Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Alberta, chief political reporter for Politico, didn't have to look far to find his title. American carnage are words Donald Trump used in his inaugural speech to describe the state of the country. Here it's shorthand for how the Republican Party became the party of Trump, fueled by Republican dissatisfaction with the party of Bush, as George W. left the country broke and mired in war. The term also evokes the ire provoked among Republicans by the ineffectual presidential campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney, who couldn't win against Barack Hussein Obama, a man the Right viewed as elitist and condescending (and who is, yes, Black). All of that led, along with anger at political correctness and changing demographics, to the Republican Party being fractured between the firebrands and the traditionalists. The latter attempted to address the former's concerns, but, alas, as one operative put it, We fed the beast and the beast ate us. By the time Trump turned up, the Republican establishment already knew that it had lost the soul of the party. Still, few believed it was going to be a celebrity and former Democrat who would remake the party in his own image. For the reader, this account is often head swirling. Events that seemed indelible at the time are now mere blips; fortunately, Alberta does a stellar job of putting matters in context. Thanks in part to the many insiders to whom he's had access, there's also a you-are-there fascination here. This is particularly true when it comes to former speaker John Boehner, who describes how he presided over the traditional party and its (as well as his own) demise. Trump is here, too, of course. The book opens and closes with him, and when asked if he's transformational, he responds, Honestly, can there even be a question? Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
PW Annex Reviews
Republican congressional factions battle each other and Donald Trump for the party's soul in this sweeping study of modern American politics. Politico magazine correspondent Alberta surveys a decade of GOP upheaval; he begins with the rise of the ultraconservative Tea Party and its feud with establishment Republicans during Barack Obama's presidency, moves on to party leaders' failed efforts to quash Trump's 2016 campaign, and recounts their struggle to corral votes in a Republican Congress after Trump's victory and to deal with the president's volatile style and erratic leadership. Drawing on extensive interviews with politicians and pundits, Alberta's engrossing narrative is full of sharp intrigues and vivid personalities and focuses on attempts by House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan to craft legislative compromises against furious resistance—and speakership challenges—from the party's uncompromising right wing. Alongside the horse-trading, Alberta explores two tectonic shifts in the American electorate: the Republican base's turn away from small-government, fiscally austere, free market, free trade Tea Party doctrine to a Trumpian populism of anti-immigrant xenophobia, protectionism, and free-spending industrial policy, as well as an overall demographic shift toward a less white, better educated, more urban population. Incorporating trenchant analysis and a wealth of detail in stylish prose, Alberta highlights the broad currents beneath the chaos of recent politics. (July)
Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly Annex.