The Trump Tapes

Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump

By: Bob Woodward

Narrated by: Donald J. Trump, Bob Woodward

“The most memorable contribution to this year’s American political literature, however, was not a printed book. The Trump Tapes…is an audio collection that offers a passport to the heart of darkness.” —The Guardian

“An uncharacteristic warning from one of the most respected, non-partisan journalists in the world” —Jake Tapper, CNN

“It was riveting. I couldn’t get enough of it.” —Gayle King, CBS Mornings

The Trump Tapes explodes with the exclusive, inside story of Trump’s performance as president—in his own words as he is questioned, even interrogated by Woodward, on the president’s key responsibilities from managing foreign relations to crisis management of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the job Trump seeks again. How did he do the first time? This is the authentic answer, laying bare his repeated failures, obsessions, and grievances.

The Woodward interviews take a reader to a reporter’s laboratory meticulously examining the Trump presidency like never before—spellbinding and devastating.

*Including all 27 letters between President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un

Critic reviews

"This audiobook is a collection of interviews conducted by WASHINGTON POST journalist Bob Woodward with Donald Trump throughout the past decade. As anyone who has heard Trump speak can attest, the former president can talk around a subject with the best of them, but this work puts that skill to the test. Woodward does not accept Trump's word salads as answers. Trump sounds typically brash and boastful, talking glibly about everything, often exaggerating or telling out-and-out untruths. When he does, Woodward corrects him, sometimes to his face, other times in notes to listeners."

“There is no question that hearing Trump has an impact that reading alone cannot match….??Woodward is showing in his own way how difficult it is to do journalism and historiography at the same time….In a Morning Edition interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Woodward speaks of how "the power of the audio" brings home something disturbing about Trump. ‘His voice is so consumed with himself and how he feels and his conclusions.’" (Ron Elving)

A literal piece of history straight from Trump’s mouth.

At first, I hesitate to say, I began to actually dislike Trump less in the beginning.
He comes off as charming, funny, grandiose, entertaining. He is likable and funny at times, but that does change as the chapters progress and the man truly begins to stare far too long into that abyss.

As the chapters and years go by, you begin to hear the evolution of a man that is beginning to embrace denialism and paranoia which only grows exponentially. Everyone is out to get him. Not that that’s anything new, but it gets worse.

The madness in his tone, and his complete out of touch politics become more and more pronounced.

Trump is myopic in his thinking. He cares only for one thing, the economy. What is important to Trump must be what’s important to everyone? That’s the myopic outlook on life he has.

The size of crowds, the devotion of his cult like following, these are the important things to him. Covid was no big deal to him, and he can’t understand why everyone is making such a big deal over what was indeed his biggest blunder of his tumultuous presidency, yet he refuses to see it.

I’ve always said: Biden didn’t win, Trump just lost. Trump is a tragic character with flaws too burdensome for most to simply ignore.

Trump is a deep wound in American history, and it will leave a deep scar. Our job as citizens is to make sure that we don’t allow people to pick at that scab and open that wound again.

I hope we never make the mistake of electing him or one like him again. I hope he’s forever relegated to the history books as a case study into how to tear down a democracy in a relatively short time. We were closer than I would feel comfortable admitting.

The demagogue is the first and most powerful actor in the fall of democracy. Something well know to the ancient Greeks, and warned about time and time again. It’s the great weakness in a democracy.

This was an enjoyable audiobook, of which Bob Woodward did a wonderful job piecing together.

Woodward is a true professional throughout his many conversations, and does a great job giving an insight into the mind of a man blinded by a reality he shares with none but himself, and those willing to follow him to the depths of his self inflicted and imagined inferno.

The chapters get more and more interesting and intense as the audiobook moves forward.
Of course, I have to give it the highest marks, as it is well deserved.

Let’s just hope that we will all heal from the divide Trump and his supporters inflicted on this nation, and that we never repeat or humiliating errors as Americans ever again.
A second time around, may be the final round.

Worse than I Thought

To hear the President, unfiltered and without staff to protect him from himself, was terrifying! He has no sense of responsibility to the country he was elected to serve! His lack of empathy is overwhelming! If ever there was a clear and present danger to our great nation, it was in the presidency of Donald Trump! These tapes, in his own words, are chilling!

Woodward was great

What great patience Mr Woodward shows in putting up with the egocentric repetitive regurgitations of Mr. Trump. It’s understandable why he felt it necessary to share the recordings because the written word could not do justice to Trump’s own self demolition. After the first hour I felt I’d never make it through his continued flawed self aggrandizement. However I’m glad I did. As the narrative proceeds Mr Woodward interjects more to compare Trump’s self perceived place in history versus reality.

Remarkable

Trump self destructs. Incredible historical document. Woodward patronizing, penetrating indefatigable style provokes Trump to reveal his total incapacity to be a national leader and the true peril he presents to this country and the world.

Fascinating

The former wouldn’t find employment at a Howard Johnson hotel chain if needed. How did he create such a convoluted property empire and find all the tax loopholes. For fifty years he slipped through the cracks.