Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
David Frum, along with other steadfast NeverTrumpers such as Jennifer Rubin, William Kristol, Max Boot, and, to a large extent, Jonah Goldberg, has taken a lot of hits from the right for his refusal to give any ground to the spirit of Trumpism, to admit any good done by Mr. Trump on purpose and on his own, has written a fascinating, sobering, and ultimately (ironically) hopeful book about the Trump Presidency. I think that it will be looked at in years to come as one of the premier books to come out of this period, looked back on with the attitude of “How could the American public not have known about all this? How could they have elected such a person?”
Much of the book’s information will be very familiar to anyone who has been following events for the past couple of years, but Frum puts it together into a compelling narrative. Were I to characterize its tone in one word, that word would be outrage. And we should all be outraged. Our election process has been hijacked, and all we can do now is to hope and pray that our Constitution and our Congress will hold the line (in the first instance) and come to their senses (in the second).
I went ahead and used one of my Audible.com credits to buy the audiobook and felt that it was well worth the money. I’m not going to make even a stab at a summary of the book’s ideas; I will just say that in my view it is imperative for the ideas in this book to be widely promulgated. Instead of my trying to persuade you myself, though, I’m giving you two opportunities below to get acquainted with Frum in much briefer formats.
First, Frum’s landmark article from The Atlantic on the eve of the election that is still sadly relevant today:
“The Conservative Case for Voting for Clinton”
And a great, great interview with Frum on Trumpcast, a podcast that has helped to keep me sane over the past year and a half:
“A Rot at the Core of the Republic”
If you’re as impressed as I think you’ll be with Frum on these two outlets, I encourage you, I beg you, to read his book.
The book title is an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase it or any other Amazon products after clicking on that link, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.