Legendary Watergate reporter Bob Woodward on Tuesday remembered what President-elect Donald Trump once told him in 2016 about his idea of power, and explain what it could mean for Americans during Trump’s second term.
“Asked about power, what is power, and he [Trump] said ‘Real power is … I even don’t like to use the word … but real power is fear,’” Woodward recalled to CNN’s Laura Coates.
“That’s something Trump realized eight years ago, maybe all of his life, and realizes now, you have to scare people,” Woodward added.
Trump is “going to be president for four years” and “having chronicled 10 presidents going back to Nixon, they have extraordinary power and Trump’s going to use it,” Woodward said later.
“He used it his first term, maybe not adequately from his own point of view, so he’s going to use it and we better be frightened,” he added.
Watch the interview here:
During an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber, meanwhile, Woodward said Trump risked squandering the goodwill that is often given to incoming presidents with his controversial Cabinet picks.
“If he’s just going to throw sand in the eyes of his own party and rationality, he’s going to defeat himself, in a way,” suggested Woodward, who has interviewed Trump multiple times for his books.
Watch that interview here: