What do you think?
Rate this book
Trump in the White House #3.5
The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump
“I’m doing something here that I’ve never done before, presenting the lengthy, raw interviews of my work. In the fall of 2019 through August 2020, I interviewed President Trump 19 times for my second book on his presidency, Rage. I had also interviewed him in 2016 when he was a presidential candidate. I decided to take this unusual step of releasing these recordings after relistening in full to all 20 interviews. As I listened to them again I was stunned by their relevance to understanding Trump. Hearing Trump speak is a completely different experience to reading the transcripts or listening to snatches of interviews on television or the internet.” —Bob Woodward from The Trump Tapes
The Trump Tapes is the intimate and astonishing audio archive of Bob Woodward’s 20 interviews with Donald Trump.
Featuring more than eight hours of Woodward/Trump conversations, The Trump Tapes is as historically important as the Frost/Nixon interviews. In this up-close, unvarnished self-portrait of Trump and his presidency, listeners will hear Trump as Woodward did: profane, incautious, divisive, and deceptive, but also engaging and entertaining, ever the host and the salesman, trying to sell his presidency to win Woodward over.
Relying on familiar devices—airing grievances, stoking divisions, repeating himself to a staggering degree, as if saying something often and loud enough will make something true—Trump uses his voice as a concussive instrument, pounding in the listener’s ear.
In new commentary created exclusively for The Trump Tapes, Woodward at times breaks frame from the interviews to provide essential context or clarification. But for the most part the interviews proceed uninterrupted, fulfilling Woodward’s goal of presenting Trump’s voice and words for the historical record, and offering listeners the chance to hear and judge and make their own assessments.
As relevant as ever to the task of understanding Donald Trump, The Trump Tapes reveal Trump in his own words—a man consumed by the past and clinging to his grievances, unable to understand his responsibilities as president or address the crises affecting the country.
The Trump Tapes is the intimate and astonishing audio archive of Bob Woodward’s 20 interviews with Donald Trump.
Featuring more than eight hours of Woodward/Trump conversations, The Trump Tapes is as historically important as the Frost/Nixon interviews. In this up-close, unvarnished self-portrait of Trump and his presidency, listeners will hear Trump as Woodward did: profane, incautious, divisive, and deceptive, but also engaging and entertaining, ever the host and the salesman, trying to sell his presidency to win Woodward over.
Relying on familiar devices—airing grievances, stoking divisions, repeating himself to a staggering degree, as if saying something often and loud enough will make something true—Trump uses his voice as a concussive instrument, pounding in the listener’s ear.
In new commentary created exclusively for The Trump Tapes, Woodward at times breaks frame from the interviews to provide essential context or clarification. But for the most part the interviews proceed uninterrupted, fulfilling Woodward’s goal of presenting Trump’s voice and words for the historical record, and offering listeners the chance to hear and judge and make their own assessments.
As relevant as ever to the task of understanding Donald Trump, The Trump Tapes reveal Trump in his own words—a man consumed by the past and clinging to his grievances, unable to understand his responsibilities as president or address the crises affecting the country.
12 pages, Audiobook
First published October 25, 2022
359 people are currently reading
916 people want to read
About the author
Bob Woodward
107 books3,216 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Robert "Bob" Upshur Woodward is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. While an investigative reporter for that newspaper, Woodward, working with fellow reporter Carl Bernstein, helped uncover the Watergate scandal that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation. Woodward has written 12 best-selling non-fiction books and has twice contributed reporting to efforts that collectively earned the Post and its National Reporting staff a Pulitzer Prize.
Robert "Bob" Upshur Woodward is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. While an investigative reporter for that newspaper, Woodward, working with fellow reporter Carl Bernstein, helped uncover the Watergate scandal that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation. Woodward has written 12 best-selling non-fiction books and has twice contributed reporting to efforts that collectively earned the Post and its National Reporting staff a Pulitzer Prize.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 308 reviews
October 18, 2024
Bob Woodward is, of course, the Washington Post reporter who, along with his colleague Carl Bernstein, broke much of the Watergate scandal in 1972. He has now written over twenty books on American politics and has won numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. I listened to an audio version of his 2018 book on Donald Trump Fear: Trump in the White House just over a year ago. Based on interviews with ‘first hand’ sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, and documents, it sought to portray the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House. In my mind, Trump was presented as: a bully and a liar; a disrupter; a fly by the seat of his pants operator; a flip-flop artist with narrow and outdated views.
In September 2020, Woodward published Rage a further exploration of Trump’s presidency, but this time based on twenty interview with the man himself (undertaken from the autumn of 2019 through to August 2020). The author taped each of these interviews – with the knowledge and acceptance of Trump – and also spoke with member of Trump’s team, other politicians and viewed numerous documents, including personal letters exchanged with North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. The interviews were a mix of face to face meetings, telephone calls made by Woodward to Trump, and also ad hoc calls made by Trump to Woodward’s home line. Initially, the conversations focussed on Trump’s foreign policy, this being what Woodward expected the substantive theme of the book to be. But then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and Woodward realised that the leadership challenge that this presented would have to supersede his original concept.
In his introduction, Woodward explains that some while after the publication of Rage, he once again listened to the interviews through in full. He realised that hearing Trump talk was a completely different experience to that of reading the words he spoke. He was stunned by the relevance to understanding the man. Trump’s voice is at times loud but also sometimes very quiet; his language is often profane, and his manner alternates through divisive, deceptive, angry, and retaliatory; he’s staggeringly incautious and also hugely repetitive. I have to say that when listening to the conversations, I was completely hooked from the very start. Note: this is not a replaying of the book Rage, but rather simply the interviews with Trump that led to the writing of a much more detailed and inclusive piece.
Woodward challenges Trump and, at times, fact checks him, but in the main, he listens. He explains that he really wanted to hear what the president had to say. There is a small amount of interruption as the author edits in some additional information – to add context or to correct claims made by Trump – but really, this is minimal. My sense is that Trump was largely hugely respectful of the reporter and sometimes was clearly listening avidly to questions asked or points of view provided. But towards the end of the sequence of discussions it seems that the president began to lose patience as he feared that the book that was to follow would not be as positive as he’d like it to be. After its publication, he labelled it a ‘political hit job’.
I’ll not go into the details of the discussions – I’d urge anyone interested to grab an audio copy fast. Make that immediately! Instead, I’ll just list some thoughts I noted down as I worked my way through:
- Trump is clearly someone who practices self-adulation (Woodward’s term). He claims personal credit for just about everything he says has gone well during his term as president. Which is just about everything that has happened - there’s little to no bad news in his eyes.
- About himself, he says: I make deals (great deals), and I build relationships. He claims to get on really well with everyone - including Putin, Kim Jong Un, and China’s President Xi Jinping.
- He rarely answers a question directly. He more often pontificates and dives off at tangents, often picking out the latest piece of good news he wants to share or to simply espouse yet another self-congratulatory message.
- There are some facts (or perhaps just Trumpisms) that he repeats over and over.
- He’s obsessed with polls. Barely a conversation is completed without a positive poll being mentioned, as he focuses on the upcoming presidential campaign.
- Sometimes he slips into a strange voice – one I have heard him adopt in interviews or speeches before – it’s a kind of nasal whisper. I find it really odd. He seems to be making a particular point about something or somebody, but all I could focus on was his peculiar delivery. Is this partly what Tim Walz is referring to when he labelled him ‘creepy and weird’?
- There were odd times when I warmed to Trump as he seemed somewhat vulnerable (I know! But these moments are few and far between) or when he teased and/or joked with Woodward.
Woodward’s conclusion is that Trump is not only the wrong man for the job, but that he is a dangerous man, completely ill-suited for the role of president. Whether you agree with that or not, this is a truly fascinating insight that really shouldn’t be missed by anyone interested in American politics.
In September 2020, Woodward published Rage a further exploration of Trump’s presidency, but this time based on twenty interview with the man himself (undertaken from the autumn of 2019 through to August 2020). The author taped each of these interviews – with the knowledge and acceptance of Trump – and also spoke with member of Trump’s team, other politicians and viewed numerous documents, including personal letters exchanged with North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. The interviews were a mix of face to face meetings, telephone calls made by Woodward to Trump, and also ad hoc calls made by Trump to Woodward’s home line. Initially, the conversations focussed on Trump’s foreign policy, this being what Woodward expected the substantive theme of the book to be. But then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and Woodward realised that the leadership challenge that this presented would have to supersede his original concept.
In his introduction, Woodward explains that some while after the publication of Rage, he once again listened to the interviews through in full. He realised that hearing Trump talk was a completely different experience to that of reading the words he spoke. He was stunned by the relevance to understanding the man. Trump’s voice is at times loud but also sometimes very quiet; his language is often profane, and his manner alternates through divisive, deceptive, angry, and retaliatory; he’s staggeringly incautious and also hugely repetitive. I have to say that when listening to the conversations, I was completely hooked from the very start. Note: this is not a replaying of the book Rage, but rather simply the interviews with Trump that led to the writing of a much more detailed and inclusive piece.
Woodward challenges Trump and, at times, fact checks him, but in the main, he listens. He explains that he really wanted to hear what the president had to say. There is a small amount of interruption as the author edits in some additional information – to add context or to correct claims made by Trump – but really, this is minimal. My sense is that Trump was largely hugely respectful of the reporter and sometimes was clearly listening avidly to questions asked or points of view provided. But towards the end of the sequence of discussions it seems that the president began to lose patience as he feared that the book that was to follow would not be as positive as he’d like it to be. After its publication, he labelled it a ‘political hit job’.
I’ll not go into the details of the discussions – I’d urge anyone interested to grab an audio copy fast. Make that immediately! Instead, I’ll just list some thoughts I noted down as I worked my way through:
- Trump is clearly someone who practices self-adulation (Woodward’s term). He claims personal credit for just about everything he says has gone well during his term as president. Which is just about everything that has happened - there’s little to no bad news in his eyes.
- About himself, he says: I make deals (great deals), and I build relationships. He claims to get on really well with everyone - including Putin, Kim Jong Un, and China’s President Xi Jinping.
- He rarely answers a question directly. He more often pontificates and dives off at tangents, often picking out the latest piece of good news he wants to share or to simply espouse yet another self-congratulatory message.
- There are some facts (or perhaps just Trumpisms) that he repeats over and over.
- He’s obsessed with polls. Barely a conversation is completed without a positive poll being mentioned, as he focuses on the upcoming presidential campaign.
- Sometimes he slips into a strange voice – one I have heard him adopt in interviews or speeches before – it’s a kind of nasal whisper. I find it really odd. He seems to be making a particular point about something or somebody, but all I could focus on was his peculiar delivery. Is this partly what Tim Walz is referring to when he labelled him ‘creepy and weird’?
- There were odd times when I warmed to Trump as he seemed somewhat vulnerable (I know! But these moments are few and far between) or when he teased and/or joked with Woodward.
Woodward’s conclusion is that Trump is not only the wrong man for the job, but that he is a dangerous man, completely ill-suited for the role of president. Whether you agree with that or not, this is a truly fascinating insight that really shouldn’t be missed by anyone interested in American politics.
November 26, 2022
These tapes are a useful historical record. They had their interesting moments, and also their horrifying moments. I’m not sure why this qualifies as a book. It is just tapes of Trump being his very loud, arrogant, repetitive, lying, self-aggrandizing self. The fact that he repeatedly called Woodward to volunteer information is just another example of his idiocy. And he actually believes that the fact that his uncle taught at MIT is evidence of his own intelligence. Woodward occasionally tries to correct the lies as an aside in the “book”. However, I was surprised at his lack of aggressive questioning when he conducted the interviews. Maybe that is just his technique for getting his subjects to reveal themselves.
October 29, 2022
I really did not want to listen to this book as I thought I had a good handle on how it went during the regime. I am appalled to listen to the narcissism and self-aggrandizement of a human sitting in the White House. I gave the book five stars simply because I think it is important to have this on record and I think this should be used to educate citizens on how bad he was for our country. His absolute and total lack of insight, his total ignorance on world events, how government works, and really anything. The repeated bragging of what he has accomplished - most debunked, and constant lying and repeating lies that have been proven to be lies, is nauseating. Do not recommend listening to this book unless you want to see how everything that has happened since began.
April 28, 2023
“No president has accomplished more in North Korea than me.”
“No president has done more for the black community, except maybe Abraham Lincoln.”
“I downplayed the virus. I still downplay it. I just don’t want to create a panic.”
“I have a plan.”
“It’s fake news.”
These are actual, honest-to-God statements that Donald Trump makes (sometimes multiple times, ad nauseam) in “The Trump Tapes”, an audio book collection of the twenty interviews that Trump allowed legendary journalist Bob Woodward to record for posterity.
There is something intangibly significant about listening to these tapes, as opposed to reading Trump’s words in transcript form. One misses the intonations and the subtle nuances of Trump’s rhetoric when they are simply written down. Even Woodward acknowledges this.
I have, ever since Trump was serious about becoming president, wavered back and forth between two thoughts: either Trump is as incredibly stupid as he sounds or he is actually very intelligent but merely playing dumb. I still haven’t decided after listening to “The Trump Tapes”.
What I have decided, though, is that Trump—-regardless of whether he is actually far more intelligent than he lets on—-suffers from the following handicaps:
1) He is completely unwilling or incapable (and I lean more toward the latter) of any deep self-reflection. I don’t know how many times Woodward, with the patience of an angel, had to ask Trump the simple question, “How did that make you feel?”—-or variations of it—-in regards to a variety of topics, from North Korea to the pandemic to George Floyd’s murder. Unfortunately, I don’t think it was a simple question for Trump, who makes it clear that he isn’t sure how to feel about anything unless he’s being told how to feel by a majority opinion in the room. This is why Trump quotes poll numbers like they are Gospel all throughout the many interviews. Even when Woodward makes a statement like “Well, poll numbers aren’t that accurate, Mr. President.” and Trump responds, “I know, you’re right.” and then, seconds later, quotes another poll. At one point, Trump tells Woodward that he’s not a “feeling” guy, he’s a “doing” guy. To me, that reads as chilling and somewhat sociopathic. (See #3)
2) He is a textbook narcissist. Now, arguably, one must probably have narcissistic tendencies to go into politics in the first place and, for sure, to want to be president. But I can’t imagine any other president doing the completely reckless and dangerous things that Trump has done, most notably refuse to concede an election that he lost and, in fact, create an entire bullshit narrative about voter fraud and a rigged election. Trump’s narcissism inevitably led to the violent insurrection on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. By sending out inflammatory tweets and riling crowds up during his rallies, Trump did everything he could to foment and incite the violence of that day among his followers. And he did it because he couldn’t accept the fact that more people in this country voted against him than for him. He literally couldn’t accept it to the point that he was asking his Vice-President, Mike Pence, to commit an unconstitutional act to overturn the election, and then he was angry when Pence actually did the morally right thing.
3) I truly believe that Trump is a sociopath. Sociopathy, also known as antisocial personality disorder, has several detectable traits, according to Dr. Andrew Coulter, MD, among those: constant lying and deception, callousness, manipulation, arrogance, impulsiveness, a lack of understanding the difference between right and wrong, lack of empathy, risk-taking, taking dishonest actions that violates people’s rights, difficulty in acknowledging one’s own faults. (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/so...) I could break each one of these down and offer clear-cut examples of Trump’s behavior that exhibits these traits, but the problem is that, for half the audience I would be preaching to the choir and, for the other half, it would be “fake news”.
I have to give Woodward credit. He was always extremely polite and deferential to the president, even at the most heated moments—-moments when a lesser journalist would have been pulling their hair out and calling Trump a “liar” or worse. I have not read his book “Rage”, for which a majority of these interviews were used.
“No president has done more for the black community, except maybe Abraham Lincoln.”
“I downplayed the virus. I still downplay it. I just don’t want to create a panic.”
“I have a plan.”
“It’s fake news.”
These are actual, honest-to-God statements that Donald Trump makes (sometimes multiple times, ad nauseam) in “The Trump Tapes”, an audio book collection of the twenty interviews that Trump allowed legendary journalist Bob Woodward to record for posterity.
There is something intangibly significant about listening to these tapes, as opposed to reading Trump’s words in transcript form. One misses the intonations and the subtle nuances of Trump’s rhetoric when they are simply written down. Even Woodward acknowledges this.
I have, ever since Trump was serious about becoming president, wavered back and forth between two thoughts: either Trump is as incredibly stupid as he sounds or he is actually very intelligent but merely playing dumb. I still haven’t decided after listening to “The Trump Tapes”.
What I have decided, though, is that Trump—-regardless of whether he is actually far more intelligent than he lets on—-suffers from the following handicaps:
1) He is completely unwilling or incapable (and I lean more toward the latter) of any deep self-reflection. I don’t know how many times Woodward, with the patience of an angel, had to ask Trump the simple question, “How did that make you feel?”—-or variations of it—-in regards to a variety of topics, from North Korea to the pandemic to George Floyd’s murder. Unfortunately, I don’t think it was a simple question for Trump, who makes it clear that he isn’t sure how to feel about anything unless he’s being told how to feel by a majority opinion in the room. This is why Trump quotes poll numbers like they are Gospel all throughout the many interviews. Even when Woodward makes a statement like “Well, poll numbers aren’t that accurate, Mr. President.” and Trump responds, “I know, you’re right.” and then, seconds later, quotes another poll. At one point, Trump tells Woodward that he’s not a “feeling” guy, he’s a “doing” guy. To me, that reads as chilling and somewhat sociopathic. (See #3)
2) He is a textbook narcissist. Now, arguably, one must probably have narcissistic tendencies to go into politics in the first place and, for sure, to want to be president. But I can’t imagine any other president doing the completely reckless and dangerous things that Trump has done, most notably refuse to concede an election that he lost and, in fact, create an entire bullshit narrative about voter fraud and a rigged election. Trump’s narcissism inevitably led to the violent insurrection on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. By sending out inflammatory tweets and riling crowds up during his rallies, Trump did everything he could to foment and incite the violence of that day among his followers. And he did it because he couldn’t accept the fact that more people in this country voted against him than for him. He literally couldn’t accept it to the point that he was asking his Vice-President, Mike Pence, to commit an unconstitutional act to overturn the election, and then he was angry when Pence actually did the morally right thing.
3) I truly believe that Trump is a sociopath. Sociopathy, also known as antisocial personality disorder, has several detectable traits, according to Dr. Andrew Coulter, MD, among those: constant lying and deception, callousness, manipulation, arrogance, impulsiveness, a lack of understanding the difference between right and wrong, lack of empathy, risk-taking, taking dishonest actions that violates people’s rights, difficulty in acknowledging one’s own faults. (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/so...) I could break each one of these down and offer clear-cut examples of Trump’s behavior that exhibits these traits, but the problem is that, for half the audience I would be preaching to the choir and, for the other half, it would be “fake news”.
I have to give Woodward credit. He was always extremely polite and deferential to the president, even at the most heated moments—-moments when a lesser journalist would have been pulling their hair out and calling Trump a “liar” or worse. I have not read his book “Rage”, for which a majority of these interviews were used.
February 2, 2023
We'll, I really dragged my feet on this one, because I couldn't bear the thought of listening to Trump talk for hours on end. Strength had to be gathered, is what I'm saying. But in the end, I'm so glad I listened to this one.
This is the part we never get to hear. Oh sure, we've all heard carefully selected sound bytes, but everything is so much more informative in context. And speaking of context, Bob Woodward is like a little fly on the wall providing whispers of context or fact checking throughout these recordings. It's very effective and well done.
As for Mr. Trump, I am not a psychologist --nor do I think you need to be one--to see that this man is in desperate need of any number of diagnoses. The self-aggrandizement, the lack of curiosity, the narcissism, the lying, the attention span, the disinterest in governing and oh my god, the repetition! Eleven and a half hours of him really drives the fact home: no matter how bad you think he is, he's really so much worse.
Now, Bob Woodward will surely make a bundle off this book. (He may need it, Trump just sued him. On what grounds, I can't imagine. Woodward constantly informed him that he was being recorded for a book.). Regardless, I genuinely believe that Mr. Woodward's heart was in the right place on this one. He released these tapes because he views Mr. Trump as a clear and present danger to this country.
History thanks you, Mr. Woodward.
This is the part we never get to hear. Oh sure, we've all heard carefully selected sound bytes, but everything is so much more informative in context. And speaking of context, Bob Woodward is like a little fly on the wall providing whispers of context or fact checking throughout these recordings. It's very effective and well done.
As for Mr. Trump, I am not a psychologist --nor do I think you need to be one--to see that this man is in desperate need of any number of diagnoses. The self-aggrandizement, the lack of curiosity, the narcissism, the lying, the attention span, the disinterest in governing and oh my god, the repetition! Eleven and a half hours of him really drives the fact home: no matter how bad you think he is, he's really so much worse.
Now, Bob Woodward will surely make a bundle off this book. (He may need it, Trump just sued him. On what grounds, I can't imagine. Woodward constantly informed him that he was being recorded for a book.). Regardless, I genuinely believe that Mr. Woodward's heart was in the right place on this one. He released these tapes because he views Mr. Trump as a clear and present danger to this country.
History thanks you, Mr. Woodward.
October 27, 2022
Listening to this book reminded me of trying to round up cats before a trip. Trump interrupts, goes on tangents, makes up numbers, invents facts. He’s all over the place. As a former journalist I have interviewed my share of people, including young children, I would have given up on Trump.
Nothing really new came out. Disregard for the United States of America. Disregard for the US military. Disregard for American intelligence. But, as ever, high praise for his friends Putin, Xi, Erdoğan and of course his closest buddy, Kim Jong-un. It is, however, fascinating to hear Trump’s words unfiltered and uncensored, in an unconscious train of thought.
Nothing really new came out. Disregard for the United States of America. Disregard for the US military. Disregard for American intelligence. But, as ever, high praise for his friends Putin, Xi, Erdoğan and of course his closest buddy, Kim Jong-un. It is, however, fascinating to hear Trump’s words unfiltered and uncensored, in an unconscious train of thought.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2022
It’s so stressful listening to Woodward trying to interview Trump. Woodward will be asking about something serious like missiles and war, and Trump will interrupt him to show some “pretty cool” photos of him with Kim Jong Un. It’s wild (but not surprising) to hear how much Trump admires dictators, how he promotes himself absolutely nonstop, how he categorizes people as tough vs weak, and how he claims credit for everything. As many times as I found myself verbally scoffing at Trump‘s words, I’m glad Woodward released this (along with some of his own fact-checking notes about lies Trump told him). These recordings are important to preserve. May history not repeat itself.
October 28, 2022
I had promised myself that I would not purchase any more of these books. I watch TV a lot and most of it is news shows. If you look as much as I do, you can get the jest of the books by what they discuss over and over. I was weak and I purchased this book. I can tell you I am NOT a Trump fan and don’t understand the attraction. After listening for over 5 hours I was ready to scream I was so tired of his voice and his narcissism. So far I can’t even call it interesting. He repeats the same things over and over again.
He looks as himself as a GOD, he is perfect. I agree he is dangerous. The man is a joke. A day after I purchased the book, Bob Woodward released 10 more hours of tape from the book. I should have waited. A reoccurring theme on the tapes and I suspect during his presidency is he is the only one who could do what was done. He had no interest in hearing what people who do foreign policy work every day and have for years have to say, he knows better. He is obsessed with polls and his image. This crazy man (and I really believe he is crazy) didn’t even know about Pearl Harbor only what he saw in the movie.
RECOMMENDATION: SKIP IT AND SKIP HIM.
He looks as himself as a GOD, he is perfect. I agree he is dangerous. The man is a joke. A day after I purchased the book, Bob Woodward released 10 more hours of tape from the book. I should have waited. A reoccurring theme on the tapes and I suspect during his presidency is he is the only one who could do what was done. He had no interest in hearing what people who do foreign policy work every day and have for years have to say, he knows better. He is obsessed with polls and his image. This crazy man (and I really believe he is crazy) didn’t even know about Pearl Harbor only what he saw in the movie.
RECOMMENDATION: SKIP IT AND SKIP HIM.
November 20, 2022
Trust me. The five stars is not for Trump.
December 17, 2022
Insufferable. Do yourself a favor and read Woodward’s book, Rage, instead. These tapes were the interviews for that book’s content so you’ll get the same info without having to endure that oaf’s voice and dwell too long in the seemingly endless torture of his senseless drivel. Let Woodward’s final product be your buffer.
March 25, 2024
I listened to this last year; adding it now retrospectively, for my remembrance. These recordings are going to be a phenomenal and vital part of U.S. History. Bob Woodward has the patience of a saint. It's hard to listen to all of this but it was worth it to me, to hear directly from the horse's mouth--while not in front of the cameras.
October 28, 2022
Terrifying...
October 28, 2022
Favorite Quote = “Everything is mine.” -DJT
November 2, 2022
The best thing about this format is it’s not edited prose for a biography. It’s the actual recorded interviews for research purposes. It’s Trump in all his glory. Trump the butt-hurt, petulant child whining and complaining about his image, whether or not people like him, and his perceived grievances, all while the world burns around him or some major issue is the subject of Woodward’s questions. Trump channeling Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man only without the savant intelligence, simply repetition upon repetition. Trump demonstrating his lack of empathy and his lack of concern for the plight of most Americans. Trump showcasing his narcissism and solipsism. Trump demonstrating his incompetence, his stupidity, and his complete lack of fitness to hold the office of the presidency. Trump’s utter failure to stop lying even when Woodward knows the facts. If you want to see exactly why 150 million people in the United States alone and likely a billion people worldwide think this man is dangerous as a world leader, then listen to him tell you in his own words.
October 31, 2022
Listening to twenty interviews of Trump was physically painful, however Woodward’s release of these tapes is incredibly important to our nation’s history. If you care at all for democracy, I suggest you listen to the Trump Tapes.
December 3, 2022
This one may finally cure me from ever reading or listening to anything by or about the former resident of the White House.
He constantly interrupts, doesn't listen (even though he says he's a good listener), misstates or misrepresents facts...
I know none of this is new or unreported information, but such a large dose (8 hours) of listening to him battle Woodward while crowing about how great he is or how much more he's done for the country (more than any other president or the best in history) was like sitting down and eating an entire cheese cake.
Most jolting comment not only had to do with not believing that Nancy Pelosi prayed for him every day. He wouldn't pray for her. He doesn't like her. Well, I don't like him, but I'll pray for him.
I am in awe of Woodward that he was able to keep his composure throughout these interviews.
The 5-star rating is purely because of their historical relevance.
He constantly interrupts, doesn't listen (even though he says he's a good listener), misstates or misrepresents facts...
I know none of this is new or unreported information, but such a large dose (8 hours) of listening to him battle Woodward while crowing about how great he is or how much more he's done for the country (more than any other president or the best in history) was like sitting down and eating an entire cheese cake.
Most jolting comment not only had to do with not believing that Nancy Pelosi prayed for him every day. He wouldn't pray for her. He doesn't like her. Well, I don't like him, but I'll pray for him.
I am in awe of Woodward that he was able to keep his composure throughout these interviews.
The 5-star rating is purely because of their historical relevance.
November 2, 2022
A painful listen, but important historical document.
November 27, 2022
Listening to this book I have a profound respect for the patience of Bob Woodward.
August 27, 2023
Bob Woodward has been writing books about presidents for fifty years and conducted twenty interviews with Donald Trump in order to write one about him. After RAGE was published, Woodward decided it was important for people to hear the interviews so he released THE TRUMP TAPES. As I started this book, I wondered if I’d be able to listen to eleven and half hours of Trump’s voice but decided it was important enough to do so. There really weren’t any surprises - Trump’s ego is huge so he exaggerates his achievements and doesn’t take blame for any of his failures - but hearing everything in Trump’s voice reinforces it all. He obviously doesn’t understand, or care, how the US government works. The problem with a book like this, though, is the people who really need to read it won’t.
May 15, 2024
To get the full experience of this book the audio version I believe would be the best way. I don’t think one would get the full scope of this by text. Whatever award Bob Woodward is eligible to win for this book he should automatically win for having undergone listening to Trump talk for this many hours. I wasn't even sure I'd make it to the finish line.
The tapes range from when Trump was a candidate in the spring of 2016 to the summer of 2020 during the height of Presidential re-election, Covid-19 pandemic and the George Floyd unrest across the country. He spends much of the time talking(more like shouting) about how well he’s done and how everyone is unfair to him. No other President has ever done what he has done for (insert accomplishment or feat) the country. It’s pure hyperbolic sales pitch(more like BS) mode.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic you’d swear his greatest accomplishment was the letter exchanges with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He constantly bragged about them.
He also stood by the perfect phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine where he tried to get the newly elected leader to investigate then former Vice President Joe Biden for alleged corruption. He would not admit his own release of the calls transcripts played a big part in his first impeachment. Woodward presses him on this but would never admit releasing the transcripts was a bad idea because, as he insisted, they were “perfect “ phone calls.
Why torture one self to listening to Trump for hours on end? It is a challenge I admit. He constantly interrupts and is almost always shouting or at least talking over Woodward. It’s amazing Bob got in the questions he did. He’s also very repetitious to an almost nauseating number of times. I think sometimes that’s part of his success as he just wears you out. It’s constant grievance and self aggrandizement in his conversions and attitude. I do think it’s important to hear what Trump is like as he could be President again. I think four years later people have either forgotten or downplay how bad he was. This book should serve as a reminder how Donald really is, and this isn’t even including the election denial and January 6th attempted insurrection that followed the events of this book.
The tapes range from when Trump was a candidate in the spring of 2016 to the summer of 2020 during the height of Presidential re-election, Covid-19 pandemic and the George Floyd unrest across the country. He spends much of the time talking(more like shouting) about how well he’s done and how everyone is unfair to him. No other President has ever done what he has done for (insert accomplishment or feat) the country. It’s pure hyperbolic sales pitch(more like BS) mode.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic you’d swear his greatest accomplishment was the letter exchanges with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He constantly bragged about them.
He also stood by the perfect phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine where he tried to get the newly elected leader to investigate then former Vice President Joe Biden for alleged corruption. He would not admit his own release of the calls transcripts played a big part in his first impeachment. Woodward presses him on this but would never admit releasing the transcripts was a bad idea because, as he insisted, they were “perfect “ phone calls.
Why torture one self to listening to Trump for hours on end? It is a challenge I admit. He constantly interrupts and is almost always shouting or at least talking over Woodward. It’s amazing Bob got in the questions he did. He’s also very repetitious to an almost nauseating number of times. I think sometimes that’s part of his success as he just wears you out. It’s constant grievance and self aggrandizement in his conversions and attitude. I do think it’s important to hear what Trump is like as he could be President again. I think four years later people have either forgotten or downplay how bad he was. This book should serve as a reminder how Donald really is, and this isn’t even including the election denial and January 6th attempted insurrection that followed the events of this book.
December 24, 2022
The truth of the matter is Bob Woodward wasted more than a day of his life talking to Trump for hours on end, as he repeats himself over and over and says nothing that he didn’t say publicly in his endless campaign speeches. There’s no doubt that Bob Woodward is a great journalist and managed to get a lot of other individuals in the Trump administration to say things in interviews for other books that they weren’t willing to say publicly, but Trump is not the type of person that says one thing in person and another thing in private. Trump was an idiot in public, and he was the same idiot in these phone calls. If you’ve seen a Trump rally before, you’ve heard everything in these interviews before. Skip this audiobook. It’s nothing new.
August 16, 2023
I've read more than a dozen Trump books, including Woodward's three. This one, in Trump's own words, shocked me. I don't know why because I've watched hundreds of his speeches and interviews but reading the transcripts of the interviews was horrifying. I never truly grasped the selfishness, the narcissism, the one-track mind. As the interviews continue, Woodward clearly has lost patience. Trump won't (can't?) answer questions and everything is sifted through a financial filter. Contrast it with the chapter with interviews of the NSA director and deputy and it's even more shocking.
This is a valuable book, especially right now.
This is a valuable book, especially right now.
November 1, 2022
Gird your loins for this one. Yes, it is intensely painful to listen to. Yes, he repeats himself endlessly. His self-aggrandizement and boasting and obsession with polls is even worse than you suspected. And yet, I agree with Bob Woodward's release of these tapes and I think people should listen. And that's because so many of us think we know all there is to know but we've become numb. Pinch yourself and listen to this horror.
December 11, 2022
Very difficult to listen to, but very important. I am impressed with Woodward’s ability to listen calmly to what Trump kept throwing at him. I couldn’t listen straight through. Would have to let a couple of days go by between each interview.
December 21, 2022
There’s only so much I could tolerate of hearing President Trump repeat the same narcissistic crap from interview to interview. By the 2nd chapter I reached my limit.
October 29, 2024
Well worthwhile, incredible first-hand material with only a tiny bit of political slant thrown in on the “fact checking”.
October 31, 2022
A must listen.
August 5, 2025
I wanted to listen to the actual recordings of the 20 interviews of President Trump by noted liberal journalist Bob Woodard. I loved the format of the actual raw interviews, which allowed me to draw my own conclusions. Although I am a conservative I would jump at the chance to listen to the same Q&A format with President Biden, oh wait, sorry lololololol!!! I found the Q&A thought-provoking and personally disagreed with most of Woodard's conclusions. So very easy to cast judgement on what a President should have done during a pandemic after the pandemic had ended precisely as Trump predicted, albeit in Biden's first year. I found Woodard's point regarding Trump underestimating Covid deaths in his term by approximately 15k as Woodard debasing journalism by playing a "gotcha" card, very petty. Incredibly hypercritical of Woodard to criticize Trump for the death toll in Trump's term but totally fail to note the number of deaths in Biden's first 2 years. Woodard's conclusions are just another prime example of Trump Derangement Syndrome!!!
October 27, 2022
Goodness gracious - Bob Woodward is a Saint with infinite patience. Listening to 8 hours of this former president repeat the same pointless (and often untrue) statements was almost unbearable. His inability (or unwillingness) to stay on task and actually answer questions instead of toddling off in another direction (either angrily or cluelessly) was hard for me to sit through. He HAD to talk over Bob so many times, often to just repeat what he had already said. Things that had already been acknowledged. Bob conducted these interviews so well and his composure and professionalism is truly admirable. I greatly appreciate his efforts to piece together an accurate timeline of events despite the many obstacles he faced. While I cannot stand the former president's voice and his absolute refusal to be a participant in discourse instead of just the loudest person in the room, I felt it would be good to give this a listen as a PoliSci student. Bring your patience shoes before taking this one on!
November 13, 2024
Found this in the “lucky day” section. I thought, with the election in a few weeks, I’d like to get a full picture of what we’re dealing with. Didn’t think it was possible to hate this man any more, but I do now.
It is an indisputable fact that we are dealing with a narcissistic, selfish, short sighted, self absorbed, boastful and dishonest man. Who will now be president (again).
My favorite comment from Bob: [during his last presidency] “he was blatantly ignoring the experts and leading our country by instinct”. Ignoring the experts who spent their entire educations and (successful) careers in their chosen fields? And thinking your “instincts” are better?
Let’s just say we know where those instincts brought us last time, and lord help us for this time around.
It is an indisputable fact that we are dealing with a narcissistic, selfish, short sighted, self absorbed, boastful and dishonest man. Who will now be president (again).
My favorite comment from Bob: [during his last presidency] “he was blatantly ignoring the experts and leading our country by instinct”. Ignoring the experts who spent their entire educations and (successful) careers in their chosen fields? And thinking your “instincts” are better?
Let’s just say we know where those instincts brought us last time, and lord help us for this time around.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 308 reviews