1/23/2024 0 Comments John reeder carol leonnigThere's another thing Phil and I learned that is sort of made our jaws drop, which is that we didn't know this in real time, or we would have told the American people, many people who were the most ardent supporters of the president were afraid to counter him because they were afraid who would replace them. And a lot of the people around the president know that they're not going to succeed unless they say yes or unless they nod politely. After that however, and sadly in 2020, when real crisis hits, most of those guardrails have been ground through. There are guardrails that are holding the president back from some of his worst impulses and they are not always successful, but largely successful. That first half, there are a lot of adults. LEONNIG: I sort of see the presidency in two halves as a result of the reporting that Phil and I did. How did that affect the people around him? I mean, did they- were they- were they unable to do anything or did they say, yes, I'm getting behind that armor and we're going to go do great things? JOHN DICKERSON: Carol, when- when the president, after surviving the first impeachment, had this new armor, this new sense of nothing can touch me. It was a harrowing year and an especially harrowing final few months, But it wasn't until Trump left office and Carol and I did this deeper excavation and sat down with 140 cabinet members and senior administration officials and advisers to get the full story that we learned, how much worse it really was, how much- how close the country came to the brink, not only of chaos, but of democracy falling, The fears that General Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had, that Trump could actually use the military in those final weeks as president to execute a coup, to stay in power despite the popular will of the voters to elect Joe Biden. We thought we were in the room with our reporting. PHILLIP RUCKER: You know, JOHN, when we were covering this day in and day out for The Washington Post in real time, we thought we knew it all. Was there anything that you saw as you went over this and looked at it from a slightly higher perspective that comes when you have to sit and write a book? JOHN DICKERSON: Phil, you- you both covered this in the daily minutia of and it's zaniness. You know, it is actually a crisis that puts all of us at risk and American lives are lost as a result. He rejects the- the suggestions of his closest advisers if it's not what he wants because he knows best in his mind, unfortunately, in 2020, it's no longer a PR spin game. So as he becomes more emboldened, he rejects the advice of experts, he's the expert now. There's no consequence for stretching the law, bending it, breaking it, you know, in a criminal situation if he weren't president there are a lot of people who would argue he violated the law the first time around and as well the second time around. What's striking about that time frame is the president learns as a result of the first impeachment that he's untouchable. Is there a through line for President Trump's administration between those two impeachments?ĬAROL LEONNIG: Absolutely there is, JOHN. Your first book ended after the first impeachment. JOHN DICKERSON: We turn now to a new book that chronicles Donald Trump's tumultuous final year in office, Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker are the authors of 'I Alone Can Fix It.' Good morning to both of you. The following is a transcript of an interview with Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, authors of "I Alone Can Fix It," that aired on Sunday, July 25, 2021, on "Face the Nation."
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