The book explores Biden’s determination to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan despite resistance from top advisers. Biden was determined to pull out American troops, after fighting the issue for nearly 20 years, and having seen the vice president, military and national security leaders lead then-President Barack Obama in his first year. when he wanted to end the United States War in Afghanistan.
Biden believed the military was manipulating Obama.
“The military doesn’t fuck with me,” Biden told other people in 2009, hinting that they had had with Obama, according to the book.
CNN got a copy of “Danger” before its September 21 release.
“Previously, it had been foursquare with Biden for a total withdrawal,” the authors write. “His new recommendation was to extend the mission with U.S. troops for a while to see if he could produce a political deal. Buy time for negotiations.”
Blinken told Biden in a call from Brussels that he heard from other NATO ministers “in a quadraphonic sound” or surround sound, that the US should take advantage of its exit to take concrete steps towards a political agreement. , according to the book.
Austin also submitted a new proposal almost at the same time, the authors write, proposing a “closed” withdrawal in three or four stages that would provide leverage to diplomatic negotiations.
But Biden was unconvinced and determined not to allow the “mission to flow” to justify keeping American troops there. “Our mission is to prevent Afghanistan from being a base for attacking the U.S. homeland and allies by al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups, and not deliver a death blow to the Taliban,” he said. They drink, according to the book, during one of the 25 national countries. Security Council meetings held during a strong foreign policy review.
Trump’s legacy is approaching, Woodward and Costa write.
Biden and his advisers hated pronouncing the name Trump, Woodward and Costa wrote, and aides often warned each other to avoid the word “T.” One night at the White House, Biden discovered a room where a huge screen it covered the wall, which Trump practically used to play on famous golf courses, according to the book.
“What a fucking shit,” Biden once said about Trump, according to the authors.
Trump was also consumed with Biden after leaving office, according to the book. He told a group of friends and donors he was playing golf with that he planned to use his private jet to make fun of Biden and that he was thinking of painting it with the red-white-and-blue paint scheme as the redesign of the Air Force One that was proposed during the Trump administration.
“That’s my brand. I don’t do the corporate jet,” Trump said, according to the book. “I’m not going to introduce myself in a bit of Gulfstream as a fucking CEO.”
“Pending matters”
“Presidents live on the pending issue of their predecessors,” Woodward and Costa write in “Peril.” For Biden, this meant entering the White House with a pandemic that was still raging, a few weeks after the January 6 violent uprising at the U.S. Capitol.
It was not a comfortable transition. Biden began privately calling the White House “the tomb” and found the White House cold and lonely, according to the book.
“He doesn’t feel comfortable living in the White House,” Biden chief of staff Ron Klain told other people, according to the authors.
Woodward and Costa write that Biden summoned Klain to Delaware to talk about his decision to run in March 2019. “I just feel like I have to do this,” Biden said. “Biden’s next words would stay with Klain forever,” the authors write, “This guy isn’t really an American president.”
The tough campaign against Trump took Biden away from some Republicans he was close to. Woodward and Costa write that Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, spoke with Biden in the days after the 2020 election, but the conversation escalated when it came to Graham’s attacks on his son, Hunter Biden.
“Graham did not apologize,” the authors write, adding that Biden believed Graham had “crossed a red line.”
“Biden and Graham wouldn’t talk again for months, and if Biden had anything to do with it, they would probably never talk again,” Woodward and Costa write.
Biden’s tendency toward glasses caused Klain and other helpers to try to keep Biden away from unwritten events or lengthy interviews, Woodward and Costa write. “They called the effect ‘the wall,’ a cocoon of the president.”
Biden’s aides were unable to help him when he stumbled upon the stairs of the Air Force One during a March trip to Atlanta. Woodward and Costa write that Biden’s stumble, which was repeatedly repeated in conservative media, frustrated the president.
“Shit,” Biden whispered aboard Air Force One. “Caram!” he said, “loud enough for others to hear,” according to Woodward and Costa.