Stay tuned after the show for a message from Morgan Stanley.

Good Thursday morning. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing.

And I'm Anna Palmer. Is there anything left to learn about President Donald Trump, any fresh analysis that's left?

Has he changed it all? One iota, one shred over the 1,329 days of his presidency. We grappled with his question in the wake

of the excellent reporting in the Bob Woodward book, was there anything at all to take from it?

Or are the last three-plus years just a tumbling cycle of repeating self-destruction?

There's one thing worth thinking about, and it's a through line of Trump's presidency.

Imagine if he learned at some point that he can't go it alone, nor should he.

It doesn't benefit him politically or the country writ large.

It's actually more advantageous, and in his and the country's interests to forge alliances and involve

others in the machinations of the government. For example, speaking to Woodward or any author

in and of itself isn't considered political malpractice. The president spoke to us for our book. Barack

Obama did it as to John Boehner when Woodward was reporting on the price of politics, but Obama

enlisted his staff to support him as stenographer was in room, and key aides were clear to speak to Woodward. For that book, Boehner's team seemed to have forked over filing cabinets worth of notes to help give its side of the story. Trump, on the other hand, looks to have just held riffing sessions with Woodward while the Washington Post legend burrowed his way into senior staff with

much of the White House, none the wiser. The result is a White House that was almost completely

blindsided by Wednesday's revelations. Imagine if Trump had swallowed his pride and personally

told congressional leaders what he told Woodward about the coronavirus, that he understood

how deadly this was, and he wanted Congress

to step up and help him beat it. That way, there would have been a robust response, and the

legislature would have had skin in the game. PtW. Congress was getting briefed about COVID

during impeachment in January and February.

People were worried. We witnessed it in the Capitol.

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