The Gift That Keeps on Giving (to Bob Woodward)

Bob Woodward, asshole extraordinaire, spent quite a few years twiddling his thumbs after his early fame as a young Washington Post reporter who struck gold with the Watergate scandal. Since then -- what to do, what to do? Popping up here and there as an occasional columnist and guest on TV talk shows, he was no longer a superstar, just an aging, liberal finger-pointer exploiting the Republican faux-pas du jour. 

Then Trump was elected and Woodward hit the jackpot. Since then he's written three tell-all books detailing what he considers the various sins of the former president. His book's titles say it all: Fear, then Rage, and now Peril. Since its debut in 2018, Fear has sold 3 million copies. Rage sold 600,000 copies in its first week of publication. I guess people enjoy reading slanted muckraking about politicians they hate.

Are we to believe that Woodward's motivation for writing these books is to warn Americans about an evil in our midst, not really caring how much money he's raking in? Apparently out of revelations, his latest book was written with a partner (Robert Costa) who hopefully brought along some fresh insults.

But what a waste of eyesight! If you want to read something truly great that will actually benefit you instead of depress you, opt for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, it has continued to sell 500,000 copies annually despite the fact that Trump is not mentioned. I have read it many times and it's always a treat. Here are the first two sentences, which I think of often:

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."