Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic

Trumpocracy takes you into the world of Trump. It's a bizarre realm. Frum does a great job of clear writing and compiling relevant facts (not fake news) to shine a light on the president. If you are a fan of Trump, turn away because this book will give you heartburn. This is an honestly unflattering picture of the unorthodox and detrimental conduct of Mr. Trump. The chapters in the book cover various aspects of Trump behavior or the administration. Much of it you have heard in the news, but Frum ties it together in a coherent narrative that makes for both interesting reading and insight beyond the tweets and "Breaking News" coverage. Here are a few quotes to give you a sample of what's in the book. "Donald Trump did not create the vulnerabilities he exploited. They awaited him. The irresponsibility of American elites, the arrogance of party leaders, the insularity of the wealthy; those and more were resources Trump used on his way to power." "He excelled instead at discerning the grievances and angers that set American apart from American -..." "One thing was clear: everyone who entered the Trump administration for nonselfish motives would sooner or later find himself or herself betrayed by a president who demanded loyalty in its most servile form, but who never returned it." "Say this for Trump: In all the vast arsenal of his faults, one was missing. There is no hypocrisy about Donald Trump." (That one I take exception to -- lying is pure hypocrisy.) If you want to understand Trump, this is the book to start with. If you want an elaboration beyond Trump to a more general view of what is happening to our democracy, here are some other suggestions: How Democracies Die, Killing Democracy, The Road to Unfreedom, On Tyranny. The first two are complementary works. How Democracies Die is more researched and looks at historical and current events to narrate the course of events that has transpired to remove democracies. Killing Democracy explains how to literally kill a democracy in a deliberate fashion. It's a guidebook that would be useful for any authoritarian; unfortunately its somewhat fictional advice reads a lot like today's reality. It's short and an easy read. The Road to Unfreedom is the most academic of the four listed here. You get a lot of useful information about Russia, the USA, and Europe and how things are deteriorating in part because of Russian influence. You'll come to believe that Russia is indeed an ongoing adversary - big time. Unfortunately, the author tries to force fit the facts into his model for interpreting them and that sometimes makes for awkward reading. On Tyranny is very short and cryptic, but has some good zingers in it.

The current age leaves me with a distaste and disdain even for the word conservative. The book becomes quickly dated with the early details of the Trump administration, but also lends credence to Frum’s integrity because he speaks out ealy., Frum has caused me to have solid respect for his principles and integrity. I disagree with many conservative ideas, but in the current culture of lies and corruption, Frum importantly restored my faith in a loyal opposition. Further, he is clearly a man of intellect and a formidable proponent of his ideology. I may not always agree with him, but I do not question his sincerity, veracity, or loyalty to the American ideal.

David Frum’s timely and prescient book “Trumpocracy” is a vital read in not solely understanding the baseness that is Donald Trump – but most importantly those who have enabled him to come to this point in risking the security, reputation, and long term stability of our country in great risk. It is vital that we learn from the lessons of history and the implications that they can mean to our present situation. Donald Trump is a unique threat and we truly are living in a perilous time in our nation’s history. I truly believe that history will judge this time as to where people stood and the causes they advocated once history is recorded. The most amazing thing is to see the number of people who simply seem to accept the fact (or in denial) that Donald Trump and his campaign were involved in nefarious activities with a foreign adversary who tried to tilt our election in his favor. I believe that history will record Donald Trump as the *Asterisk President – one that history records as illegitimate. Before that time comes, we are faced with a unique threat in terms of both the debasing of our cherished institutions and democratic process; as well as this reckless malignant narcissist increasing the chances of a nuclear war in which millions of people can perish in the blink of an eye. David Frum is a principled conservative who never sold out his soul, character, integrity and morals to support a demagogue. As David Frum excerpts from an op-ed he wrote toward the end of the election cycle on why he voted for Hillary Clinton, “Previous generations accepted infinitely heavier sacrifices and more dangerous duties to defend democracy. I am voting to defend Americans’ profoundest shared commitment: a commitment to norms and rules that today protect my rights under a president I don’t favor, and that will tomorrow do the same service for you.” As we have come to see in just the past year how true these words were then and resonate even more now. Putting America first is not about using demagogic tactics of the authoritarians, totalitarians and fascists of the first half of the 20th Century. It is not about being a liar and telling your core supporters that all news against the Dear Leader is “fake news”. It is not lying about lying and lying as a normal practice. We cannot allow Donald Trump to represent a new normal. Donald Trump is an aberration and a stain on both the office of the Presidency and to the history and ideals of our country. I look forward to Bob Mueller releasing his final report. And if warranted, treasonous/traitorous actions should have consequences. We will soon see whether Republicans in Congress have the slightest modicum of integrity and humility in putting country and humanity over the parochial whims of being members of Congress. By the way, the tone and voice of the author was very much alive in this reading. Very good writer full of expression and wit.

I read David Frum's new book Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic in just a couple of sittings, and highly recommend it to people across the political spectrum, including current Trump supporters, as it is a valuable, cogent analysis that will provoke thinking and rethinking. First, some context and disclosure: David is a friend of mine. I was a regular contributor to his onetime website FrumForum; among the articles I wrote there were ones on early American history that turned out to be early stages of research for my book about DeWitt Clinton and the Erie Canal. I broadly share Frum's desire for, to quote a passage in Trumpocracy, "a conservatism that is culturally modern, economically inclusive, and environmentally responsible, that upholds markets at home and US leadership internationally." We have some differences, of course, one being my more favorable view of immigration (watching the Trump administration's actions in this area has firmed up this opinion). David remains a member of the Republican Party, whereas I switched to independent the day after Trump clinched the nomination. A formidable strength of David's, manifest throughout Trumpocracy, is his capacity to follow arguments where they lead, regardless of whether the results are pleasing to any particular political faction. He is known as a "Never Trump" Republican, but unlike some such he has no illusion that all was well with the GOP before Trump came along. (By contrast, see this Jay Nordlinger piece about leaving a party that had been suddenly--inexplicably--disfigured by Trump.) Democrats eager to plunge into a book about Trump's authoritarianism may be discombobulated, early on, to read about how President Barack Obama stated that circumventing Congress on immigration was beyond the rightful powers of his office--and then did so anyway when that became politically expedient. My statement above that I hope Trump supporters will read Trumpocracy is in earnest. In this era, we have become cynical about the ability of facts and logic to change minds, and I suspect we have gone too far in discounting such possibilities. There are, I imagine, some Trump-supporting Americans who will be alarmed at seeing evidence of the widening chasms between Trumpism's sales pitch and its reality: a nationalism determinedly oblivious to the machinations of hostile foreign governments; a populism intensely focused on benefitting wealthy donors and enriching those in power; a proclamation of American strength while weakening alliances and values that have been crucial to America's position in the world; a religiosity in defense of a man who pays blackmail to porn stars. Readers of various political stripes may be surprised by the optimism of the book's final chapter. Frum notes some quite unintended benefits that Trump has brought to the American political scene, such as: a greater awareness of the importance of truth, precisely because the president is so grossly untruthful; on the left, a growing concern about national security, in contrast to a onetime dismissal of the idea that Russia is any kind of a threat; and for the right, an opportunity to look beyond stale ideological orthodoxy--albeit perhaps at the price of an impending political catastrophe. In a telling anecdote, Frum recounts how an attendee viewing a panel discussion complained along these lines: "We can't stop Donald Trump by going soft. If we want to stop him, we have to imitate him." To which David answered: "But if you imitate him, you won't stop him. You'll only replace him." Trumpocracy is a powerful argument for a post-Trump era that truly leaves the man's legacy behind.

This is an important book from a conservative Republican about the deeply corrosive and systemic dangers to our democracy from the current president. It is a very well researched, well written and insightful book which helps us to understand the malevolent tragedy of Trump, Trumpocracy and his kleptocracy. It is an astute, insightful, courageous and impactful summary of, what we experienced in 2017--and what is coming next, of Trumpism, and the overwhelming case against the systemic failures of this administration. The book is an outline of the ubiquitous corruption, deceit, and chaos of Trump, his administration and the attacks against our democracy over the past year and a half. David Frum is clear, insightful, meticulous, diligent, evenhanded, ideologically consistent, entertaining, and he also serves to ring the North Church clarion bell warning that the Russians and Kleptocrats have arrived and he also offers some hope for the reaction/immune response. Frum has offered his thoughtful analysis based on deep, and wide research that is very important in offering an understanding of Trump and those who have enabled him. I hope that a broad range of individuals on both sides of the political spectrum choose to read this book.

2.5 stars. What a disappointing effort from David Frum! While I do not share many of the author's political convictions, he is one of the writers I turn to to better understand neoconservative Republican viewpoints. His writing in "The Atlantic" magazine, where Frum is a senior editor, is usually crisp and his points well substantiated, so I was looking forward to reading a strongly argued position expanding on his many articles addressing the peculiarities of the Trump campaign and presidency. His thoughts about corruption and the protection of the powerful under authoritarians are well represented here, but I was specifically interested in reading more about a concern he raised in the March 2017 issue of the magazine, addressing a trend since 2000 of the slow and insidious erosion of world democracies and the subsequent rise of authoritarianism. "Trumpocracy" makes some fair points and has a few highly quotable tidbits (see title), but the book largely comes across as a disorganized, rambling, low-energy rant, obsessively cataloguing the multiple transgressions of Trump against political norms, while offering little of the cogent analysis or historical perspective that would have made his argument regarding the dangers to our democracy persuasive or even understandable. Frum's railing at the rise of Trump seems to arise more from anger at the Republican Party's know-nothing populist lurch sidelining his neoconservative friends and principles rather than arising from a genuine concern for our nation. If you are interested in the question of whether Trump's political behavior presents a threat to our democracy, I would highly suggest reading "How Democracies Die" instead. Where the arguments in "Trumpocracy" are a scattershot, angry reaction to the abuses of Trump and his circle, the authors of "How Democracies Die" take the time and care to organize their points, supporting them with historical and comparative examples, with the effect that the reader is informed rather than inflamed. "HDD" confines its argument to Trump's damage to the mechanisms and norms of democracy, and this sharper focus helps their case.

This book is valuable as documentation of the Trump campaign and presidency – what Americans (should) know, and when they knew (should have known) it, as of the point when Frum wrote it. It’s already a bit outdated (in May 2018), and presumably will continue to become more outdated in response to events. However, Frum’s reconstruction of the sequence of events, the sequence of reporting, and the remarkable lies about things we know – including the gaslighting in which members of the administration deny saying things for which there is video evidence – is a helpful reminder to all of us, and doubtless a useful snapshot for historians. Frum could spend more time on the policies than on the outrages, but he does make corruption a very visible part of the story. In 2025, I suspect that we’ll all look back on the corruption more than anything else. I also suspect we’ll put less emphasis on Trump the person, as Frum tends to do, ane more emphasis on the structural factors making it all possible. Bottom line: if you want to read this, it's probably already familiar to you. If you don’t want to read this, I urge you to.

My wife and I knew nothing about David Frum or the Atlantic Monthly before seeing him one night being interviewed on MSNBC. He struck us as unusually thoughtful and articulate. He seemed "free" from the emotional tone that Trump has set in this country; he seemed more profoundly intellectual than the other commentators whom we saw. So we bought this book on a flyer. It was well worth purchasing and reading it. Our initial impression of Frum is reflected in this thoughtful and very clear book. We found it far more helpful than Fire and Fury, because Frum addresses the political issues underlying both Trump and our fractured, polarized democracy. I believe Frum would be called a "conservative," because he writes about the Enlightenment values underpinning the American experiment, and I think he grieves the erosion that Trump and others have caused to these principles and values. His writing has a compassionate tone, not the dragon-like tone of either the left or right. This is the best book so far, in our opinion. While the book is about Trump, it also is about something far deeper.

A friend I respect suggested it - I was surprised as I had found Frum's work a little right wing for my tastes. This book is fascinating and appears (despite my fears) to be thoughtfully written with all kinds of interesting insights.

Bernd Ulrich hat im Online-Betrieb der Wochenzeitung die „Zeit“ angemerkt, dass die aktuelle Aufmerksamkeit für Donald Trump an dessen „ganz eigene(r) Verbindung von Macht und Pornografie“ liege, „wenn man (l)etztere definiert als: maximale Nähe bei minimalem Kontext“. Vom Medienecho her schien mir, dass „Fire & Fury“, das Werk von Michael Wolff, exakt dieser Nähe entsprechen würde – davon hatte ich bereits mehr als genug und ließ die Finger davon. Mit David Frums „Trumpocracy“ fand sich eine Auseinandersetzung mit Trump, die ihn nicht als Verursacher, sondern als Symptom einer amerikanischen Krise beschreibt. Frum, der hierzulande, wo man die Nase eher zu rümpfen, denn zu putzen lernt, als Redenschreiber von George W. Bush sowie als „Neokonservativer“ verschrien ist, bietet eine interessante Analyse, welche Kräfte der republikanischen Partei, welche Wahrnehmungsdefizite und ideologischen Verblendungen insbesondere des republikanischen Partei-Establishments Trump möglich machten (Defizite die sich aufs Verhältnis zwischen Volk und Repräsentanten beziehen, es wird also keine esoterische Analyse der Parteibürokratie geliefert). Frum zeigt im Detail u.a., wie politische Fehler der Amtsvorgänger Trumps dessen Wahlkampf bzw. das erste Jahr seiner Präsidentschaft befeuerten. Während es z.B. Obama noch in seiner ersten Amtszeit ausdrücklich ablehnte, auf dem Verordnungsweg den mit ihren Eltern illegal in die USA eingewanderten „Dreamers“ einen besseren Status zu verschaffen – mit der sonoren Überzeugtheit des ehemaligen Juraprofessors – handelte er dann in der zweiten Amtszeit wider sein besseres Verfassungsjuristenwissen. Ohne in der Sache zu urteilen: Dieses Vorgehen nahm der republikanischen Kongress-Mehrheit die politische Verantwortung für rund 800.000 faktische Angehörige der USA von den Schultern und trug dazu bei, die formale, also freiheitsverbürgende Kompetenzverteilung zwischen Präsident und Kongress weiter erodieren zu lassen. Beispiele politischer Korruption zeigen, wie es funktioniert: die Clintons und Obama genießen millionenschwere Buchverträge, ein republikanischer Kandidat erhält massive Wahlkampfspenden zu einem Zeitpunkt der Kampagne, als er diese gar nicht mehr ausgeben kann – als Lohn des Publikums dafür, dass er einen „Guardian“-Journalisten geschlagen hatte. Trump wirbt mit seinem Inaugurationsball Millionen an Geldern ein, die der strengen Kontrolle der staatlichen Spendenüberwachung entzogen bleiben und wahrscheinlich mehr oder minder ins Privatvermögen der Trumps fließen – während sich drüben und hierzulande alle Welt köstlich über die Lügen zur Zahl der Fest-Besucher amüsiert. Frum legt Beispiele für zeitliche Merkwürdigkeiten vor – etwa jenen zwischen den Leaks über Fehlverhalten in der Führung der Demokratischen Partei, der kurz auf die „Grab them by the p___“-Enthüllung folgten – ohne das Wort „Hochverrat“ auszusprechen. Meines Erachtens eine sehr angemessene Darstellungsweise. Ich finde es überaus erfreulich, bei Frum über Details informiert zu werden, die ich deutschen Medien bislang nicht entnehmen konnte (was Wunder, selbst Korrespondenten wie Marcus Pindur schienen sich während des Wahlkampfs in Washington zu verschanzen wie der selige Gerhard Konzelmann einst in seinen Beiruter Kneipen). Ein Beispiel: Das für deutsche Wähler so unverständliche Chaos des amerikanischen Wahlrechts barg, wie Frum zeigt, einerseits sehr überschaubare Risiken, durch illegale Stimmabgaben manipuliert zu werden, hatte aber andererseits in seiner archaischen einzelstaatlichen Form den Vorteil, für Hacker nicht sonderlich gut angreifbar zu sein. Dass Trump nach seiner Wahl, gestützt auf die absurde Behauptung, er hätte auch im „popular vote“ die Mehrheit erzielt, wären da nicht die illegalen Stimmen der Mexikaner gewesen, eine Untersuchungskommission unter Vizepräsident Pence einsetzte, ist wohl vor diesem Hintergrund zu sehen: Hätten sich nicht die Bundesstaaten diesem Anliegen widersetzt, wäre die Trump-Organisation in den Besitz von Millionen Wählerdaten gekommen, einschließlich Sozialversicherungsnummern und etwaiger Präferenzen als „registrierte Wähler“. Ein gefundenes Fressen für gezielte Ansprache mit Fehlinformaitonen, beispielsweise um Wählern den gegnerischen Kandidaten madig zu machen. Das Beispiel mag zeigen, dass die Angreifbarkeit jener Institutionen, die die amerikanische Republik neben der Schweiz und einigen anderen obskuren Kleinstaaten zur ältesten funktionierenden Demokratie mach(t)en, auch dann nicht ausgestanden sein wird, wenn Trump – wie ich meine, nicht Frum erklärt – endlich in einem US-Bundesgefängnis sitzt. David Frum ist, wie erwähnt ein Konservativer (der auch die Herzen Liberaler europäischen Formats höher schlagen lässt). Wenn ich mir so anschaue, dass bei uns Figuren wie Wolfgang Bosbach oder Jens Spahn (oder der völlig zurecht wieder verschollene BWL-Professor Bernd Lucke) als Hoffnungsträger des Konservatismus gelten, wird mir leicht übel – ein Grund mehr vielleicht, einmal zu lesen, wie konservativer Kampfgeist im Dienst einer Republik aussieht, wenn der Mann auch noch den passenden Intellekt dazu hat. Ein Hinweis für Menschen, die sich eingeladen fühlen, meine Produktbesprechung mit Kommentaren zu verzieren: Ich werde mich mit ihnen nicht auseinandersetzen. Ich würde es, wie Frum (in einem Interview äußerte), begrüßen, müssten Onlineforen die Nutzer der Kommentarspalten in die presserechtliche Verantwortung nehmen, also die böse Klarnamenspflicht etablieren. Solange das nicht der Fall ist, halte ich politische Streitgespräche in Kommentarbereichen für nicht zielführend.

A beautifully crafted, well written book th examines not just US politics but European political attitudes in this century. Let's all hope that Trump truly is the end of something and not the beginning...

David Frum is a top class conservative intellectual (isnt it a contradiction in terms?) who has a clear point of view on the present goings-on in the Trump world. This book is an objective take on the present day American political phenomenon, and identifies several trends leading to the present. However, David Frum is long on descriptions, and super-short on prescriptions: all his eloquence deserts him when it comes to the question of what can be done now. That said, a delightful, intelligent and calm/rational writing.

Very well balanced castigation of Trump by a true republican.