Fear

Fear takes an inside look through the eyes of journalist, Bob Woodward, into a deeply flawed President, Donald Trump, and the dysfunctional administration that surrounds him.

After Trump moved into the White House and needed a national security advisor. He hired a military veteran, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. Woodward says he did this on impulse and without going through proper channels for removing an active-duty army officer from his military position.

For Trump, this is typical behavior – no concern for protocol or how things should be done.

It was the same attitude when it came to the relationship between the U.S. and South Korea. Trump didn’t attempt to understand why the country was spending ten-billion dollars on a missile defense system, only to have it located on some, “piece-of-shit land” in South Korea, as Trump referred to it.

Trump couldn’t understand why the U.S. had an eighteen-million-dollar trade deficit with South Korea. To him, the United States was being “screwed over” by the people that he was paying to protect.

At Least three advisors attempted to explain the importance of the United States maintaining a good relationship with Korea. Particularly when North Korea was flexing its military muscles with aggressive nuclear testing.

And then Trump walks away from a meeting after suggesting that all military personnel in S.K. be brought home. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson was heard muttering, “He’s a f*cking moron.”

Trump is of the opinion that politicians who favor “globalism over Americanism” are responsible for the decline in good factory jobs in the US.

Not only did Trump’s economic advisor, Gary Cohn, not believe this, but ninety-nine percent of U.S. economists didn’t buy it either. Even when Cohn had reams of data printed out to support his position, proving that free trade was good for the country and that the nation had moved from manufacturing to a service-based economy. Trump refused to look at any of it.

Once Trump has his mind set it’s almost impossible for him to see any other side. It’s part of the Trump philosophy – never show weakness, apologize, or admit when you’re wrong.

This same philosophy applies to Trump’s relationships. He once advised a colleague that real power comes from never backing down, remaining strong, and always pushing forward. Always deny and never admit you were wrong.

No matter how many people told him that his views on free trade were wrong, he would respond with, “I don’t want to hear it!”

He was relentless in getting out of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. This agreement reflects a one trillion dollar trade deal between Mexico and Canada. Trump only felt like the deal was “Screwing” the country.