The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Woodward, Bob. Fear: Trump in the White House. Simon & Schuster, 2018.

Covering the 2016 election and the first two years of the Trump presidency, Woodward uses "deep background" sources to provide the reader with an insider's view of the daily functioning--or more closely, not functioning, in Woodward's view--of the Trump administration. In 42 short chapters, the reader goes inside the meetings among Trump and his advisors.

Woodward includes details about meetings between Trump, chief of staff Reince Preibus (later replaced by John Kelly), National Economic Council (NEC) advisor Gary Cohn, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (later replaced by Mike Pompeo), strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Rob Porter, and others, including dialogue that explains how Trump functioned in the White House. The meetings cover topics such as the American strategy in Afghanistan, Trump's reaction to the Iran nuclear agreement, Assad's actions in Syria, the North Korean nuclear threat, immigration, and the ongoing Robert Mueller investigation. Trump is shown dressing down members of the intelligence and military communities and being disrespectful to most of the people who work with him. He's also shown to be forgetful, impervious to advice, and dangerous in his ignorance. Several of his advisors refer to him as unschooled and unaware of the workings of government, and the conversations that Woodward produces illustrate Trump as a man who is stubborn and unwilling to change his mind on any issues. These vignettes also show Trump moving the U.S. toward dangerous situations, such as a confrontation with North Korea, which claims to possess nuclear weapons. Cohn and Porter are shown removing dangerous documents from Trump's desk in a desperate attempt to save the nation from the ruin that they thought would ensure from his impulsive decisions.

Woodward's account also shows the White House roiled by infighting. Trump did not move the nation in any clear direction, and his lack of leadership resulted in constant fighting between members of his administration. After Reince Priebus, the first chief of staff of the White House, left his position, he realized that the administration was not a "team of rivals," but instead a "team of predators" all waiting to devour each other as Trump failed to curtail the fighting and instead watched cable news for a great deal of the day. Trump is depicted as a lonely, incapable, paranoid man who either alienates or fires most of the people around him.