...USMB Book Club ----....Lotsa new books on Don Trump ...

[Chillicothe]

I don't need to tell anyone here that there is beginning to be a wave of 'insider accounts' contained in a whole handful of new books chronicling the Trump presidency.

Here are several that have been in the news within the last week. (plus, at the end of this list I include a quote (from 'I alone') from William Barr that seems to encapsulate a fairly common sentiment that I myself have heard from my uber-Conservative or even my GOP friends..
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• LANDSLIDE
  The Final Days of the Trump White House
  By Michael Wolff

“The strength of Landslide comes less from these stories and more from a coherent argument that Wolff, in partnership with his sources, makes about how we should understand the period between Nov. 3 and Jan. 20. Most quickly produced books about political events don’t do that.”
―Nicholas Lemann, The New York Times

Michael Wolff on Donald Trump’s Last Days (for Now)
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• I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year
  by Carol Leonnig (Author), Philip Rucker (Author)

".....behind-the-scenes story of Trump's final year in office, by Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig, the Pulitzer-Prize winning reporters and authors of the #1 New York Times bestseller, A Very Stable Genius

The true story of what took place in Donald Trump’s White House during a disastrous 2020 has never before been told in full. What was really going on around the president, as the government failed to contain the coronavirus and over half a million Americans perished? Who was influencing Trump after he refused to concede an election he had clearly lost and spread lies about election fraud? To answer these questions, Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig reveal a dysfunctional and bumbling presidency’s inner workings in unprecedented, stunning detail.
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• “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost “
  by Michael C. Bender (Author)​

One Amazon review:
"I wanted to like this book. Bender did so many interviews for it – 150 with Trump and those connected to the campaign or administration. It's so difficult to organize all that into a smoothly flowing narrative, which he does. Also, it gets better when he gets to 2020, particularly with regard to George Floyd protests and Trump's disproportionate reaction to them. Maybe its more interesting because he's describing people around Trump who are more interesting and smarter than the campaign types. (Milley speaks for many when he tells Stephen Miller to "Shut the f- up.")"
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• Front Row at the Trump Show
  by Jonathan Karl (Author)​

Amazon Reviewer: " Front Row is filled with stories about the Trump Administration that I had heard about but never with this detail. The author is objective in his storytelling. Not afraid to compliment the President where appropriate or criticize him when deserved.

For readers looking for an objective evaluation of this President, it's almost impossible to find—but this book pulls it off. For people looking for the inside scoop, this book is perfect. From the infamous trip down the escalator to the crazy events in the White House briefing room, you hear the president's own voice as told by the best reporter on TV today.

I've never written an Amazon review before, but this book was worth it. The book arrived Wednesday morning and I finished it an hour ago. Couldn't put it down.
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And then the quoted conversation that, in my narrow world, confirmed what I have heard from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.
To wit:

"Barr counsels him that “I feel like you are going to lose the election… I feel like you are actually losing touch with your own base…

“I have yet to meet anybody who supports you who hasn’t said to me, ‘We love the president, but would you please tell him to turn it back a bit?’… You are going to lose because there’s going to be enough people who otherwise would vote for you who are just tired of the acrimony, the pettiness, the punching down and picking a fight at every moment, and the apparent chaos, and they’re just going to say, ‘We’re tired of this shit.’…

“I think that if you wanted to you could walk into a second term, COVID and all. You could go down in history as an amazing president, and it’s yours for the taking. But it’s about you, and you’re turning off enough people to lose the election.”

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What William Barr is reported to have told Don Trump tracks closely with what Trump's own pollster, Tony Fabrizio, told him AFTER he had lost. To wit: people think you are untrustworthy, and incompetent.*

This has been linked-to, and discussed on this venue several times.

 

[JGalt]

TDS sells.

Besides, keep the people's eyes and ears on all the mean stuff Trump tweeted, and nobody will notice how badly Biden is fucking up.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Who told Trump that it looked like the communist democrats were taking steps to steal thecelection?

 

[whitehall]

Sex sells and obviously so does hatred. Trump isn't the president anymore. Is the USMB going to be inundated with unverified quotes from tell-all Trump books while the Country goes down the freaking drain in the next 3 1/2 years? Say it isn't so

 

[eddiew37]

Sex sells and obviously so does hatred. Trump isn't the president anymore. Is the USMB going to be inundated with unverified quotes from tell-all Trump books while the Country goes down the freaking drain in the next 3 1/2 years? Say it isn't so

Sure we are whitey We want to prove again and again you put an AH in the WH One whose ass you keep kissing

 

[Dekster]

I think I read a book once. Had something to do with green eggs.

Anyway, more power to people who can move copy to the pearl clutching masses.

 

[Chillicothe]

Oh, my avatar is bit more laid-back on all this. Despite the critiques offered above.
Personally, before he opines on the credibility of the insights offered by these books......well, he's gonna try to find time to read 'em.

I noted that William Barr quote only because I heard versions of it from people I know and interact with. More than once.
In other words, it had a ring of truth to it.....at least in my little narrow world.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[FA_Q2]

There are a lot of people trying to cash in on partisan idiots when partisan idiocy is at an all time high. What a surprise.

 

[Chillicothe]

"There are a lot of people trying to cash in on partisan idiots .... "

Well, sure, we live in entrepreneurial times, so if one identifies a need or a want, it seems not wrong to monetize it, if legal.

But beyond whatever reward is realized by the author or publisher or bookseller.......there is the added societal benefit of gaining a bit more transparency into the machinations of our political dynamic, and the calculations and characters impacting it.

If these reporters didn't tell us......how would we know?

It's not like we ALL work in the White House or high in an agency and thus have privy to that level of decision making.
So, journalism does what journalism is supposed to do......inform.

I'm cool with that.

 

[FA_Q2]

"There are a lot of people trying to cash in on partisan idiots .... "

Well, sure, we live in entrepreneurial times, so if one identifies a need or a want, it seems not wrong to monetize it, if legal.

But beyond whatever reward is realized by the author or publisher or bookseller.......there is the added societal benefit of gaining a bit more transparency into the machinations of our political dynamic, and the calculations and characters impacting it.

If these reporters didn't tell us......how would we know?

It's not like we ALL work in the White House or high in an agency and thus have privy to that level of decision making.
So, journalism does what journalism is supposed to do......inform.

I'm cool with that.

Except most of that list is made up of partisan drivel and lies.

IF there was honesty in them then sure. Wolff has already been shown to be a charlatan with his first book and there is the second sitting on the top of your list selling as though he released a hard hitting, factual account the last time. With an absolute dearth of reporting in the last several years, it is impossible to trust any of the bullshit coming from these guys.

 

[Chillicothe]

With an absolute dearth of reporting in the last several years,

Ummmm, what?

"dearth"?

Reporting is as good, arguably better, than ever before.
There are more news outlets. More reporters with better educations.......all chasing the stories.
So if one believes in the capitalistic competitive ethos, well, we as consumers are feasting.

To be sure, there are 'viewpoint silos' where one can read or see or hear only the morsels of news that best fits one's 'viewpoint'. And one can wring one's hands about what you think is being reported over in that other silo.

But, true curiosity and a desire to be informed will lead thinking individuals to look into all silos.

I will argue, reporting has never been better.

 

[FA_Q2]

With an absolute dearth of reporting in the last several years,

Ummmm, what?

"dearth"?

Reporting is as good, arguably better, than ever before.
There are more news outlets. More reporters with better educations.......all chasing the stories.
So if one believes in the capitalistic competitive ethos, well, we as consumers are feasting.

To be sure, there are 'viewpoint silos' where one can read or see or hear only the morsels of news that best fits one's 'viewpoint'. And one can wring one's hands about what you think is being reported over in that other silo.

But, true curiosity and a desire to be informed will lead thinking individuals to look into all silos.

I will argue, reporting has never been better.

Definition of DEARTH

scarcity that makes dear; specifically : famine; an inadequate supply : lack… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Google is your friend.

And no, reporting is not 'better' than ever before. Reporting has devolved into a bunch of fanboys pretending the other side is Satan and their side is pure virtue.

All one has to do is watch CNN and FOX for 5 minutes to realize there is almost nothing there that is factual. The coverage over the last decade has been utterly atrocious with outright lies thrown out and repeated regularly. And this is not because CNN or FOX are outliers. The whole lot of 'news' shows are nothing more than entertainment today.

Mostly peaceful? Trump clearing out a crowd with teargas for a photo OP? Russia Russia Russia? Virtually 100 percent of the coverage on Cuomo and DeSantis? The Covington Catholic story? Russia putting out bounties on US soldiers? The election was stolen? Is there any major news story that was simply factual reporting?

And reporting is not just repeating bullshit that is spouted by other echo chambers. There is real value in actual reporting. The kind that takes months or even years of investigation to uncover the truth that others try and hide. News sources don't even bother anymore. They just repeat outright lies and claim immunity because they were only repeating what someone else says. The actual defense CNN used with the Covington kids.

 

[Oddball]

I don't need to tell anyone here that there is beginning to be a wave of 'insider accounts' contained in a whole handful of new books chronicling the Trump presidency.

Here are several that have been in the news within the last week. (plus, at the end of this list I include a quote (from 'I alone') from William Barr that seems to encapsulate a fairly common sentiment that I myself have heard from my uber-Conservative or even my GOP friends..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• LANDSLIDE
  The Final Days of the Trump White House
  By Michael Wolff

“The strength of Landslide comes less from these stories and more from a coherent argument that Wolff, in partnership with his sources, makes about how we should understand the period between Nov. 3 and Jan. 20. Most quickly produced books about political events don’t do that.”
―Nicholas Lemann, The New York Times

Michael Wolff on Donald Trump’s Last Days (for Now)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year
  by Carol Leonnig (Author), Philip Rucker (Author)

".....behind-the-scenes story of Trump's final year in office, by Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig, the Pulitzer-Prize winning reporters and authors of the #1 New York Times bestseller, A Very Stable Genius

The true story of what took place in Donald Trump’s White House during a disastrous 2020 has never before been told in full. What was really going on around the president, as the government failed to contain the coronavirus and over half a million Americans perished? Who was influencing Trump after he refused to concede an election he had clearly lost and spread lies about election fraud? To answer these questions, Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig reveal a dysfunctional and bumbling presidency’s inner workings in unprecedented, stunning detail.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost “
  by Michael C. Bender (Author)​

One Amazon review:
"I wanted to like this book. Bender did so many interviews for it – 150 with Trump and those connected to the campaign or administration. It's so difficult to organize all that into a smoothly flowing narrative, which he does. Also, it gets better when he gets to 2020, particularly with regard to George Floyd protests and Trump's disproportionate reaction to them. Maybe its more interesting because he's describing people around Trump who are more interesting and smarter than the campaign types. (Milley speaks for many when he tells Stephen Miller to "Shut the f- up.")"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Front Row at the Trump Show
  by Jonathan Karl (Author)​

Amazon Reviewer: " Front Row is filled with stories about the Trump Administration that I had heard about but never with this detail. The author is objective in his storytelling. Not afraid to compliment the President where appropriate or criticize him when deserved.

For readers looking for an objective evaluation of this President, it's almost impossible to find—but this book pulls it off. For people looking for the inside scoop, this book is perfect. From the infamous trip down the escalator to the crazy events in the White House briefing room, you hear the president's own voice as told by the best reporter on TV today.

I've never written an Amazon review before, but this book was worth it. The book arrived Wednesday morning and I finished it an hour ago. Couldn't put it down.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


And then the quoted conversation that, in my narrow world, confirmed what I have heard from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.
To wit:

"Barr counsels him that “I feel like you are going to lose the election… I feel like you are actually losing touch with your own base…

“I have yet to meet anybody who supports you who hasn’t said to me, ‘We love the president, but would you please tell him to turn it back a bit?’… You are going to lose because there’s going to be enough people who otherwise would vote for you who are just tired of the acrimony, the pettiness, the punching down and picking a fight at every moment, and the apparent chaos, and they’re just going to say, ‘We’re tired of this shit.’…

“I think that if you wanted to you could walk into a second term, COVID and all. You could go down in history as an amazing president, and it’s yours for the taking. But it’s about you, and you’re turning off enough people to lose the election.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What William Barr is reported to have told Don Trump tracks closely with what Trump's own pollster, Tony Fabrizio, told him AFTER he had lost. To wit: people think you are untrustworthy, and incompetent.*

This has been linked-to, and discussed on this venue several times.

 

[Seawytch]

This is a good one if you're looking for Summer reading

Amazon product

 

[petro]

Hard enough to read the TDS filled rants here.
The hell if I am gonna pick up a novel on it.

 

[Dekster]

"There are a lot of people trying to cash in on partisan idiots .... "

Well, sure, we live in entrepreneurial times, so if one identifies a need or a want, it seems not wrong to monetize it, if legal.

But beyond whatever reward is realized by the author or publisher or bookseller.......there is the added societal benefit of gaining a bit more transparency into the machinations of our political dynamic, and the calculations and characters impacting it.

If these reporters didn't tell us......how would we know?

It's not like we ALL work in the White House or high in an agency and thus have privy to that level of decision making.
So, journalism does what journalism is supposed to do......inform.

I'm cool with that.

Except most of that list is made up of partisan drivel and lies.

IF there was honesty in them then sure. Wolff has already been shown to be a charlatan with his first book and there is the second sitting on the top of your list selling as though he released a hard hitting, factual account the last time. With an absolute dearth of reporting in the last several years, it is impossible to trust any of the bullshit coming from these guys.

Who cares. The more money democrats spend buying porn, the less they will have to donate to their cult.

 

[dblack]

Don't give the pricks your money. For every "insider" who now suddenly wants to tell "true" the story of how crazy and dangerous Trump was - but at the time it was happening, when it mattered, sat on their hands and kept quiet - well, they can go fuck themselves.

 

[Chillicothe]

The prolific poster 'Oddball' offers as his articulate commentary, a shiny picture.
A shiny picture with text indicating Don Trump lives in the heads of "moonbats'.

Well, I have no idea what a 'moonbat' is (and didn't take the time to google it)

But do note, once again, those posters who frequently put up that "living rent free in their heads" meme are the most defensive, protective, and -----I don't mean this last as pejorative----but the most sycophantic of Trump supporters.

It is what it is.

However, as a clever wit has already posted in response to such shiny picture memes: "Better he lives rent free in opponents heads, than rent free in the White House."

Speaking for my poor avatar ------he think that was witty.
And apt.

Just sayin'.

 

[Chillicothe]

The whole lot of 'news' shows are nothing more than entertainment today.................There is real value in actual reporting. The kind that takes months or even years of investigation to uncover the truth that others try and hide. News sources don't even bother anymore."

If the forum accepts poster Q2's assertion --- for the sake of argument ----well then, what sources would the good poster refer the forum to?
Sources that he himself uses to stay informed on the truth of today's politics and developments.
I ask because he surely must have one or more.
Lest how would he know when reporting by others is false?
What is his gold standard for media veracity?

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"Hard enough to read the TDS filled rants here.
The hell if I am gonna pick up a novel on it."

Well, I dunno about the 'novel' aspect the poster refers to. That carries the implication that it is fiction.
When clearly it is not. Multiple reportings by multiple reporters and news outlets offer some confirmation of some of the book's description.
And too, Washington Post reporters and New York Times reporter ....two of the books are by such ..... are experienced enough, are trained and educated enough, to NOT rely on a single source for a description of a single event or individual. Meaning, they get multiple sources that confirm one another. The blurbs for at least 3 of the books tout that the author(s) conducted 140, 150 separate interviews. I'm confident that some of those interviews were conducted merely to confirm or vet what had been already described by another. In short, as often happens, reporters asks questions that they already have a fair clue on what the true answer is. They are verifying what has been told to them. That is fair. Proper. And beneficial to the readers.

So, these ain't "novels". This is reporting by competent experienced observers of our political scene.

ps....All of that was covered in Captain Obvious' TED Talk lecture. Duh!
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"Who cares. The more money democrats spend buying porn,..."

I honestly don't know if the good poster 'Dekester's' reference to "porn" is because he thinks all books are pornographic, or he doesn't read books?
But I would suggest to the poster Dekester, he need not read the whole book. They ARE fairly lengthy, with fairly big words, and long paragraphs. That can be daunting, I suppose, for those who are more familiar with pornography. Plus, I doubt there are many shiny pictures in these books that are described in the OP. That too, could be daunting.

But there ARE excerpts and reviews the poster Dekester could avail himself of that may offer him insight.
He may find that helpful.

Just sayin'.
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"....when it mattered, sat on their hands and kept quiet - well, they can go fuck themselves."

OK, so the poster is pissed at the folks who sat for interviews with the reporters who wrote these books.
We get it.
But, but without some reportage from somebody on the machinations revolving around decisions, development, personalities.......well, how would we know?

It ain't like I....or I suspect, the good poster 'dblack'.......have strong and frequently used lines of communication into the White House, the Agencies, or the people involved.
At least I know I don't.
If poster 'dblack' is more informed on that stuff......well, do tell.

 

[dblack]

"....when it mattered, sat on their hands and kept quiet - well, they can go fuck themselves."

OK, so the poster is pissed at the folks who sat for interviews with the reporters who wrote these books.
We get it.
But, but without some reportage from somebody on the machinations revolving around decisions, development, personalities.......well, how would we know?

C'mon. Does anyone not know? Really? At this point it's abundantly clear who/what Trump is