Donald J Trump and Fear by Bob Woodward and Ultimatum by Frank Gardner

TWO BOOKS: FEAR and ULTIMATUM

FEAR, more specifically heralded as ‘Trump in the White House’ by Bob Woodward.

This man has incredible track record with The Washington Post, and specifically with his reporting of President Nixon with Vietnam and Watergate; It marks him out as a man of note. An investigative journalist who should be feared! The film, The Post, with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep is a cinema version of his work.

ULTIMATUM by Frank Gardner of ‘war reporting renown’ is a novel where he has used his knowledge of conflict and everything else he has gleaned about the military and ‘spooks’.

I read both books by turning over a few chapters of each and I decided to comment upon each in one piece of writing.

FEAR is a book about the political activities elucidate through numerous interviews that Woodward has made with people who are part of the power set within the White House and the current President, Donald J Trump. Personally, I can't stand the sight of him!

In an interview with Trump on March 31st, 2016 and included on a page of its own these words “Real power is——I don't even want to use the word ——fear.”

The words ‘power’ and ‘fear’ are two words that we should be afraid of. The reported shambles and chaos within the seat of American power is astonishing. And it is current. To add to the ‘fear’ and I quote “ Within the intelligence and military world there exists …….. ‘our deep secrets.’ These are matters so sensitive……., that only a handful of people including the president …..know about them.”

Both books dovetail into each other as they are are involved with intrigue, subterfuge, lies and deceit. Indeed, I needed some escapism after reading tracks from Fear. Being more specific Ultimatum hops from Vauxhall in London to a nasty place in The Middle East. It is a story of spying and the hero Luke Carlton has it all to do. Will he survive and how will that ‘ultimatum’ go? Frank Gardner writes with feeling and the scenes that he creates have that human touch. On a couple of occasions I was able to assume some happenings, but will you be correct? It would be difficult for any potential reader not to know something about Trump, but with Ultimatum I will give nothing more away. The last eighty pages flew by and we had to get to that conclusion. I suppose with any super hero his survival is paramount, but does this one do it?

To emphasize more on 4th October, at a press conference in The Hague it was revealed the intrusive activities of Russia’s GRU. Not just condemnation but revelations of six different hacking operations. There is danger out there, active and real, that can also be exposed by books. But the real ‘fear’ reading more of Woodward's words is China. Frank Gardner’s book is escapism at its best, but can the world escape from Trump’s erraticism?