Book Review: The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy

 

The Conspiracy to End America is a 2023 book by former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens. It is partly a follow-up to his 2020 book, It Was All a Lie, but this one is more forward-looking. In it, Stevens details how his former party has consolidated power over the years, including how the multi-millionaires and billionaires have used dark money to get nutjobs like Empty-G elected and stack the courts with radicalized nutjobs like Clearance Thomas and the Witch Doctor, Sammy Alito, and baited the low-income racists to bolster their voting base. Then Stevens warns what electing the Orange Genital Wart to a second term would entail, especially if Republicans get total control of the government again.

The hardcover version of the book is short-- just 225 pages--and is a very quick read. Stevens is the "never trumper" that I have the most respect for because he admits that much of the Republican platform and talking points going back years has been total bullshit, and actually does a sincere mea-culpa for what he helped unleash because he was only concerned with winning elections and not the fallout. He admits that the current Republican party is full of nutjobs (who have taken over the party) and weenies who are too scared to stand up to the nutjobs because they care more about losing their jobs than defending our democracy. It is a succinct civics and history lesson that provides much information that people may not know (especially those who do not follow politics consistently). It is an insightful and chilling read, but it is absolutely a book everyone should read.

Book Review: Tired of Winning: Donald t***p and the End of the Grand Old Party

 

Tired of Winning is a great follow-up to author and ABC New Correspondent Jonathan Karl's first two books about the former president, Front Row and Betrayal. The main focus of this book is the aftermath of the 2020 election and the danger leading into the 2024 election.

In the book, Karl expands on some of the material first reported from the January 6th investigation and provides insight into the various legal battles that little Donny Diapers is currently embroiled in. Of course, he was not getting any inside information from the prosecutors, but he still has enough sources in the orange genital wart's orbit (who are totally willing to sell t***p out and show him for the slack-jawed dipshit that he is) who detail the shit fits he has been throwing almost constantly since the indictments started flowing in. Karl also details how the vast majority of the GOP has been perfectly willing to appease and enable the orange dipshit or look the other way and pretend that they do not know what he has done or said. 

The hardcover version is the book is relatively short at just under 300 pages (before you get to the acknowledgments and endnotes). The endnotes mostly just cite various sources. In the actual text of the book, Karl does include some footnote material that expands on what he has in the text. And, for the MAGATS who would scream "fake news" (not that any of the ones who are capable of reading would read this book) one of the most entertaining parts of the book is when Karl outs "background" sources from his prior book who later accused him of making things up, attributing their names to exact quotes from recordings of their conversations, and basically dares anyone to accuse him of making shit up this time around. The big takeaway from this book is how dangerous and stupid everyone who has been around the orange shitgibbion (save for the most devoted ball lickers) thinks he is, and that they all think he would be even more dangerous in a second term than he was in the first. Karl absolutely inserts his personal opinion in the book, so it is not just a straight presentation of facts. He calls out t***p's lies and stupidity multiple times and opines that he considers t***p to be a danger to democracy and should never set foot anywhere near the levers of power again. It is absolutely a must-read.

Book Review: Enough

 

Enough is a memoir written by Cassidy Hutchinson published in 2023. Hutchinson was a staffer in the White House during the most turbulent part of the 2017-2021 administration, as the assistant to the final chief of staff, or as she was called, "the chief of staff to the chief of staff". 

The book starts by telling her story of growing up in Pennington, NJ, in a low-income, blue-collar family, and her complicated relationship with her father (who, to put it lightly seems like a piece of work who idolized the orange genital wart even before it became president). She then goes into how she became interested in politics and worked her way from an unpaid congressional intern in college to being right next to the levers of power and the shitshow that was the final part of that administration.

Hutchinson is an interesting contradiction. She is one of those people who backs Republicans (and she makes it clear that she still considers herself a Republican) despite being in a group that Republican policies never benefit. Despite that, she has voted against her own interests (as many Republicans do) since she could vote (although I doubt she sees it that way). That said, she seems to be an informed elector as she claims to have researched the party positions before aligning herself with the Republicans. At one point she loved t***p, despite all of the cruelty, stupidity, and recklessness that she saw firsthand. She often thought he was getting a raw deal, and because he never allowed people outside his inner circle to see a human side that she swears he has, he was portrayed unfairly. Which, if true, is his own damn fault. And, she actually thought that t***p had moderate positions, which he did not. I would argue he really did not have any actual policy positions beyond what would benefit him. And that to the extent he had any actual political beliefs, they were tied to what he thought would keep him in power, and so he latched onto the extreme right-wing agenda.

So even though I think Hutchinson was a bit naive when it came to what the Republican party had already become and who t***p was, when nearly everyone else in the administration was circling the wagons and lying, obstructing, and/or obfuscating, about the 2020 election being stolen, she was becoming more and more disgusted by what she saw and heard leading up to and on January 6th. When it became clear that she was going to be called as a witness before the January 6th committee, she tried to find a lawyer who would work pro bono or take her on as a client on a payment plan. When she could not, she begrudgingly agreed to take a "t***p world" lawyer, who basically told her to say "I can't recall" as much as she could during her testimony. She also details how job opportunities were dangled in front of her but were clearly contingent on how she testified when she was subpoenaed by the committee. 

After she initially testified to the committee, she called a Republican member of Congress whom she just refers to as "Sam", who was neither Liz Cheney nor Adam Kinzinger, to talk about her testimony. Sam (who does not seem to be profile in courage if he or she is still in Congress) asked her if she could look herself in the mirror and like the person who was looking back. She decided that she could not, and found a way to get a new lawyer and correct her testimony which led to the live hearing that was witnessed by millions.

While I likely disagree with many of her political views and positions, I absolutely believe that she was the only person in that administration who had any courage (including Mike Pence). Even before her testimony at the hearing, she was butting heads with people in the administration and with some of the dipshits in Congress (like Matt Gaetz) despite being in her early to mid-twenties and not being a Washington power broker. She also makes it clear that, despite what is claimed now, she was in a position to see and hear damn near everything that was going on in the White House, and that everyone, including agent orange, praised her work ethic, intelligence, and loyalty (which was of utmost importance). She is clearly disgusted by what the Republican party has become but hopes that it can be saved and return to the Regan-era party (which was definitely not great for those who were poor and/or marginalized). She describes herself as a moderate Republican and I do get that sense from reading this book. I actually hope that she runs for Congress one day because I think she would be willing to work with the other side, she is not crazy, and she does have integrity. 

The hardcover version of the book is just over 350 pages. Unlike many political memoirs, it is not dry at all and it provides a lot of insight into who Hutchinson is as a person. While it is amazing to think that a 25-year-old would have lived enough of a life to write an actual memoir, as opposed to a book that just conveyed "Here is what I saw in the lead up to and after January 6th", Hutchinson absolutely has a compelling life story. The book is very emotional in parts and Hutchinson lays nearly everything out about herself, warts and all. The book clearly reveals her struggle with wanting to be loyal to the administration and to be the proverbial "good soldier" and doing the right thing, especially knowing that it would cost her job opportunities and friends. It is a great book and is absolutely worth reading.

Book Review: The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and T***p

 

The Threat is a book written by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe after he was fired in 2018. The book is partly a memoir of his time in the FBI, focusing on the significant cases that he investigated such as the Boston Marathon bombing, and partly a reflection on the lead-up to the 2016 election and his time working in the 2017 to 2021 administration, up to the point he was fired.

The hardcover version of the book, which was published in 2019, is just under 300 pages. It can be a bit dry in parts, which makes it a bit of a slower read than say a 300-page fiction novel. But, McCabe provides a lot of insight into the various investigations that he was involved in, as well as giving an assessment of the shit-show that was the t***p administration. He calls out the lies that the orange genital wart was spewing after he fired James Comey, specifically, that the FBI rank-and-file were not, in fact celebrating that Comey was fired. McCabe also gives a pretty brutal assessment of t***p himself, basically calling him nothing more than a bullshit artist and that McCabe did not trust much of anything he said. 

While it is not the most exciting book ever written and the amount of detail that McCabe could go into about the 2016 election and the Russia investigation was limited, as the Mueller investigation was ongoing at the time the book was written and published, it is still very much worth reading. And, since Agent Orange made sure he got fired 26 hours before he would receive his pension, I don't mind supporting him.

Book Review: The January 6 Report

 

This is the official Congressional report of the January 6th domestic terror attack on the US Capitol during the certification of electors for the 2020 Presidential election. If you watched the televised hearings, the report basically follows the same format as the hearings. There is an executive summary at the beginning, spanning a little over 100 pages, that summarizes the information in the rest of the report and lays out the overall findings. Then, each chapter is devoted to different aspects or topics, from planning the gathering to the execution of the attack, and a final chapter with the Committee's recommendation. The second to the last chapter involves what the orange genital wart was and was not doing from the time it spoke at its rally, firing up the already angry crowd until it begrudgingly put out a video telling people to go home hours later. 

Each chapter of the report is anywhere from 50 to 100 pages in length (the entire thing is about 750 pages) and devoted to a specific topic. After each chapter, there are several pages of endnotes (hundreds per chapter). Some of the notes just point to a specific source, and some of them flesh out the sentence or paragraph it is noting. 

At the beginning of the book, there are three forwards. The first will vary, depending on what version of the report you get. The one I have includes a forward by Ari Melber, one of the MSNBC evening anchors. In it, he basically gives a high-level overview of what happened on January 6th, and what crimes could potentially be charged. Then, there is a short forward by Nancy Pelosi, one by Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, and one by Vice Chair, Liz Cheney.

The text of the report does include a lot of detail, specifically about the planning leading up to January 6th that was not in the televised hearings. The one area that I think the report is lacking is more detail about how much advanced warning various law enforcement and intelligence agencies had leading up to the attack and what they did or did not do with that information. Some of that information is spread throughout the various chapters, but I think a chapter devoted to that topic was warranted, as well as specific recommendations based on the findings. Overall, however, I think it is something that everyone concerned about preserving our Republic should read.

Book Review: The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020

 

This is a book by Jonathan Lemire, a reporter for the Associated Press, and one of the morning show hosts/contributors on MSNBC. The subject matter of the book is fairly clear from the title. It is focused on the 2017-2021 presidential administration. The book is about 300 pages (of substantive material) and then there is a bibliography at the end that accounts for the rest. About half of the book is about the lead-up to the 2020 election, and the other half focuses on the election and the aftermath, including January 6th, the second impeachment, and the fight after the election to get a new voting rights act through Congress.

Lemire basically excoriates the orange genital wart and does not come at it from a detached journalist. Lemire calls agent orange a liar, documents how he lied all his adult life before he was president and documents the biggest lies he told as president. Lemire argues that t***p's brazenness in lying opened the door for Republicans to lie their ass off to the point that the batshit crazy portion of the party that, heretofore, had been relegated to the fringes and tolerated as long as they voted for tax cuts for the rich, to take over the party. 

Not much of the information in the book is new, especially if you have followed the (reputable sources of) news for the past few years. But, Lemire crystallized just how t***p, and the Republican party's cult-like devotion to him, transformed politics and how it presents a danger going forward. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Donald T***p v. The United States

 

This is a book that covers the 2017-2021 presidential administration, with a heavy focus on the Russia investigation, both before the Special Counsel was appointed when the FBI was in charge of the investigation, and after. The book was written by Michael Schmidt, a columnist for the New York Times, who had many sources, named and unnamed, both inside the White House, the FBI, and (seemingly inside or around people on the inside of) the Muller team. The book basically spans the time period from before the 2016 election detailing the FBI investigations of both candidates, and how each was handled by the FBI director, and ends with a summary of the first impeachment proceedings.

The substantive portion of the book is 400 pages long, then there are several pages of notes. Schmidt details what was going on in the White House Counsel's office (former White House Counsel Don McGahn was one of his named sources) and seemed to have a lot of insight into what Mueller's team was doing. He goes into great detail about how the Orange Genital Wart was raging at everything, getting crazier as time went on, and refusing to listen to anyone who told him that he could not do the batshit crazy stuff he wanted to do. The end of the book really details how Bill Barr bailed Agent Orange out when the Mueller report was released, based in large part because Mueller refused to actually make any kind of recommendation on whether Little Donny Diapers should be charged with anything. Schmidt also paints Rod Rosenthien as a wimpy slimeball who basically changed his tune depending on who he was talking to.

The book has a lot of reporting that was bombshell news when it came out in 2020, but even now, a few years removed from the original publication there is still material in the book that did not get widely reported, so even if you are a consumer of reputable news, some of the material in the book may be unfamiliar to you. Of course, the MAGATs will scream fake news about everything, but Schmidt brings receipts to back up every assertion that he makes. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West

 

The Plot to Destroy Democracy is a book written by former US Intelligence Officer, Malcolm Nance. The substantive portion of the book (if you have it in paperback) is about 300 pages, and the rest consists of endnotes and an index. 

The focus of the book is on Russia's efforts to undermine Western Democracy, even going back to when the Soviet Union was formed under Lenin, and continuing to the present day. Nance interspersed events that occurred leading up to and including the 2016 election cycle, arguing that Putin's cronies in Russia basically groomed the orange genital wart for a run for President, offering to do everything they could to help him win, which he knew about and absolutely accepted. The focus of the book was not so much what t***p and his dipshits were doing, but what the hackers in Russia were doing, not only interfering in the US elections but the shit they were doing to interfere in elections (and the political processes) in other countries as well. Specifically, while the various hacking groups were definitely trying to help t***p get elected, their main interest was sowing discord and distrust in the US political system among the American population.

The book is in part a history lesson and in part a warning. Nance was definitely one of those that seemed to think that Robert Mueller was going to swoop in and take t***p down (the book was written while the investigation was still ongoing), which, of course, is absolutely not what happened. But, Nance does a good job laying out what Russia was up to and what they would likely try as they got even bolder in subsequent elections. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Proof of Collusion

 

The subject matter of the book is pretty clear from the title. In the book, author Seth Abramson, a former criminal attorney lays out the case that (and provides solid proof that) the former president, in the well-documented game of footsie that he played with Russia, starting long before he declared his candidacy for president and continuing to this day, was well aware of what Russia was up to during the 2016 election, and was more than willing to accept any help they gave him.

The book was written before the Mueller Report was written so Abramson was relying on the things that were already public before the Mueller investigation or had become public during the investigation, either because of the court cases that started springing up or the news reporting. The book lays out the orange genital wart's ties to Russia before he declared his candidacy for president when he was trying to get buildings built in Russia, to around the time when Paul Manafort was charged. Abramson rightly predicted that agent orange would be impeached, but he thought that he would be impeached because of the Mueller report, which of course he was not. And, he thought that there would be enough level-headed Republicans that would be willing to cut t***p loose, where, in reality, they would just toady up to him and lick his balls even more. Of course, Abramson could never have predicted that Mueller would punt on a determination of whether t***p should be charged or actually obstructed justice, and could not foresee that Bill Barr would swoop in and save t***p's ass because of it by totally misrepresenting the findings in the report before he released the redacted version.

Each chapter of the book contains a summary of the topics, then Abramson lays out the facts that were widely reported and then annotates the key factual points with even more detail. So, while the chapters can get quite long, there are a lot of natural stopping points. The substantive part of the book runs about 330 pages (if you get the hardcover version), and then there are over 100 pages of footnotes. So, for the Q nutjobs and MAGATs who will inevitably scream "fake news", he backs up pretty much every paragraph in the book with receipts. It is definitely worth reading. 

Book Review: Impeach

 

Impeach was written by Neal Katyal, a former member of the Department of Justice, former acting Solicitor General, and current professor at Georgetown Law School in the run-up to the first impeachment of the former president. It was written when some, but not all, of the information about the phone call between the former president and Ukraine's President, Zelenksyy was made public, but before the actual impeachment proceedings started.  

The book is fairly short, with just over 150 pages of substantive text, then an Appendix with reprinted documents such as the whistleblower complaint and the White House counsel's letter to Congress, and then a bunch of footnotes. In the book, Katyal lays out the history of impeachment, and its roots in the Federalist Papers, which were the precursor to the US Constitution, explains things like what High Crimes and Misdemeanors meant to the founders and lays out the process. Katyal then laid out what he felt was the strongest case against the former president, why it would be dangerous not to impeach the former president, and what Katyal felt should (and should not) be included in the articles of impeachment. 

Overall, the book does a good job laying out Katyal's argument without getting bogged down in too much legalese. I would describe the book as having a tone that is somewhere between an op-ed in the newspaper and a law review article. It is an interesting read, but not what I would call a must-read, especially now, years later when the events of the first impeachment have been left in the dust and overshadowed by the events leading up to and following January 6th.

Book Review: Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How T***p Lost

 

This is a book that is mostly about the 2020 election and its aftermath by Wall Street Journal reporter, Michael Bender. It was actually one of the first books written after the events of the election and when it was first published, it contained a lot of bombshells. Of course, years later, the material in the book has been backed up by many other sources, and a lot of the details have been fleshed out so if you are reading it in 2023 or later, it will really not contain much that has not been widely reported. But, it seems that Bender had more access inside the 2017-2021 administration than other reporters, probably because he reported for the WSJ because he was reporting on a lot of events that were not widely known (and were not reported in full detail) until the January 6th hearings.

Of course, the MAGATs will scream fake news, but this is anything but. Bender clearly was talking to a lot of people inside the White House, including the Orange Genital Wart itself. And, he made a point to include details about the cult members who would travel around the country, including during covid, to see t***p do his syphilitic-like rants, even though many of them who were not the picture of health, were scared shitless that they were going to get sick and die (which some did). Some of those stories are very sad, all are pathetic, and some are just hilarious. Since Bender also followed agent orange's campaign during the 2016 election cycle, he does include some material in the lead-up to, and the aftermath of, that election. But, the focus of the book is from the first impeachment, through the covid pandemic, and the 2020 election and its aftermath. He does include a little about the second impeachment, but the book was coming up for publication right as that was playing out, so there is not a lot of detail about that in the first run hardcover edition.

The book is moderately long, coming in at just under 400 pages. And, they had to use a fairly small font type to get it in at that length. But, it reads relatively fast, especially if you are a regular news consumer (at least of news from reputable sources). I would not call it a must-read, but it is worth reading if you are a fan of current events and/or political books. 

Book Review: Hoax: Donald T***p, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

 

The subject matter of the book is apparent from the title. It is basically about the inner workings of FOX during the run-up to the 2016 election and throughout the 2017-2021 presidential administration.

The book was written by Brian Stelter who, at the time, was the host of one of the Sunday shows on CNN (Reliable Sources). In it, Stelter covers how FOX pretty much abandoned all pretense of being a news organization and became a propaganda machine for the orange genital wart with the early morning and prime-time entertainers basically in a non-stop circle jerk with agent orange, which ended up pushing out the few pure newspeople that (like Shep Smith) that the network had left. Stelter definitely had sources (whom he kept anonymous) inside FOX and inside the White House, the latter of which confirmed that the "executive time" on the schedule was just the time that t***p was watching TV and tweeting about the various news shows that he DVRd. Stelter got a lot of good behind-the-scenes dirt but did not manage to get everything, such as the fact that Fucker Carlson privately hates t***p and that all of the hosts that verbally fellate t***p on a nightly basis then talk shit about him behind his back.

Stelter admits up front that he did not write this book as an objective journalist, and he most definitely interjects his personal opinions of Fox, the people that run it and work there, t***p (and his administration as a whole). The book is about 350 pages (some of which are just footnotes citing to different sources of information) but is a pretty quick read. It is something that, if you read relatively fast, you can get through in a day or two. It is a revealing look behind the curtain at FOX and exposes some of the hypocrisy of those who work there. While I would not classify it as a must-read, it is definitely worth reading if you are into news, politics, and current events (with some gossip mixed in too). 

Book Review: Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. T***p

 

This book is partly a memoir that spans the course of Peter Strzok's career as a counterintelligence officer for the FBI, but it is mostly focused on the investigations (which he led) before and after the 2016 election. The book is a moderate length, about 350 pages, but it is not what I consider a quick read because it can be a bit dry. 

Strzok was the lead investigator on both the Clinton email investigation and the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, which morphed into an investigation of the Orange Genital Wart's ties to Russia and that interference, and which then morphed into the Mueller investigation. Strozk was initially a member of the Mueller team but was kicked off when text messages between him and an FBI lawyer whom he was having an affair with showing potential bias against t***p were revealed. Strozk, for the most part, does not get into the lurid details of his personal life but explained what he meant in the most controversial messages, and rightly points out that if he wanted to hurt t**p's campaign he could have leaked the fact that the campaign was being investigated before the election (which he did not), and that actions he took in the Clinton email investigation probably hurt her campaign and helped t***p (which was not his intended effect, but the likely outcome). Of course, the pussy grabber has no qualms about referring to Strozk and "his lover" over and over again, as if he had not cheated on all of his wives, which Stozk rightly points out. 

A couple of the more interesting tidbits from the book is that while the FBI did refer to the Steele Dossier (which Strozk was not really a dossier, but a collection of reports) when obtaining their warrants during the Russia investigation, they did not rely on the information as they thought a lot of it was not well-sourced and could not be corroborated. But, they felt that it should be brought the to judge's attention and the purpose for which it was put together. Second, not only did agent orange become a target of the investigation, but the FBI also started an investigation into whether Jeff Sessions perjured himself during his confirmation hearings. Unfortunately, Strozk does not go into much detail about that, and it seems that the investigation just flamed out. 

This book is basically a way for Strozk to tell his side of the story and defend his actions and those of the FBI. He recites as many of the facts as he could at the time he wrote it, and did not hold back his opinions of the former president or the people around him. He also criticizes some of the decisions that were made by the FBI leadership but also details the process through which those decisions were made. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Landslide: The Final Days of the t***p Presidency

 

Landslide is the third book written by Michael Wolff about the 2017-2021 presidential administration. The focus of this book is on the 2020 election and the aftermath, including the lead-up to January 6th, the former president leaving office, and the second impeachment. The book is just over 300 pages and reads fairly quickly. It can easily be finished in a couple of days if you are a fairly quick reader.

I would say that the book does not have any really salacious details of the kind that were in Wolff's prior books (e.g., Wolff's insinuation that t***p was having an affair with someone in his administration, or t***p's alleged bragging about someone in the administration giving him a blowjob), it was pretty much a straight retelling of what happened in that time period, with Wolff not holding back about the fact that he thinks t***p and many of the people around him (those who were telling him he won the election and it could definitely be overturned), were batshit crazy, and getting crazier with each passing day. For me, the best part of the book was the detail of the clusterfuck that was t***p's defense during the second impeachment and the team of dipshits (including a self-described wimp who did not want to talk in front of the Senate) who were defending him. Mainly, because nobody else was willing to do it. At the very end of the book, Wolff details meeting with t***p at the southern shithole (Mar-a-Lago) during which Wolff asked the Orange Genital Wart to name who exactly was behind the non-existent plot to steal the 2020 election, and of course, the dipshit could not do so, only saying it was not Biden, and the names would come out shortly. 

Overall, you have to know what you are getting with Wolff. He is not a journalist, so he has no qualms about inserting his personal opinions or putting in all the dirt he hears that nobody else would touch. As I said above, this book was mostly a retelling of the facts without much dirt, so in that way, it is closer in tone to many of the other books about the administration written by journalists who just provide facts and quote sources. But, Wolff is not shy about letting his personal feelings be known, so in that way, it is different than many of the other books. I would say most of the information in the book is fairly well-known, especially as of this writing, but it does have some fine details about events that have not been widely reported, which shows Wolff continued to have good access to people behind the scenes, even after writing two books excoriating that administration. So, if you liked Fire and Fury and Siege, this is worth reading.

Book Review: Betrayal: The Final Act of the T***p Show

 

Betrayal is a great follow-up to Jonathan Karl's first book about the 2017-2021 presidential administration. Where "Front Row" chronicled events at the beginning of the administration up to just before the first impeachment, this one chronicles the end, with a major focus on the 2020 election and the events that followed.

Karl, who was the ABC News White House Correspondent during the shit-show that was the Orange Genital Wart's administration, and who had interviewed the Orange Shitgibbon many times throughout his career, including for this book (for the MAGATs who want to scream "fake news"). He definitely had an inside track to a lot of information, some of which was probably not widely known until the January 6th congressional hearings. He details the in-fighting that was going on behind the scenes between the "normal" people who knew that t***p lost the election and the "crazy" people who were throwing shit at the wall to see if anything would stick in trying to get the results of the 2020 election overturned. And how the plans went from a pressure campaign on local officials in various states, to trying to use the courts, to going back to pressuring local officials, to finally trying to pressure Mike Pence, who found a spine for the first time in at least four years and did not go along with the crazy plans that were being thrown out by t***p and his band of dipshits. 

This book is different from the first one in which Karl was mostly presenting facts, but keeping most of his personal opinions out of the book. Here, Karl clearly says that things t***p and those around him were doing and saying were crazy, nuts, lies, made up, etc. And, even though he did not come right out and say "t***p show" is a euphemism for "shit show", it does not take much reading between the lines to figure that out.

The book is just over 300 pages and is a pretty quick and easy read. The is not much in the book that is new, especially if you kept up with the January 6th hearings, but there are some fine details that Karl reports in this book that flesh out some of the reporting that was widely known (if you get your news from reputable sources). It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Front Row at the T***p Show

 

Jonathan Karl has a unique perspective on the former administration having interviewed the orange genital wart early in his career when t***p was just a bullshit con artist real estate developer, and then a few times leading up to his announcement that he was running for president in 2016. Then, when t***p was in the White House, Karl was the White House Correspondent for ABC news. He also had known Sean Spicer for years before Spicer became the press secretary.

The book basically details the administration right up to the point just before the first impeachment. The final chapter of the book actually ends with t***p meeting Kim Jong Un at the DMZ on the border of North and South Korea and how he was pining for Kim to accept his invitation to meet. Then, in the Epilogue, Karl briefly touches on the first impeachment but does not go into a ton of detail about that because the book at basically been written and ready to publish just as all that was starting. So, at that point, Karl is mostly wrapping up his observations. 

A couple of interesting nuggets from the book are that t***p always thought of his whole brand as an entertainment act (hence the title of the book, which is also probably being used as a euphemism for "shit show" since it is fairly obvious that is how Karl saw that whole operation) and years ago admitted that he lied to get ahead, and just what a thin-skinned little prick Sean Spicer is and how he would get upset over even innocuous questions.

The book is just under 400 pages but reads fairly quickly. I would not say it contains a ton of material that was not widely reported, but it does contain some fine details that were not widely reported. Definitely a good read.

Book Review: Peril

 

This is a book that is co-written by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. It is partly a follow-up to Woodward's two other books chronicling the 2017-2021 presidential administration, but mostly a book about the 2020 election, detailing Joe Biden's decision to run, his resurrection during the Democratic primary, how he dealt with the transition, and how he dealt with the first 100 days of his administration, with a large focus on the dealing needed to get the rescue plan passed. The book shifts between detailing what was going on with the Biden camp and with the former administration, and provides a lot of good insight into the shitstorm that t***p and his band of dipshits caused both before and after the January 6th riot, and just how pissed off everyone, including the military and the spineless Republicans like McCarthy and McConnell, were at t***p in private while still either refusing to truly condemn him (like Bitch McConnell) or licking his balls at Mara Largo (like Qevin McCarthy and Lindsay Graham). It really underscores how little respect anyone had for t***p, including some of the people in his inner circle, and that everyone, even the ball lickers, were telling t***p that he lost the election. 

For me, the best part of the book is the last third in which the authors really dispense with talking about t***p (mostly) and focuses on what had to be done to get the 1.9 trillion dollar rescue plan passed, particularly how to get Joe Manchin to go along with it since the Democrats could not afford to lose any votes in the 50/50 senate, as well as making decisions like whether to honor the deal between the former administration and the Taliban to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. It was interesting to get insight into how Biden learned from his time as Vice President, and the mistakes that the Obama administration made in trying to deal with Republicans who were never going to deal in good faith with him, and Biden basically telling Republicans something along the lines of "I will listen to you, but this is what we are going to do whether you join us or not". This is definitely a must-read if you are into politics and/or current events.

Book Review: Rage

 

This is the second book written by famed journalist Bob Woodward about the 2017-2021 US presidential administration. Woodward covers events from throughout the administration but has a heavy focus on the response to Covid-19 and the relationships between the president and key members of his administration.

Specifically, Woodward talks about the relationship between the orange genital wart and members of the cabinet like Mattis, Tillerson, and Dan Coats (who was the Director of National Intelligence), and how all of their relationships soured with dipshit until they were fired or resigned. Woodward also discusses at length the love-note relationship between it and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Then, towards the end, Woodward goes on to discuss the disastrous Covid response that actually started out promising then went off the rails as t***p became more worried about getting reelected than he was about listening to medical experts. The big deal about this book as opposed to Woodward's first book is that t***p agreed to be interviewed, and taped, so Woodward uses t***p's own words throughout the book. 

The big takeaways from the book for me are, first, just how big a dipshit t***p really is, and two how much of an unjustified overinflated ego he has. For example, thinking he knows everything about science and technology just because his uncle taught electrical engineering at MIT when it is clear if you put any kind of physics or engineering problem in front of t***p and told him to work it out, his brain would explode. Secondly, just how stupid everyone around him found him to be and how frustrating it was to deal with his stream of consciousness jumping from topic to topic while still managing to say (or know) anything of substance. That is really borne out when Woodward reprints the exact questions he asked and exact quotes in response from t***p. 

Woodward does admit that many people he interviewed for the book only agreed to talk to him anonymously, but he also has about 400 endnotes that point to publically available sources for a lot of the material. Woodward is very critical of t***p and is clearly not a fan. But, he does give t***p credit for some things, such as his initial response to Covid, like restricting travel from China and Europe and then instituting the initial lockdowns. Unlike a lot of the journalists who have written books about t***p, Woodward does give his overall impressions and opinions of t**p and does not just stick to reciting facts and quoting sources. Woodward does not go as far as someone like Michael Wolff and actually call t***p batshit crazy, but you can tell that seems to be his impression of t***p. I do think Woodward can be fairly criticized for keeping what t***p truly knew about Covid versus what he was saying in public under wraps until his book came out. 

There is not a ton of new information in the book, especially if you are one who kept up with the news about that administration from reputable news sources. But, Woodward did manage to uncover details that flesh out the events he discusses in the book that I had not heard before. So, I do think that it is worth reading and definitely recommend it.

Book Review: Revenge

 

Revenge is essentially a follow-up to Cohen's first book, Disloyal. It expands somewhat on events he discussed in the prior book about why he ended up taking the plea deal, his testimony before Congress, and what happened to him after he was sent to prison. 

In his first book, Cohen gave up a lot of juicy tidbits about t***p and the inner workings of the t***p organization. There is a little bit of that in here (like reiterating that t***p hated Obama, but he hated him before the roasting Obama (and Seth Meyers) gave him at the White House Correspondent's dinner, mainly because he was jealous of Obama, but not as much of that as there was in the first book. This was likely due to the fact that Cohen was persona non-grata by the time he wrote this one. One interesting topic that he does get into, and even vindicates t***p a bit relates to the "Steele Dossier". Cohen asserts that almost everything, including the existence of the pee tape, in the Dossier was bullshit, and that everything Steele detailed about Cohen, which was really what the department of justice used to come after him in order to garner his help to take down t***p, was not true. Cohen excoriates the DOJ, many times naming names, by basically saying that they thought he knew more about what t***p was up to than he actually did, and when that became clear they charged him with bullshit charges and threatened to charge his wife for the tax crimes he was being charged with, which led Cohen to take the plea deal. And once he agreed to rat t***p out, t***p was more than happy to let the DOJ throw him in a hole. 

While in his previous book, Cohen went out of his way to say he did not hate t***p, that is totally out the window in this book. Early on he calls t***p a huge piece of shit and basically alleges that t***p ordered him sent back to prison after he was released early due to the Covid pandemic. Cohen does not spend the whole book bitching about his treatment but more exposing how the DOJ treats people that it is out to get and that if he, a rich, privileged white male, can get treated the way he did, anyone can. He also takes a victory lap when it comes to Michael Avenatti, whom he also calls a huge piece of shit, and relishes in Avenatti's downfall given all the crap Avenatti said about him on TV while pulling shit that would land Avenatti in prison. 

Overall, this book is a good follow-up to the first book. Cohen has to walk a fine line, admitting his faults and the fact that he was not a good guy, but trying to convince readers that he did not deserve what happened to him. And, of all of the "bad guys" that are trying to distance themselves from t***p, Cohen seems to be sincere in his mea-culpa and is genuinely trying to become a better person. He explains why, after getting jerked around at nearly all levels why he still cooperated and said he will continue to cooperate with any investigations of t***p. While I do not think this is necessarily a must-read, I think it is worth reading. 

Book Review: Disloyal: A Memoir

 

Disloyal is a must-read behind-the-curtain look at the orange genital wart and his company as seen through the eyes of his attorney/thug/executive vice president (which was really just a paper title), Michael Cohen. Cohen details how he ended up in the dipshit's orbit, discusses what he did in the company (or "for the boss"), and provides an insider's view of the things he saw and did. Most importantly, does not pretend to know things he was not privy to. Cohen does not portray himself as a hero in any way, shape, or form, which lends credibility to the claims he makes. 

The book talks about Cohen's early life in NY, his role as a hanger-on to anyone with power, criminal status or not, the life he had carved out for himself before he was pulled into the orbit of t***p, what he did for t***p, and how everything fell apart for him when the hammer of the DOJ came down on him, and how he was essentially left out to dry. Some of the interesting things from the book is how working for t***p, even before it was widely known what scum he actually was, drove a wedge between Cohen and his family. Cohen does a bit of a mea-culpa in the book saying he did things for t***p that he knows is wrong, and that he knew was wrong as he did them, but he was so enamored with proximity to power that he did not care, and totally ignored the fact that it was taking a toll on his family life, especially during the presidential campaign. 

Cohen describes his role as not just a fixer, cleaning up t***p's messes like hiding the fact that he fucked Stormy Daniels and had an ongoing affair with former Playmate, Karen McDougal, but he also played a much larger role in t***p's run for President than is widely known. While you do have to take what Cohen says with a bit of a grain of salt, because there was not ever much of a paper trail in t***pworld, he does admit that he did not know everything he was speculated to know and clearly states what he was and more importantly was not privy to and provides receipts in the form of email chains, including emails that were printed out that t***p clearly wrote notes on in sharpie, which lends credence to his allegations.

While Cohen does explain why he ultimately decided to cooperate with the DOJ and plead guilty to the crimes he was indicted for, (which according to Cohen was supposed to be three counts when he was offered the deal and then was bumped up to eight counts the day he was to plead), which was to save his wife from being charged with tax fraud as well, he never explains why he went all-in and called out t***p for being a racist, a xenophobe, and all of the things that he has said about him since he testified publically before Congress.

As I said above, you do have to take what Cohen says with a bit of a grain of salt, as he clearly has reason to be bitter with t***p. Cohen does admit that he was not a good guy in the story, which is clear when he admits to being more pissed off about t***p stiffing him on his year-end bonus after he covered up the Stormy Daniels story by paying her off with his own money than he was when t***p would say racist shit. He admits that he was working to get a t***p tower in Moscow built during the presidential run, but denies that he was ever meeting with the Russians to help them interfere in the 2016 election. He admits that everyone, including t***p, expected to lose the election and he 100% believes it was Comey's interference more than anything Russia was able to do that swung what was always going to be a close election t***p's way. He also fully admitted to being a member of t***p's cult long before the legions of MAGATs jumped on board, and provides a very prophetic warning that t***p would never willingly give up power if he lost the 2020 election, which, of course, we know was absolutely true. 

The book is 368 pages with an appendix that has images of various documents that runs another 60 pages, give or take. It can easily be read in a week or so, depending on how fast you read and how much time you have to read.