Book Review: It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald T***p

 

It Was All a Like is a book by former Republican operative Stuart Stevens, published in 2020. It provides a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the Republican party spanning decades (from the 1980s to the orange genital wart's election) from someone who helped craft much of the conservative narrative and helped get Republicans elected. Stevens draws a straight line from what was being done and said in the 1980s and 1990s to the culture that embraced the shitgibbon. 

Stevens does a bit of a mea culpa admitting his role in things but also indicts himself a bit by implying (and sometimes outright saying) that many of the policies and talking points were trash, half-truths, or just total bullshit when they were things that he helped foster and willingly pushed. He absolutely backs up what he says in the book by bringing receipts in the form of hundreds of endnotes. Yes, some of what is in the book are his opinion, but he backs it up with citations to many sources. Personally, I think he should have used footnotes instead of endnotes to make it easier to see what he was citing, but the book is not just full of his unsubstantiated opinions. 

The hardcover version of the book is about 250 pages long and reads quickly. It can easily be read in a couple days or less. The book is a very revealing look at the difference between what was being said by Republicans versus what was actually meant when they used buzz words and phrases such as "family values", "welfare state", and the like, by someone who was in a position to know. He also calls out some of the biggest bullshit artists by name (e.g., Newt Gingrich who went after Bill Clinton for an affair with a White House intern while Newt was cheating on his dying wife with a congressional intern). He also goes into detail about how the idea of "small government" which is what many Republicans still try to cling to even if they can't stand t***p to justify their party loyalty, was complete and utter crap, and not anything that the Republicans really ever cared about (unless a Democrat was president, in which case they were all about fiscal responsibility and small government).