In 2019, year three of the Trump administration, the world of political publishing generally poured forth ephemera, books marked by sensational one-day stories that lit up the internet like overstuffed fireworks then quickly faded away.
Take Team of Vipers, by former White House staffer Cliff Sims and published in January. It featured harsh criticism of Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway, former chief of staff John Kelly and former press secretary Sarah Sanders, who in Sims’ telling “didn’t press as hard as she could for the rock-bottom truth”. That’s one way of putting things.
In the words of Lloyd Green, reviewing the book for the Guardian, Sims “reportedly received a seven-figure advance for dishing dirt on his ex-boss. If he actually banked a million dollars, his agent deserves a round of props. As for Sims’ publishers, they may have overpaid.” It’s now clear they did. Thoughtful holiday gifts are not generally purchased from the remainder table.
Let’s be honest: many such books are not worth one’s time. Even if the writing is not bad, the subject is frequently narrow. But in 2019 there were a few shiny rocks, even gems, to be found among the pile.
Of the various books on the Trump White House the best was Michael Wolff’s Siege, sequel to the blockbuster Fire and Fury and in Green’s assessment “credible enough to be taken seriously and salacious enough to entertain”.
Steve Bannon, a major source, provides unplugged commentary, to wit: “This is where it isn’t a witch hunt – even for the hardcore, this is where he turns into just a crooked business guy … Not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag.”
Wolff also quotes Henry Kissinger at a private lunch as saying Trump’s “entire foreign policy is based on a single unstable individual’s reaction to perceptions of slights or flattery. If someone says something nice about him, they are our friend; if they say something unkind, if they don’t kiss the ring, they are our enemy.” With friends like these …
Wolff has emerged as a chronicler of the Trump era.
A Warning, by Anonymous, had strong pre-order sales but fell like a dud, reading “like something written by someone with knowledge of what sometimes transpired within the Oval Office but without box seats. While the book records Trump’s profanity and chaos, it does not convey a meaningful firsthand story.” And despite a promise of self-revelation, the author still remains, well, anonymous.
On the border of politics and history, Michael Tomasky delivered a strong and even somewhat hopeful civics lesson in If We Can Keep It, the title a reference to Benjamin Franklin’s famous answer to a question about what new government the Constitutional Convention had produced: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Tomasky takes the story back centuries to show how division has plagued American politics but also highlights just how disruptive and divergent the age of Trump really is. In the grand liberal tradition, Tomasky pleads for efforts that will unify the country and help us understand each other once again.
In terms of pure politics, Tim Alberta’s American Carnage details the transformation of the party of Lincoln into the party of Trump. This well-sourced book will probably become a standard account of how, in former House speaker Paul Ryan’s words, “the Trump wing beat the Reagan wing” of the party. Media moguls such as the late Roger Ailes of Fox played an important part.
Former secretary of defense James Mattis, who resigned at the end of last year, offered only vague criticism of Trump in Call Sign Chaos. Ever the marine, Mattis wasn’t expected to offer a true tell-all and focused instead on his “love affair with the constitution”, as well as his service in Afghanistan and Iraq. His key lesson comes instead from his resignation letter: “Nations with allies thrive, and those without wither.”
Among books covering other branches of government, Carl Hulse’s Confirmation Bias details the important subject of how Republicans took over the federal courts, not least the supreme court, with both raw political power and a network of conservative activists and funders. Ruth Marcus’s Supreme Ambition focuses on the confirmation of supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. Readers interested in Congress may enjoy The Hill to Die On, by Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, a chronicle of the failure of a true congressional check on executive power under Trump until the rise of the book’s hero, Nancy Pelosi.
For those scandalized or entertained by the Kremlinology of the Trump family itself, Donald Trump Jr’s Triggered marks a coming out for the eldest son while Vicky Ward’s Kushner Inc recounts the story of the family into which Ivanka married.
“In Ward’s telling,” Green wrote in his review, “Charlie Kushner, Jared Kushner’s father, dreamed of becoming America’s Jewish Joe Kennedy, Ivanka Trump fantasizes about being president and Donald Trump almost wishes Ivanka could have been his first lady. Ward puts it all out there, waiting for the reader to inhale, gasp and possibly heave in disgust.”
Also harsh on Jared Kushner is Chris Christie’s Let Me Finish, a “tour de farce” in which the former New Jersey governor focuses on his ousting from the Trump transition at the behest of Kushner and describes national security adviser Michael Flynn as a “Russian lackey and future federal felon … a train wreck from beginning to end … a slow-motion car crash”. New Jerseyans will recognize that sample of Christie’s style.
More seriously, given the recent report of the justice department’s inspector general on the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign, The Threat, by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, “paints a portrait of Trump as a mob boss” while also criticizing political appointees in the Obama justice department for thinking they could handle an investigation of Hillary Clinton. It’s a serious book about the relations between law enforcement and politics.
In next year’s election, one of the most important questions will be whether Trump can hold on to evangelical voters. In The Immoral Majority, a deeply introspective book, Ben Howe explains why a “toxic mixture of resentment and desire for revenge” made the temptation to power so strong. He also addresses his co-religionists: “You’ve gained the world. How is your soul faring?”
To prepare for the coming impeachment trial, consider Brenda Wineapple’s The Impeachers, about Andrew Johnson, who ignored laws passed by Congress, restored ex-Confederates to public office while limiting the rights of African Americans and who, one senator complained, had “sunk the presidential office to the level of a grog-house”. Compare the current articles of impeachment with the 11th article against Johnson, which accused him of offences including violations of the separation of powers but also of autocratic actions and other behavior inconsistent with the office.
Perhaps, instead of politics, it is time to enjoy some history. It was a less rich year than last, but Jill Lepore’s These Truths may restore faith in American ideals. She quotes Lincoln: “We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save the country.”
Wise words at the dawn of an election year.
