Fear: Trump in the White House

It was a false show to the end. Cohn realized again what he had said before to others about the president: “He’s a professional liar.”

“I’ve got a quote here that I’ve okayed with Gary,” Hicks said. “I want you to okay it.”

Trump took the piece of paper and tweaked a word, but otherwise let the statement stand.

“It’s a huge loss,” Trump said. “But we’ll be fine. And he’s coming back.”

“Gary Cohn to Resign as Trump Adviser After Dispute Over Tariffs,” Bloomberg reported. “Gary Cohn Resigns Amid Differences with Trump on Trade,” said

The Washington Post. “Gary Cohn Resigns, Apparently Over Tariffs,” read The Atlantic. “Gary Cohn Resigns as White House Economic Adviser After Losing Tariffs Fight,” said The Wall Street Journal.

Later, after he resigned, Cohn worried about instability in the economy that would come from tariffs and the impact on the consumer. The U.S. is a consumer-driven economy. And if the consumer is unsure of what the economy will look like and what their disposable income will look like, that will be seen very quickly in the economy and in the stock market.

Trump’s action and mounting threats on tariffs were jarring. Cohn thought that Trump had to know. “But he’s not man enough to admit it. He’s never been wrong yet. He’s 71. He’s not going to admit he’s wrong, ever.”

Tom Bossert, the president’s adviser for homeland security, cyber security and counterterrorism, went to the Oval Office in the spring of 2018 and found Trump in his private dining room.

“Sir, do you have a minute?” Bossert, a 43-year-old lawyer and security expert, asked.

“I want to watch the Masters,” Trump said. He had TiVo’d the Augusta National Golf Club tournament, the most famous in the world, and was glued to it.

Bossert, another high-flying aide with Oval Office access even in the Kelly era, invited himself to sit down and watch.

The lawyer knew the United States was already in a constant state of low-intensity cyber war with advanced foreign adversaries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. These countries had the ability to shut down the power grid in United States cities, for example, and the only deterrent was to make clear that a massive cyber attack would not just be met with cyber-for-cyber symmetry.

The full force of the U.S. military, including nuclear weapons, would have to be a central part of the deterrent. Bossert liked to say, and he said it regularly, that the use of any element of national power would be justified. The United States had too much to lose in a high-consequence cyber attack. Bossert had repeated it so often that the president seemed to understand, but the import of this—nuclear weapons as a cyber deterrent—had not quite become part of the public debate.

“What’s going on?” Trump finally asked.

“I’m coming at you one more time,” Bossert said. “I’m going to do TV”—the upcoming ABC Sunday show This Week. “But this China trade issue is going to come up again.” So would cyber.

“You and your cyber,” Trump said, “are going to get me in a war—with all your cyber shit.”

“That’s the point, sir. I’m trying to use other elements of national power to prevent bad behavior online. And that’s going to put me right in the middle of all of the decisions you’re making. That’s why I’m here. You’re now in the middle of a personal negotiation with President Xi. You just upped the ante to $150 billion” in tariff threats with China. “Fine. How do you want me to handle it on TV? I don’t want to go out and say something that’s going to then piss you off.”

Trump jumped at the invitation to provide some television coaching, to mainline some performance wisdom. It was pure delight.

“So here’s how you do it,” Trump said, his fingers flying in the air. “Tom, are you ready? You go up there. You say . . .” He wanted to formulate it just right. “You tell them you’ve never seen—no wait. First you tell them, ‘Trump’s dead serious.’ That’s what you tell them. Are you ready?”

Trump’s hands and fingers went up again. “You tell them $150 billion. Wait! You tell them $150 billion is nothing. He’s ready to go to $500 billion because he’s tired of not being treated fairly. That’s what you tell them!”

Trump continued with animated fingers. “You ready? That’s what you tell them.”

“Okay,” Bossert said, “you want me to go hard?”

“You go hard!” Trump said with enthusiasm. “If it weren’t Sunday, you’d shut the markets down, that’s how fucking hard you fucking go!”

Fingers up again. “Hold on! Wait! Then you say, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ See here, watch, here’s what you do.” Trump offered some stage direction, one hand up again for dramatic emphasis. “Then you say, ‘It’ll all be all right because the relationship Trump has with Xi is so . . .’ ” A pause. A refinement. “It’s the best.” Wait! “You’ve never seen such a good relationship between two presidents in your life. Maybe ever.

“Are you ready?” the president asked.