Tag Archives: Trump

08.19.26
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REGIME CHANGE/INSIDE THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY OF DONALD TRUMP

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, both White House Correspondents for The New York Times have collaborated on an astoundingly insightful and spotlight perspective of the first year of the Second Trump Administration. This latest book for Haberman is yet another example of her journalistic skill and of her contacts within The Beltway and the Trump inner circle. Her reporting is enhanced with the collaboration of Swan making REGIME CHANGE a must read for those interested in a deep dive into Trump and his cadre of sycophants in the second term.

Don’t look for sensationalism in these pages as that is not the style of either journalist. Rather you will discover an in depth look at Trump’s knee jerk decision making process and how he has surrounded himself with cabinet members and staff who have little individual decision making power. Unlike the first Trump administration, there are no advisors either able or willing to challenge his gut decisions. Thus the book title, REGIME CHANGE, refers to a second term with no guard rails in place in the Oval Office the Situation Room and elsewhere.The authors detail an administration focused on retribution, personal enrichment and the enhancement of his personal legacy. The book’s final chapter title is telling: PLUNDER.

Haberman and Swan have uncovered the decision making process on every major deliberation. They place the reader in the room and the reporting resonates with shocking truthfulness about immigration, Ice, Iran, Ukraine, Cabinet Officers, and military strikes.

It is somewhat unusual for a work of non-fiction to include an Epilogue but REGIME CHANGE includes one to give the reader a glimpse of an interview with the authors giving Trump the chance to respond to the book, that he had not read. The meeting dissolved into a typical Trump screed. They illegally indicted me, they impeached me, they did everything-they shot me, I guess you could say: But I won the election in a landslide, nobody else could have done it, he added. And there’s only one thing you can say about me that anybody believes, and you know what that is. Essentially I won every-f______ing time, he said.

And of course when the interview was over, one final Trump salvo for Haberman. I’m tired of winning and winning and winning and just getting bad f_______ing press. It’s about time you tell the truth. Okay?

There will be another Haberman-Swan collaboration for sure.

See gordonsgoodreads for our view of Haberman’s previous Trump book, CONFIDENCE MAN, THE MAKING OF DONALD TRUMP AND THE BREAKING OF AMERICA.

11.24.24
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MUSK/TRUMP/GOOD/BAD/UGLY

If you feel the need, perhaps you do not, there are two important current biographies of these two men who are at the forefront of the news. Confidence Man ( Donald Trump) by Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, and Walter Isaacson’s Elon Musk. Great first hand personal research and objective reporting. The best!

Here you go!

You can read my take on these two books here at gordonsgoodreads.

09.09.18
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THE SOUL OF AMERICA/JON MEACHAM

Jon Meacham has the academic prowess to place complicated issues into perspective through solid historical research.  Meacham has accomplished this once again in his new book THE SOUL OF AMERICA.  He removes a little worry and considerable angst from those who are gravely concerned about Washington, D.C. and President Trump.  This is an important read for all concerned American Citizens.

THE SOUL OF AMERICA is extremely well structured and I have chosen two paragraphs in hopes that I may entice you to read this work.

“Yes, much of the nation’s fate lies in the hands of the president, but the voters have the ultimate authority. The country has to awaken every now and then to the fact that the people are responsible for the government they get. And when they elect a man to the presidency who doesn’t take care of the job, they’ve got nobody to blame but themselves.” ( Harry S. Truman, post presidential notes. ) 

” We have managed , however, to survive the crisis and vicissitudes of history. Our brightest hours are almost never as bright as we like to think; our glummest moments are rarely irredeemable as they feel at the time. How, then, in an hour of anxiety about the future of the country, at a time when a president of the United States appears determined to undermine the rule of law, a free press, and the sense of hope essential to American life, can those with deep concerns about the nation’s future enlist on the side of the angels?”  (Jon Meacham)

After reading the perspective drawn from the pages of the SOUL OF AMERICA, I am betting that our “better angels” will enter the arena and prevail.