“Peril”: A Review
If there is to be another book about the Trump presidency and the political and psychological chaos that still grips the nation, it had to be written by these two authors. Bob Woodward’s reputation speaks for itself. And according to Woodward in his closing notes, Costa is half his age “But he exceeds my understanding of politics.”
By any measure the book is a mammoth undertaking with seventy-two chapters and 482 total pages. I assume a key strategic question that faced the authors and staff was how to take a fresh, new look at events that had been so mercilessly covered by the media for years. I think the structure and pacing of the book helps a lot. There is movement in the narrative. The familiar seems fresh and reconsidered. This is no surprise, of course, given the vast resources available to the authors. It seems noteworthy that many of the chapters are five or six pages in length and this definitely contributes to a fast-paced book. I mean no criticism when I say much of this book has the flavor of a good novel in structure, language, flow and counterpoint. In short, it’s a page-turner.
In their Note to Readers the authors write that “All interviews for this book were conducted under the journalist ground rule of ‘deep background.’ This means that all the information could be used but we would not say who provided it.” This is important because much of the book is from more than two-hundred sources presented without quotation marks. Obviously, such a ground rule provides a significant editorial advantage that reveals itself often in political and other figures who seem quite different from earlier media depictions. This approach allows the authors to treat well-covered editorial terrain with a freshness and an immediacy.
“Peril” opens with a Prologue, an account of General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right after the January 6 insurrection. Milley’s call to China has been widely reported but “Peril” draws a more comprehensive, darker picture. The nuclear danger was real. And Milley feared a “Reichstag moment,” similar to 1933 in Germany when Hitler rose to power amid street violence and the burning the Reichstag parliamentary building. His exchanges with Speaker Pelosi about the twenty-fifth amendment and the nuclear football underscore how deep the fear was at the time. Milley met with his senior officers to talk about protocols regarding the use of nuclear weapons. His focus was procedural, as required by law. He feared for the overthrow of American democracy. The Prologue serves as a leitmotif for the book. This is the heart of the matter.
The Prologue settles a key strategic decision about the chronology of the book and the central theme. Chapter 1 seems pro forma, with Joe Biden in 2017 contemplating a presidential run. He was watching a sitting president celebrate Nazis, white supremacists, and Robert E. Lee. The situation seemed darker and more dangerous that he had witnessed in his political career. Biden sensed early on that he would face a battle for the soul of the nation, but he was slow and hesitant about making another presidential run. This is marker, frame and counterpoint.
2.
One of strengths of the book is that it provides a richer view of the main political players than the media customarily has offered. Attorney General Bill Barr generally comes across as independent, blunt and outspoken, telling President Trump in April 2020 that he would likely lose the election, that he should dial it back and focus on the suburbs. He added that a lot of people thought Trump was an “asshole.” Although we might remember Barr mainly for slanting and distorting the Mueller report, in this book he appears frequently as a brake on the president, especially in regard to voter fraud. In “Peril” Barr seems like a different person than the one served-up by the MSM over the years. He could even imagine the flames coming out of Trump’s ears.
As noted, General Milley takes a similar role, whether it was pushing back on Trump’s desire to use the military against street demonstrations, implementation of a rogue Afghanistan withdrawal memo, or keeping a watchful eye on protocols for use of nuclear and other weaponry. He knew early on the biggest threat to the country was domestic terrorism. Milley was adamant there would be no “Wag the Dog” scenario overseas, a reference to the 1997 movie about “a president using war to distract from a scandal.”
“Peril” is a refreshing engaging book about a period in our recent history that had seemed to be so thoroughly mined. The knowledge of Trump’s intransigence, lack of curiosity and corruption of the office is certainly well-known, but this book provides a deeper, psychologically riveting account of these events. The sourcing for the book is on obvious display. Kellyanne Conway’s advice to Trump about what went wrong in 2020 is priceless: “Trump 2020 resembled Hillary 2016. You had too much money, too much time, too much ego”
“Peril” is loaded with such gems.
The book loses some steam after Biden takes office and focuses on the virus and governance. This is in part due to the lack of political drama. Perhaps the book should have ended sooner.
But, as the authors note, peril remains. So does the pathology. The contrition some Republicans showed after the insurrection cooled quickly and the penitents quickly moved back to Trump hero worship. The political cancer has metastasized, now threatening future free elections in numerous states.
Woodward and Costa ask rhetorically: “Could Trump work his will again? Were there any limits to what he and his supporters might do to put him back in power?”
That is the question hanging fire.
