It was mid-2020, and the world was still reeling from the ravages of COVID-19. Then U.S. President Donald J. Trump reportedly picked up the phone and called none other than Vladimir Putin, offering to send the Russian leader much-needed coronavirus test kits. But there was a catch. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin reportedly said in the private phone call. And so, it was done—quietly, covertly, and without a trace left in public records.
The exchange, one of the many in a long and curious relationship between the two leaders, stands at the heart of Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward’s latest book, “War”, which offers a glimpse into the subtle yet potent channels through which Trump and Putin’s rapport played out, even as their official posturing remained adversarial.
Trump, no longer in the Oval Office, still calls up Putin with a frequency that has raised eyebrows among his own aides. One such call, which took place early this year at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, reportedly sent an aide scurrying out of the room. It wasn’t just the fact that Trump was speaking with an adversary formally charged with war crimes; it was the sheer number of conversations—seven since leaving office, according to sources—that had insiders on edge.
In “War”, the journalist who helped break the Watergate scandal paints a picture of Trump as an impulsive and reckless leader in ways that even Nixon wasn’t. Richard Nixon, whose presidency Woodward himself helped unravel, was calculating and paranoid, but ultimately restrained by the system. Trump, by contrast, seems impervious to the constraints of office or the gravity of his actions.
It’s a damning assessment that comes at a crucial time. The U.S. is now embroiled in two wars: Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine, and Israel’s blistering offensive in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 2023. Biden, struggling to balance both crises, faces increasing criticism from all sides. Not least from Trump, who has managed to bend much of the Republican Party to his will even from the sidelines. In fact, Woodward reveals that GOP hesitance to support Ukraine’s war effort began to ease only after Trump gave his tacit approval, following a pitch from Speaker Mike Johnson, who argued that backing Kyiv might pay off politically.
While Trump stirs up trouble from his Florida stronghold, Biden is left to reckon with the fallout. “War” lays bare the president’s unease as he navigates the twin conflicts, and as the pressure mounts, his frustration with key figures in his administration becomes palpable. According to Woodward, Biden privately regretted appointing Merrick Garland as Attorney General, an official whose handling of the Hunter Biden investigation has backfired spectacularly. And the president’s foreign policy has hardly fared better. In Gaza, Biden repeatedly pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit civilian casualties, but with little success. In private, Woodward reports, Biden vented to aides that Netanyahu and his government were “liars,” intent only on preserving their own political future.
Still, “War” is not a one-sided indictment. Biden’s challenges are presented in the full context of the global crises that have tested his administration, from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Israel’s protracted conflict with Hamas and Iranian-backed militias. But the president’s response has often lacked the strategic finesse that his role demands. Woodward recounts a poignant exchange with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who warned Biden that if he stayed in the race and lost to Trump, it would define his legacy forever—not as the man who defeated the pandemic or pulled America out of Afghanistan, but as the president who couldn’t keep Trump at bay.
In Ukraine, Biden’s caution has drawn sharp contrasts with Trump’s brazen disregard for convention. As Russia continues to bear down on Ukrainian cities, Trump’s influence on Republican reluctance to provide military aid looms large. While Biden wrestled with how to maintain support for Kyiv without alienating war-weary Americans, Trump had no such qualms—he merely waited for the political winds to blow in his favor.
And yet, it is precisely this juxtaposition that lends “War” its gravitas. Trump, ever the showman, thrives on chaos, unmoored from the traditional rules of diplomacy. Biden, by contrast, is portrayed as a man at war with time, trying to hold onto order as the world spins out of control around him. Woodward’s narrative comes alive with these subtle but telling details, revealing how Biden’s handling of the wars abroad—and the one brewing at home—threatens to undo much of what he hoped to accomplish.
Perhaps the most troubling revelation, though, is just how much influence Trump still wields, even from his Florida estate. Woodward’s depiction of Trump as a figure who can upend U.S. foreign policy with a single phone call, as he continues to do with Putin, is chilling in its simplicity.
