Bob Woodward to visit Nashville to discuss the Trump presidency and a country 'living on a ledge'

Adam Tamburin
The Tennessean

Legendary journalist Bob Woodward is coming to Nashville this weekend to discuss President Donald Trump and his headline-grabbing book about life in the White House.

Woodward rocketed to prominence covering the Watergate scandal and former President Richard Nixon. He has written definitive books about several presidencies, including "Fear: Trump in The White House," which sold more than 1.1 million copies in its first week.

Woodward will discuss his latest book and the trajectory of the Trump presidency at 7 p.m. Sunday at War Memorial Auditorium.

Tickets for the talk start at $39.50.

Bob Woodward is speaking at 7 p.m. Sunday at War Memorial Auditorium. Tickets start at $39.50.

Woodward talked to The Tennessean in January about his book tour and what he might discuss with the audience in Nashville. Here are excerpts from the conversation.

What is the reaction of crowds as you've traveled the country to talk about "Fear" and the Trump presidency?

"Obviously there are a lot of people concerned about Trump, including myself. And one of the thoughts I had, and I think it's the right metaphor for where we are with this president, we're on a ledge. Living on a ledge.

"I think people, even Trump supporters, acknowledge that.

"Now you can live on the ledge a long time and crawl around or walk confidently, but you also can fall.

"I think it's a very serious governing crisis that we have and I find the audiences understand that, and what I try to do is put Trump in the context of the other presidents I've written about going back to Nixon."

What does the government shutdown, which ended on Jan. 25 after 35 days, say about Trump's leadership style? 

Woodward said Trump's style is akin to "governing by putting your feet in cement and letting the cement harden."

"Time and time again I have scenes, meetings, even top secret (National Security Council) meetings where he states what he believes ... and just will not let go of that idea.

"There's a rigidity. And they will ask him — his aides, Cabinet members — 'Why do you think that?' and Trump will say, 'Well I've thought it for 30 years and if you disagree with me you're wrong.'"

How do you make sense of the deluge of breaking news coming from this White House?

As Woodward wrote his book, he said, he was able to avoid focusing on the president's latest tweet or the breaking news of the day. Instead, he was able to wait for larger stories and trends to develop and analyze them with some hindsight.

"If you try to take the daily tweet or alleged bombshell — and I emphasize alleged — and make sense of it, it's really difficult."

How would you grade the media's coverage of the Trump presidency?

"I think a lot of it has been excellent and probing," Woodward said. "Journalists do make mistakes, I've made mistakes, but at the same time my experience has been for, what, 48 years, that journalists almost across the board operate in good faith. Trying to find out what happened and trying to dig into things."

Woodward said Trump has "effectively" pounced on mistakes or missteps in the media.

"With the political games Trump is playing, it's a strategy. It is quite frankly the old Nixon strategy with Watergate, which was make the conduct of the media the issue, not the conduct of the president."

Is there a question that comes up often as you've traveled the country on your book tour?

"The big looming question is ... is this another Watergate?" Woodward said. "What I can do is talk about what Watergate was, what it wasn't and what I think is going on now."

In trying to bring context to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump, Woodward said he describes the nature of other presidential scandals, including the Iran-Contra affair that dogged President Ronald Reagan and President Bill Clinton's impeachment.

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