OCTOBER 15, 2021 – Given the inner calm I’d achieved by avoiding “breaking news,” I worried about the detrimental effect of reading Peril by veteran journalist Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, national political reporter for The Washington Post. The flap copy starts with, “The transition from [You-Know-Who] to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American History.”
The dramatic Prologue in which the General Mark Milley, as Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s senior military officer, is portrayed as having prevented numerous potential catastrophes, including WW IV, is riveting and convincing. From there, the book simmers down (the coverage of January 6 excepted) and loses direction, often meandering some distance from its “peril” thesis. I also found the writing to be inelegant and often simplistic, as if dashed off in short, periodic bursts as the authors’ busy schedules allowed.
As for You-Know-Who, I learned nothing new. The guy has always been the least transparent of anyone in public life. What you see and hear—appalling ignorance, puerile anger, lack of curiosity, attraction to pyrite, lack of empathy, and inability to focus or think strategically—is exactly what you get.
Agree or disagree as you might with Biden’s record or politics, Peril lays out evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s (a) not demented; and (b) not deserving of the “F_ _ _ BIDEN!” sign I wrote about in my post on 10/13 or the giant “F_ _ _ BIDEN” sticker I saw on the back window of an SUV yesterday.
Pence, meanwhile, comes off as milquetoast, and by comparison, Dan Quayle is a Constitutional scholar.
Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell deserve kudos for acknowledging the nonsense inherent in “stop the steal.” Strike that. “Kudos”? No one should be applauded for distinguishing black from white. Mild compliments, however, should be granted Senator Lee of Utah, who went a step further and actively spoke to fellow Republicans in Congress about how “stop the steal” was worse than stupid. It was dangerous.
The most chilling part of Peril described a nearly six-hour flight on January 8 from Washington D.C. to Washington the state. Aboard was Congressman Adam Smith, a 12-term, moderate Democrat, who chairs the Armed Services Committee. Smith isn’t well known outside military and Pentagon circles, where he commands considerable respect. His relative obscurity afforded him incognito status aboard the plane.
Joining him on the flight were what he estimated to be nearly 100 MAGA-hat wearers. Their chatter grew steadily louder about conspiracy theories regarding the “stolen” election. Smith also heard talk about QAnon, which passengers were convinced stood as a barrier against “cannibalistic, anti-[You-Know-Who] pedophiles who worship Satan and run a global child-sex-trafficking ring.”
And these people vote.
But it gets worse. Congressman Smith overheard several MAGA passengers mention “6MWE,” which he learned to his to horror, means, “Six million [Jews murdered in the Holocaust] weren’t enough.”
The good news—if there is any—in Peril, is that the biggest roadblock to You-Know-Who returning to power is . . . You-Know-Who himself.
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
