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.
