved to Mattis's residence. When the deputy arrived there, he found Mattis folding his underwear. I can understand wanting to have your deputy close and even in the same residence, but the whole Mattis doing the laundry thing seems unusual. Thoughts? (hide spoiler)]

Lynne you are doing great but you are on the glossary thread for the book - just do an edit and copy and paste and place this post on the discussion thread if you are discussing the chapters which we are.

Maybe you could identify what the chapter title was - normally audible tells you the chapter title and put that above your spoiler. You seem to have the spoiler html just fine.

Here is the link:

/topic/show/...

But in any case - do a brief intro - telling us where you are located - very generally - state for example and why you decided to read or listen to the book.

Thank you! Will do!

(view spoiler)[Nothing in this book changes my long-held opinion that Mr. Trump is manifestly unfit for the office of president. A lot of this has already been reported, so there aren't a lot of shocking revelations here. Woodward pretty much sticks to straightforward reporting, without much analysis or context. I'm sure this was a conscious decision on his part, since editorializing could only give the president's supporters more ammunition with which to attack his work. His main point is succinctly expressed by the president's own attorney: Mr. Trump is "a fucking liar" (p. 357).

Notwithstanding the president's well-documented ignorance and inattention to detail, the Trump in the book occasionally surprised me. Confronting his national security team over their plans to escalate fighting in Afghanistan, Trump is quoted by Woodward as saying:

"But how many more deaths?...How many more lost limbs? How much longer are we going to be there?" (p. 125)

I can't think of better questions myself.

In all other respects, Woodward portrays Trump as the numbskull he certainly is, whether it's about trade, diplomacy, or the loyalty of subordinates. One mildly shocking fact reported here is that "Russia had privately warned [Defense Secretary] Mattis that if there was a war in the Baltics, Russia would not hesitate to use tactical nuclear weapons against NATO..." (p. 132). The disconnect between Trump's attitudes toward Putin and our European allies in this connection only reinforces the impression that the Kremlin has serious dirt on the president.

The "soft coup" against the president by his subordinates reported by Woodward is reassuring on one hand, but on the other hand, it raises even more dire worries about the future of democracy in our republic. Voters truly deserve the government they choose, even if the rest of us have to suffer the consequences. The Constitutional checks against a president out of control are moribund, especially in the hands of cynical Republicans. Lincoln wasn't squeamish about violating the Constitution when he thought it necessary, but Lincoln was an elected president. Trump's team that is purportedly protecting the nation against a liar and moron was elected by nobody. (hide spoiler)]

Excellent review Vheissu - very balanced and I am afraid accurate.

We really don't know what the legacy of President Trump will be, yet. True, the day to day controversies continue, and some embarassing. We can say the same for our Congress as well (e.g. Kavanaugh debacle). I'm personally appalled with our media's loose administration of reporting the facts. I'm also disgusted with key insiders using influence in their self interest by leaking to the press. Bob Woodward said it best on Fox News Sunday recently, in response to how media should report controversies, "that is why the long view is advantageous, seek out sources, confirm the findings, etc." True, there are concerns with present policies, but President Trump was voted in to shake up the Washington establishment. I agree that there is concern (as advocated by Woodward's book); but at the same time, let's take the long view. And please, will the journalists (print and TV) clean up their acts?

Brian wrote: "We really don't know what the legacy of President Trump will be, yet. ..."

Agreed. Robert A. Caro isn't finished explaining LBJ to us yet.

Robert A. Caro

Hello Vheissu - we add the authors photo and then the authors link

Thank you Brian and Vheissu for your posts. I do think though that the press and media coverage tries to be truthful and I cannot say the same for the White House - especially the president

Brian wrote: "We really don't know what the legacy of President Trump will be, yet. True, the day to day controversies continue, and some embarassing. We can say the same for our Congress as well (e.g. Kavanaugh..."

Brian, I would be interested in knowing if you have any specific examples of why the Washington Post or the New York Times, for example, have to "clean up its act." I think they are doing a great job. We are lucky to have such newspapers.

There is a great danger in using general words like "Congress" and "Media" and "Washington" to condemn everyone. It becomes a lazy way out. It absolves individual citizens from the responsibility of finding out how each person is doing.

Bentley wrote: "Hello Vheissu - we add the authors photo and then the authors link..."

Righteo!

Jimmy wrote: "Brian wrote: "We really don't know what the legacy of President Trump will be, yet. True, the day to day controversies continue, and some embarassing. We can say the same for our Congress as well (..."

Jimmy, I'm not going to dig up all the cases / episodes regarding the press for the past couple of years; the general pattern is that due to the 24/7 news cycle, reporters / news organizations periodically print/report unsubstantiated accounts. News organizations have introduced bias of many forms as well. Journalism had to evolve thru technological change, and to this day, still. Over this past weekend, The New Yorker posted a story that was unsubstantiated. On and on. I agree that a free press is essential to our democracy.

The closest thing you gave to one specific example, Brian, was the New Yorker story. I can only guess you are referring to the Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer story about a second accuser. The accuser was named and now has to go through the meat grinder. What were the authors supposed to do? Sit on it? Diane Feinstein tried to delay to protect the first accuser perhaps. How has that worked out for her? It seemed to me the New Yorker story told everything they knew and how they got it. What else could they do?

The next step in a normal world, which we appear to have left, would be for an FBI investigation ordered by the President. Check out the facts by the people trained to do so.