Having previously warned that the press “shouldn’t whine, and if we sound like we are an interest group only concerned with ourselves, it doesn’t work with the public,” infamous Watergate reporter Bob Woodward told Axios’ Mike Allen that the press is covering Trump with a certain smugness, but it’s not the media’s job to make his presidency an editorial… “You have to have a presumption of good will.”

“I think there’s so many people treating the Trump presidency as if it’s a try-out, as if it’s provisional… odds are, he’s probably going to be president for a full term, four years, maybe even more… there’s hyperventilation, too many people writing things. When’s the impeachment coming, how long’s he gonna last, will he make it through the summer, and so forth…

 

“I worry, I worry for the business, for the perception of the business, not just Trump supporters, they see that smugness… I think you can ride both horses, intensive inquiry, investigation, not letting up… at the same time, realize that it’s not our job to do an editorial on this.“

As a reminder, Woodward previously warned that it’s not in the interest of either the Trump White House or the media to war with each other.

 

 

“I think everyone has accelerated this work. The other question to ask, is there any justification for Trump and people like — in his White House responding this way? And the only justification I can think of, which really isn’t a justification, but it accounts for emotional spasm of, my God, this is enemy of the people, I know that reporters have talked to people in the Trump house, — Trump White House about very sensitive intelligence operations, that we find out about in the press. And I think Trump is horrified that this is out there. And these are not necessarily things that are going to be published, but Trump is a newcomer saying, my God how do reporters know about these things? And so it’s — we’ve got to stop it.”

 

“[I]t’s not in our interest, the media’s interest to have a war with the Trump White House. It’s not in Trump’s interest to have this war.”

Sadly, it appears it’s too late to get this toothpaste back in the tube (for both sides).