Top 200 Bob Woodward Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “He had expected political protection from his attorney general and was now left unprotected.”

— Bob Woodward

202. “Republican senator Bob Corker had told reporters “the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence” needed to succeed in office.”

— Bob Woodward

203. “All presidencies are audience driven, but Trump’s central audience was often himself. He kept giving himself reviews. Most were passionately positive. Much of his brain was in the press box.”

— Bob Woodward

204. “We need to know if the commander in chief is fully with us or not,” Mattis said. “We can’t fight a half-assed war anymore.” In order for the military to succeed, Mattis needed Trump to be all-in on the strategy. “I’m tired of hearing that we have to do this or that to protect our homeland or to ensure our national security,” Trump said.”

— Bob Woodward

205. “The president has no moral compass,” Mattis replied. The bluntness should have shocked Coats, but he’d arrived at his own hard truths about the most powerful man in the world. “True,” Coats agreed. “To him, a lie is not a lie. It’s just what he thinks. He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.”

— Bob Woodward

206. “About 15 minutes before the Tomahawks would hit, a warning was sent to the Russians at the airfield. When the call was made, the Russian who picked up the phone at the airfield sounded intoxicated.”

— Bob Woodward

207. “I realized,” Bannon said later, “I’m the director, he’s the actor.”

— Bob Woodward

208. “McMaster said that he believed Mattis and Tillerson had concluded that the president and the White House were crazy. As a result, they sought to implement and even formulate policy on their own without interference or involvement from McMaster, let alone the president.”

— Bob Woodward

209. “It would be absurd for me or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes.”

— Bob Woodward

210. “I guess you’re right,” Trump said several times. “We could do that.” But then he ignored most reviews or vetting and did what he wanted.”

— Bob Woodward

211. “He’s the kind of person that would inspire crazy people.”

— Bob Woodward

212. “Trump is the wrong man for the job.”

— Bob Woodward

213. “Bannon was up next. He turned to what was driving the Tea Party, which didn’t like the elites. Populism was for the common man, knowing the system is rigged. It was against crony capitalism and insider deals which were bleeding the workers. “I love that. That’s what I am,” Trump said, “a popularist.” He mangled the word. “No, no,” Bannon said. “It’s populist.” “Yeah, yeah,” Trump insisted. “A popularist.”

— Bob Woodward

214. “He was at MIT for 42 years or something. He was a great – so I understand that stuff. You know, genetically.”

— Bob Woodward

215. “The important thing is the presidency,” Nixon continued. “If need be, save the presidency from the President.”

— Bob Woodward

216. “1. Achieve political stability that will include a political settlement with the insurgent Taliban. 2. Push for institutional actions by the Afghan government to counter the Taliban. 3. Increase pressure on neighboring Pakistan, which was playing a double game – nominally allied with the United States, but also supporting terrorists and the Taliban. 4. Maintain international support from the 39 countries allied with the United States in a coalition.”

— Bob Woodward

217. “I’m not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn’t know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.”

— Bob Woodward

218. “Watergate is not the sort of issue that changes the vote. I don’t know anyone who has changed their vote because of it.”

— Bob Woodward

219. “The major problem might be allegations of obstructing justice by urging Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, and then firing Comey. But Dowd believed that the president’s Article II constitutional authority clearly encompassed firing an FBI director.”

— Bob Woodward

220. “When combined, Kushner’s four texts painted President Trump as crazy, aimless, stubborn and manipulative. I could hardly believe anyone would recommend these as ways to understand their father-in-law, much.”

— Bob Woodward

221. “I don’t get it,” Trump said.”

— Bob Woodward

222. “The next month the Senate voted 77–0 to set up the Watergate committee. The unanimity was almost unheard of. Even Republicans smelled something.”

— Bob Woodward

223. “Well,” she said, “I hope you can prevail in the insane snake pit of the Oval Office and the crazy family as well.”

— Bob Woodward

224. “Ryan’s main takeaway: Do not humiliate Trump in public. Humiliating a narcissist risked real danger, a frantic lashing out if he felt threatened or criticized.”

— Bob Woodward

225. “Real power is fear.”

— Bob Woodward

226. “Ryan began, on his own, to research how to deal with someone who is amoral and transactional.”

— Bob Woodward

227. “The machines were reliable and safe, he repeated to others as questions mounted. “They’re not connected on the internet and they tabulate the votes by taking a thumb drive, encoded to a specific machine in a specific precinct, and taking that to a central location to transfer the votes and count them.”

— Bob Woodward

228. “Real power is – I don’t even want to use the word – fear,” Trump told us. “I bring rage out. I do bring rage out. I always have. I don’t know if that’s an asset or a liability, but whatever it is, I do.”

— Bob Woodward

229. “You don’t understand, Mike. You can do this. I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this.”

— Bob Woodward

230. “Several passengers also mentioned “6MWE.” Smith did not know what they were talking about. He was horrified to learn, listening as some passengers explained and discussed openly that it meant “6 million weren’t enough,” a reference to the 6 million Jews exterminated in Nazi concentration camps.”

— Bob Woodward

231. “The Chinese thought that Trump in desperation would create a crisis, present himself as the savior, and use the gambit to win reelection.”

— Bob Woodward

232. “And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?”

— Bob Woodward

233. “Trump was systemically attacking the courts, the press, and Congress – a vintage move by an autocrat to dismantle institutions constricting his power.”

— Bob Woodward

234. “Milley believed January 6 was a planned, coordinated, synchronized attack on the very heart of American democracy, designed to overthrow the government to prevent the constitutional certification of a legitimate election won by Joe Biden.”

— Bob Woodward