Washington Post associate editor David Maraniss on Monday agreed with MSNBC's Velshi and Ruhle that the big message from Bob Woodward's devastating exposé, "Fear: Trump in the White House" is "wake up, people. Pay attention to the danger that is before you." But he was unsure if the book would have an impact with Washington power players.
"Do you think Republicans are going to take action, action beyond saying in private circles, 'man, this dude is crazy'," asked host Stephanie Ruhle, referring to prominent Republicans like Senators Ben Sasse, Bob Corker, and Jeff Flake who often speak out against the president, but have done little legislatively to block his policies and nominees. Sasse made news this weekend when he told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he considers leaving the Republican party "every morning when I wake up", although he has not taken any actions similar to those of former Vermont Republican James Jeffords, who famously left the GOP in 2001 in opposition to some of then-President George W. Bush's policies.
"That's been the question for more than a year," Maraniss replied. "When is the Republican establishment going to wake up or do what they need to do to protect the country from President Trump?"
Woodward's book may have stimulated "some movement in that direction," Maraniss said, but he had his doubts. "There are two things that are the most important still, and those are the midterm elections and the Mueller investigation," hinting that it would take punishment at the polls or clear evidence of criminal acts by President Trump to split the party from its leader.
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