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    Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
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    Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
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    Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
    Ebook388 pages6 hours

    Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic

    By David Frum

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    About this ebook

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

    Bestselling author, former White House speechwriter, and Atlantic columnist and media commentator David Frum explains why President Trump has undermined our most important institutions in ways even the most critical media has missed, in this thoughtful and hard-hitting book that is a warning for democracy and America’s future.

    "From Russia to South Africa, from Turkey to the Philippines, from Venezuela to Hungary, authoritarian leaders have smashed restraints on their power. Media freedom and judicial independence have eroded. The right to vote remains, but the right to have one’s vote counted fairly may not. Until the US presidential election of 2016, the global decline of democracy seemed a concern for other peoples in other lands. . . . That complacent optimism has been upended by the political rise of Donald Trump. The crisis is upon Americans, here and now."

    Quietly, steadily, Trump and his administration are damaging the tenets and accepted practices of American democracy, perhaps irrevocably. As he and his family enrich themselves, the presidency itself falls into the hands of the generals and financiers who surround him.

    While much of the country has been focused on Russia, David Frum has been collecting the lies, obfuscations, and flagrant disregard for the traditional limits placed on the office of the presidency. In Trumpocracy, he documents how Trump and his administration are steadily damaging the tenets and accepted practices of American democracy. During his own White House tenure as George W. Bush’s speechwriter, Frum witnessed the ways the presidency is limited not by law but by tradition, propriety, and public outcry, all now weakened. Whether the Trump presidency lasts two, four, or eight more years, he has changed the nature of the office for the worse, and likely for decades.

    In this powerful and eye-opening book, Frum makes clear that the hard work of recovery starts at home. Trumpocracy outlines how Trump could push America toward illiberalism, what the consequences could be for our nation and our everyday lives, and what we can do to prevent it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 9, 2018
    ISBN9780062898203
    Author

    David Frum

    David Frum is a senior editor at the Atlantic and the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestseller Trumpocracy. From 2001 to 2002, he served as a speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush. He and his wife, Danielle Crittenden Frum, live in Washington, DC, and Wellington, Ontario. They have three children.

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    Reviews for Trumpocracy

    4/5

    71 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Excellent, last chapter is the starting point. Rest a bit repetitous and dated by new events. Next edition should be good.
    • 5/5
      Written by a self-declared conservative and member of the GOP, this book gives a very good analysis of everything that is wrong about Donald Trump and the corrupt system that got him elected.Well-written and very informative.
    • 4/5
      David Frum is a conservative writer for The Atlantic Monthly. Neverthless, he is staunchly anti-Trump, and in his introduction to this book states that it "is the story of those who enable, empower, support, and collaborate with Donald Trump." This, to me, is an important issue--we have in Trump one dangerous and crazy person, but why are so many supporting him? Frum calls out the conventional republicans who, wanting someone to sign the bills enacting their pet conservative laws, go along, stating that Trump really can't be an autocrat, and he can't really destroy democracy, because he is too incompetent and chaotic. Frum points out that what we as a country have to fear is not the overthrow of our constitution, and not the state power to intimidate its citizens, but the paralysis of government and erosions of its norms, and the incitement of private violence by radicalized supporters. Frum states that he voted for Hillary,"not to advance my wishlist on taxes, entitlements, regulations, and judicial appointments," but to defend a "commitment to norms and rules." Although he disagreed with Hillary on many issues, he expected that Hillary would comply with these norms and rules, unlike Trump "who would subvert those standards."The book only focuses briefly on campaign irregularities (Chapter 2 "Enablers"). The majority of the book deals with Trump's methods of governing since his election, and Frum again states that it is not Trump's "own cunning that enabled him to defy long-established standards of decent behavior. It was the complicity of his allies among the conservative and Republican political, media and financial elite."So what are Trump's methods of governing, what constitutes a "Trumpocracy"?First, as in his businesses, Trump grabs the benefits for himself and a few associates while offloading the costs onto those foolish enough to trust him. Examples of his kleptocracy abound, and no president in history has used as much public money to sustain his and his family's personal lifestyle. He continues to use his position to make money for his businesses, which unlike previous presidents he did not divest himself of. One by one he is disabling the federal government's inhibitions against personal corruption.His corruption extends to his appointment of his cabinet and aides. He tends to appoint servile people. For example Dan Scavino, in charge of on-line communications, is his former golf caddy. He has insisted on reviewing the resumes of every candidate for every sub-cabinet secretary and sub-sub-cabinet job. Many of these jobs are as yet unfilled, partly due to his short attention span, poor work ethic, and ferocious demand for abject personal loyalty. Frum believes this to be part of a conscious effort to paralyze the state either by failing to staff it or by staffing it with incompetents. One could point to a number of cabinet secretaries who appear to be unqualified, incompetent, corrupt, or who espouse an "elimination of government" philosophy.Frum sees Trump's "greatest" accomplishment thus far in his undermining of the public's trust in the press. He has managed to convince many of his supporters that the honest media is actually giving them "fake news," and has taken the giant leap into labeling the press an "enemy of the people."Another aspect of a Trumpocracy, is his isolating the U.S. from its former close friends and allies, as well as his regular empowering of and deference to dictators. There are examples of these two aspects of Trump's foreign policy in the news nearly every week.Its all pretty dismal, but Frum offers several items to be hopeful about. First, Trump has awakened a new era of citizen awareness and activity. He has revived in us (if not in his core supporters), a new appreciation of the preciousness of the truth. Thirdly, he has also revived in many a renewed disgust for those who join power to cruelty. (We see this not only in his support of dictators and torture, but in his downright meanness--just today the news is full of what appears to have been his retaliative firing of Andrew McCable hours before he was eligible for his pension, as well as his proposal to apply the death penalty to drug dealers. One person who knows Trump fairly well stated, "He is the meanest man I ever met.") Trump has also recalled to us an appreciation of the vital role of our national security agencies. Finally his election has brought to the forefront the issue of the integrity of our voting system.There are generally few substantive issues on which I agree with Frum. For example, he states early in the book regarding Obama's establishing of the Dreamers, "In the long history of presidential overreach, there had never been a case like it." Really??--what about torture, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, illegal spying on U.S. citizens, etc.? Nevertheless, he is, in my view, spot on in calling out the politicians who have failed to defy Trump's actions, and his description of Trump's governing ethos is terrifying.Highly recommended.4 stars

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Very well written book on the impact of the election of Donald J., Trump to the Presidency. David Frum is a frequent guest on the evening talk shows of MSNBC. He is a Republican who voted for Hillary Clinton. He served as a speech writer in the White House of George W. Bush. His current occupation is Senior Editor of the "Atlantic."
    • 4/5
      This conservative author sets forth the damage that Trump and his enablers have done to our country and the office of the Presidency. The level of lying, ignorance, corruption, criminality and cruelty is astounding - and unfortunately it has become such a common, everyday thing with Trump that we run the risk of becoming numb to the outrage. This we cannot do. We must resist, and we must rescue our country from this downward spiral. The book is intelligently written and provides hope for the future in the last chapter. I would recommend it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I am writing this as news has hit that the Attorney General has fired Andy McCabe of the FBI just two days before his official retirement. It is hard to see this as anything other than political, a further attempt by the Trump administration to end the Mueller investigation. Reading the last sections of this book while watching this news unfold filled me with fear as it is becoming more and more apparent that the Trump White House favors the end of our democratic government as we know it for his own financial gain. The author pleads with us to become educated as citizens and to become more active in our government to make sure we do not lose our basic rights and government, that despite its flaws, is the best in the world. This is a very important book for the times.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      As one can read by the book's subtitle, this is not a positive examination of the Trump presidency. If you love the United States of America, you should read this book and do your part to make sure this president is turfed out at the next election. Frum, a former speech writer and special assistant to President George W. Bush, has years of conservative and Republican credentials to prove he is not a Democrat or a liberal angry at losing political power and an election.He describes Trump as a cruel, vengeful, egoistic, ignorant, lazy, avaricious,and treacherous individual who is enabled by other careless, cynical, shortsighted, morally obtuse and rancorous individuals. To prove his point, he documents a multitude of actions by President Trump and his supporters many of which have put the American nation and government in great danger not to mention in some cases other countries as well.While painting a grim picture of the US Government in the hands of the Trump administration, his last chapter brings the book to a relatively positive point by using recent surveys of the American people which illustrate Trump's actions are awaking a renewed interest in democracy in the US populace. According to Frum, the American people apparently do not like bullies and President Trump is a bully.

      1 person found this helpful