Bob Woodward: Trump Is A "Pragmatist," Staff Set Up To Provide "Options"

On this week's 'Fox News Sunday,' <i>Washington Post</i> legend Bob Woodward commented on President Trump's leadership style in light of chief strategist Steve Bannon appearing to fall out of favor. Woodward said that for Trump, staffing decisions are "a menu." "I'll take this one. I'll take that one. And I'm not going to have dessert. I'm not going to have Bannon. I'm not going to have," he said. "So I would not reach any sweeping conclusions... You come and you go. And the people who are wise about him realize that they may be here now, but maybe not tomorrow." <blockquote>WALLACE: The leader of the populace charge, the drain the swamp charge, of course, is chief strategist Steve Bannon. And here he was a couple of months ago when he was riding high. <A href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/02/23/stephen_bannon_pillar_of_trumps_platform_is_deconstruction_of_the_administrative_state.html">STEVE BANNON, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: The third, broadly, line of work is what is deconstruction of the administrative state. That's all going to be deconstructed and I think that that's way this regulatory thing is so important. </a> WALLACE: Now, Bob, if you believe the reports of papers like your "Washington Post," he's down, conceivably out. What's going on? WOODWARD: You -- you can believe that. I mean that's true. But you -- there is ascendancy and then there is crashing and you will see stories about so-and-so's winning and then two weeks later they're fired. The question here is, who is Trump? And Trump is a pragmatist, just like those policy changes. We knew for a long time he was going to have a two track strategy on Russia, reach out to Putin, but also be tough on a number of things. In terms of his staff, as best I can tell, he'll -- it's a menu for him. I'll take this one. I'll take that one. And I'm not going to have dessert. I'm not going to have Bannon. I'm not going to have -- and so it's -- it's -- I would not reach any sweeping conclusions. The real question is, as an executive, is this going to work for him, because you're going to get stories like in my newspaper, which is quite well done, that there is a battle going on and the battle and the discussion should be about the policy, not the personalities. WALLACE: But I don't have to tell you, personnel is policy. WOODWARD: It is, but -- but Trump is clearly that, you know, we know from the campaign, three campaign managers, he's ruthless. You come and you go. And the people who are wise about him realize that they may be here now, but maybe not tomorrow. </blockquote>