From MSNBC correspondent Steve Kornacki, a lively and sweeping history
of the birth of political tribalism in the 1990s--one that brings
critical new understanding to our current political landscape from
Clinton to Trump
In The Red and the Blue, cable news star and acclaimed journalist
Steve Kornacki follows the twin paths of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich,
two larger-than-life politicians who exploited the weakened structure of
their respective parties to attain the highest offices. For Clinton,
that meant contorting himself around the various factions of the
Democratic party to win the presidency. Gingrich employed a
scorched-earth strategy to upend the permanent Republican minority in
the House, making him Speaker.
The Clinton/Gingrich battles were bare-knuckled brawls that brought
about massive policy shifts and high-stakes showdowns--their collisions
had far-reaching political consequences. But the '90s were not just
about them. Kornacki writes about Mario Cuomo's stubborn presence around
Clinton's 1992 campaign; Hillary Clinton's star turn during the 1998
midterms, seeding the idea for her own candidacy; Ross Perot's wild run
in 1992 that inspired him to launch the Reform Party, giving Donald
Trump his first taste of electoral politics in 1999; and many others.
With novelistic prose and a clear sense of history, Steve Kornacki
masterfully weaves together the various elements of this rambunctious
and hugely impactful era in American history, whose effects set the
stage for our current political landscape.
