Bookishrealm's Reviews > Fear: Trump in the White House

I'm not really sure where to begin with this book. It's a solid 3.5 read for me and a lot of that has to do with the fact that a good portion of the information covered in this book follows events that were hashed out via the media. What makes it more intriguing is that readers have the opportunity to see a lot of the emotional responses to Trump's first couple of years as president. The emotional responses come from both Trump and his cabinet.

One of the most important connections that I made while reading this book is truly understanding the lack of knowledge that Trump had about anything in regard to American politics. He was determined to run the country as a businessman without understanding important topics such as immigration, the economy, trade policies, foreign policies, treaty agreements, etc. While this doesn't excuse his deplorable behavior, it is fascinating to see how hard his cabinet had to work to keep him from destroying the very framework of this country. Because Trump was rudimentary in understanding some of the most basic facets of politics, I believe that quite a few politicians including Graham (R-SC) took this as an opportunity to coerce Trump into fulfilling their own selfish needs. In an interesting way I saw Trump as a puppet when it came down to decision making. He lashed out when criticized and couldn't seem to understand why we, as a country, were investing money in other foreign countries without getting equal return (he didn't understand that a lot of it was for our own protection and a means to prevent the beginning of WWIII). To be honest, I don't think that Trump even thought he was going to win that election and when he did when he had no idea what the hell to do. He assigned random people with no prior experience to random positions. He couldn't maintain a cabinet to save his life. People would resign or get fired for stupid disagreements and Trumps unwillingness to concede in the face having to admit he made a mistake.

This inability to admit wrongdoing shed some light on the 2020 election and why Trump is having a difficult time conceding. For him, its about maintaining an image of strength. He wants to be seen as a "mans man" which is appealing to a lot of men in this country, but it makes for a very volatile situation in the White House. People were unable to communicate effectively with Trump. Some described it in close relation to working with a 5th or 6th grader. To be honest, after reading this and reflecting on this description of Trump's presidency, I believe that there were people who wanted to do the right thing just as there were people who wanted to use a unintelligent President to their benefit. That's exactly why you see quite a few Republicans who also refuse to acknowledge Biden as President-elect. If Trump maintains power there will be those who will reap benefits from his stupidity. That means extended lengths of time in a political office while maintaining financial comfort. Once he's gone the means of manipulation and persuasion go as well. This doesn't absolve Trump of his crimes, but it shows that there are a lot more guilty parties.

This book definitely contains a lot of information about public policy, foreign policy, information related to tax reform, structural information about the American government. It can be dry for those who don't have any interest in that information, but it also includes some very interesting analysis of the personalities that worked with Trump as well as a interesting analysis of Trump's own personality. There is discussion about the tension that surrounded Kushner and Ivanka having such detailed access to various things; there is a deep analysis of the relationship that Trump had with both Bannon and Graham; and there is even a deep analysis of the relationships that Trump had with foreign diplomats that leads up to the accusations of collusion with Russia. I found the drama intriguing and it truly poked an interest in learning more details about Trump's administration.