Snipets...
“This was no longer a presidency. This is no longer a White House. This is a man being who he is.†Def Sec Mattis told aides that Trump was "like a fifth or sixth grader" while he tried to explain to Trump that he couldn't remove US troops from Korean Peninsula. “We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III.â€
Trump said of AG Jeff Sessions: “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.â€
Gary Cohn wrote a resignation letter after Charlottesville, but stayed on. Kelly told Cohn, "I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times."
Chief of Staff Kelly said of Trump: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.â€
At the urging of advisers, Trump condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis, but almost immediately told aides, “That was the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made†and the “worst speech I’ve ever given.â€
John Dowd did a practice Mueller interview with Trump...it went disastrously. Dowd told Trump: “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.†He resigned as Trump's lawyer the following day. John Dowd was convinced that President Trump would commit perjury if he talked to the special counsel. He staged a practice session to make his point. Trump stumbled. "This thing’s a goddamn hoax," Trump erupted. "I don’t really want to testify.â€
After Bashar al-Assad supposedly launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted to assassinate the dictator. 'Let’s fucking kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the fucking lot of them,' Trump said. Mattis hung up the phone and told senior aide, “We’re not going to do any of that.â€
Top Trump advisers took papers off of the president's desk to stop him from making decisions, and “to protect the country.†Trump's former personal lawyer John Dowd describes Trump as "a fucking liar," telling him he would end up in an "orange jump suit" if he testified to special counsel Robert Mueller."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodwards-new-book-reveals-a-nervous-breakdown-of-trumps-presidency/2018/09/04/b27a389e-ac60-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.df2f940ab541