Trumpocracy

December 1, 2017
The conservative stalwart takes measure of the current administration and finds it sadly wanting--and dangerous, and immoral, and....Atlantic senior editor Frum (Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, 2007, etc.) finds the Trump White House pointed evidence of declining faith in democracy. However, the thing to worry about, he writes, "is not the bold overthrow of the Constitution, but the stealthy paralysis of governance" and complete disregard for the "rules of the game" on which constitutional democracy is founded. Clearly, the author holds Trump in contempt; just as plainly, he gives Trump credit for the political cunning that enabled him to leverage such things as the birther hoax to capture a sizable segment of an embittered, angry populace. What bothers Frum is less the specter of a buffoonish bully than the acquiescence of the Republican Party. He writes, "the most radical attack on American norms of governance in his first year was attempted not by Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, Anthony Scaramucci, or any other late-night demon figure, but by the regular Republicans of the House and Senate." The author goes on to reckon with a host of factors that led to the current debacle, from racial tension and economic insecurity to the self-interested demands of baby boomers and the unholy wedding of the institutional GOP to a president who is, by all evidence, creating a third party. Against all this, refreshingly, Frum finds hope that the Trump administration will be remembered "as the end of something bad, and not the beginning of something worse." In support of this qualified optimism, he notes that even as Trump continues to occupy the White House, other bullies and abusers have toppled, while the left has come to have a newfound appreciation of national security and elements of the right are accepting that government can, in fact, be a force for good.Evenhanded, ideologically consistent, and guaranteed to generate a slew of angry tweets should a copy land at the White House.

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January 1, 2018
Frum (The Right Man), an Atlantic senior editor, charts the erosion of democratic principles over the course of Donald Trump’s campaign and first year in office, enumerating both the president’s own improprieties and the misdeeds of his various advisers and hangers-on. Frum eloquently places the blame squarely on “the aggrandizement of one domineering man and his shamelessly grasping extended family,” whom he describes as trading in conspiracy theories and “alternative facts,” using their government positions to shill for real estate deals overseas, and engaging in borderline-treasonous conversations with Russian officials. He also shames those he deems complicit, including various Fox News hosts, short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, and “brazen” political strategist Kellyanne Conway. Frum further notes that Trump has turned on the country’s most trusted international allies in favor of “the planet’s thugs, crooks, and dictators.” Frum urges readers to “aspire to a deeper citizenship and wider loyalties,” and conservatives, among whom he includes himself, to embrace a more moderate ideology. Denunciations of the current administration are ubiquitous, but Frum’s incisive prose and optimism—notably, regarding the chances of returning decency and integrity to the Republican Party—set this apart.

December 15, 2017
Frum, a speechwriter for George W. Bush and a Never Trumper, understands the Trump administration will be judged by history, but he finds it necessary to make an assessment of what's happened so far because, as he puts it, the crisis is upon America, here and now. With precision and even eloquence, Frum details how the Trump campaign and administration has damaged American institutions and the American psyche. In such chapters as Prexisting Conditions, Enablers, and Enemies of the People, Frum doesn't just chronicle the abnormalities and deceptions of the president, his policies, and his tweets, he puts these elements into the context of the rising authoritarianism around the world. While he fears that the U.S. may never completely recover from the way Trump has changed the presidency, he does note, in a final chapter, called Hope, that he is encouraged by an engaged citizenry willing to go high when they go low. One of the best things about this book is that Frum uses his well-honed writing skills to make his points in ways that require no wonkiness to understand. For those who oppose Trumpism, this is a clarion call.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2018

Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury has captured the nation's zeitgeist, owing to its chronicling of President Donald Trump's histrionics; unfortunately, it has overshadowed this latest from Frum (senior editor, the Atlantic; Why Romney Lost) and probably shouldn't have. Frum was by no means a fan of Trump during the 2016 election cycle. But that should not take away from his criticism that the Trump administration has damaged the practices of American democracy. The author does not solely blame Trump for this abrogation, but traces it back through the prior two decades. Trump was at the right place at the right time in 2016. Once in power, as Frum carefully dissects, the president has enabled himself and his businesses but weakened the functionality of the U.S. government, which he was sworn to protect. Not all of this was deliberate, as Frum points out. But in totality, by either action or inaction, Trump has damaged American democracy, with frightening consequences in the long run. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone who cares about the republic and its future.--Jacob Sherman, John Peace Lib., Univ. of Texas at San Antonio

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