With just a few days left until the US presidential election on November 5, after possibly the most polarized campaign in recent history, it’s time to look to what the future may hold. Ahead of the elections, there were surprising twists, including the Joseph Biden-Kamala Harris switch as the Democrat nominee and assassination attempts on former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Photos of US presidential candidates, former US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris, were displayed on billboards in New York City. , Photo courtesy: Reuters
Many books on the upcoming election make it clear that there are not two, but three possible outcomes: a Trump win, a Harris win, and a disputed result that goes to the courts and possibly the streets. According to one exchange, Trump loyalist and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says, “This is the strangest election cycle I’ve ever seen… I’m telling people, you’re worried about November, I’m worried about tomorrow morning.” Worried about.” In warBob Woodward’s latest book, published a few weeks before Election Day.
A smartphone screen shows a live telecast of the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. , Photo Credit: Getty Images
important conversation
Flipping the cover of Woodward’s book is like spending hours being a fly on the wall in the White House and other places in the American capital where important conversations take place.
From his distinguished beginnings with reporting partner Carl Bernstein on the Watergate scandal that ended the Nixon presidency, and his book all the president’s menWoodward has honed his skills as the ultimate insider-turned-outsider in Washington with more than a dozen books focusing on various presidents. His trilogy on the Trump presidency (2017–2021), Fear: Trump in the White House, AngerAnd danger (written with Robert Costa), reveals in detail the chaos, unpredictability and insecurity of the world’s most powerful country and how that period changed the world.
In this sense, Woodward’s latest book is a departure from previous books, bush at war And Obama’s warsTo talk about how the Biden years have dealt with three global conflicts: the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Israel’s attack on Gaza and Lebanon following the October 7, 2023 attacks. The book is remarkably up-to-date, and provides information about the last few years in the Oval Office and just beyond. Woodward noted Biden’s stubborn decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, something he failed to convince former President Barack Obama to do.
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland. , Photo courtesy: Reuters
He looks at Biden’s failed effort to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from going into Ukraine, even though the US had significant intelligence ahead of time that Russia would invade. Woodward also looks at how the US president has dealt with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a leader with whom Biden has a long history of confrontation while he has strongly supported Israel.
Woodward’s recording of the profanity used by heads of state is sometimes disturbing, but conveys the gravity of the times: At one point, Woodward recalls Biden saying that Obama never took Putin seriously and “messed up” in 2014. The invasion of Crimea, around the same time as Trump says Biden “ruined us” by not handling Putin better.
Anti-war protesters raise their hands behind US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden’s funding request to strengthen border security as well as support Israel and Ukraine on Capitol Hill in Washington . , Photo courtesy: Reuters
Woodward’s revelation of a lunch conversation between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Biden, where Blinken convinced the president to withdraw from the campaign, is proof of how close the author is to the principles.
where they stand
People wear masks of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in Dublin, Ireland. , Photo courtesy: Reuters
Although this book is about the Biden presidency, it is the best account yet of what stances both former President Trump and Vice President Harris will take on foreign policy and dealing with Russia and Israel if they come to power. Trump’s apparent admiration for Putin and easy understanding with Netanyahu comes to the fore in many of the incidents described in the war. One of the most notable chapters deals with Harris’s tough conversation with Netanyahu in September this year, where she raises civilian killings in Gaza, and warns that the next generation of Americans cannot share sympathy for Israel’s actions. Which is what she does.
Unfortunately for the readers here, war There is little mention of India, except for the White House’s outreach to India, China, Turkey and Israel to send messages to Putin warning against nuclear adventurism and the high levels of illegal immigration from India and China. . Even the Indo-Pacific strategy gives little notice or indication of where the presidential contenders will stand.
What are memoirs called?
For those wanting less policy and more personal stories about the candidates, there are several books, such as Kamala Harris’s updated memoir. The Truths We Hold: An American JourneyThis adds more information on his worldview in the concluding chapter.
The image of Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris was displayed on a screen inside the arena at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA. Photo courtesy: Reuters
Trump publishes a book after surviving an assassination attempt save americaWhich is prohibitively expensive and expectedly ostentatious. A more fascinating account comes from former first lady Melania Trump’s book. melaniaHowever, this is presented as a “sanitized” version of events.
Interesting account of Trump’s beginnings comes from his nephew Fred Trump All in the Family: Trump and How We Got This Waycame out recently, and his niece, Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous ManWhich is a profile in Trump psychology.
suhasini.h@thehindu.co.in
published – November 01, 2024 09:01 am IST