Jonathan Allen (3) (1975–)
Author of Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign
For other authors named Jonathan Allen, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Jonathan Allen is a New York Times best selling author and an award winning political journalist. He was started out as the Washington bureau chief for Bloomberg News and the White House bureau chief for Politico. He is a winner of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for reporting on Congress and show more the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for excellence in political journalism. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland and lives on Capitol Hill. Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign, his second book with Amie Parnes, debuted on The New York Times Best Seller List just like their first book - HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Jonathan Allen
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1975-10-15
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Maryland, College Park
- Occupations
- journalist
adjunct professor - Organizations
- Northwestern University
Sidewire
Roll Call - Awards and honors
- Everett McKinley Dirksen Award
Sandy Hume Memorial Award - Agent
- Bridget Wagner Matzie
- Short biography
- Jonathan Allen is an award-winning political journalist and New York Times bestselling author. He is the head of community and content at Sidewire, a columnist for Roll Call, and an adjunct professor at Northwestern University. He is also the host of the DC/BS podcast and can be booked for speaking engagements through the Bright Sight Group.
Jonathan was formerly the Washington bureau chief for Bloomberg News and the White House bureau chief for Politico. He is a winner of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for reporting on Congress and the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for excellence in political journalism
A frequent guest analyst on national television and radio news programs, Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Maryland and lives on Capitol Hill with his wife and two children.
Jonathan grew up in Silver Spring and Bethesda, Maryland, and graduated from Walter Johnson High School. Before graduating from the University of Maryland, he played baseball at St. Mary's College in Southern Maryland. [retrieved 11/7/17 from Amazon.com Author Page] - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Washington, D.C., USA - Associated Place (for map)
- Maryland, USA
Members
Reviews
This is a somewhat flawed but mostly well-written and interesting bit of reportage about how Joe Biden managed to navigate the turbulent currents of a wild Democratic Party primary season and batten down the hatches during the general election to prevail as the Democratic nominee and defeat Donald Trump to become President of the United States. This is a mostly "inside baseball" report. That is, a lot of time is spent on describing the political machinations and the processes from inside the show more various campaigns, and those sections are often quite fascinating, though we learn a lot more about, for example, the rivalries and personal conflicts within the Biden, Sanders and Trump campaigns than we do about the candidates themselves. Nevertheless, it's interesting to learn that sort of history, the undercurrents of the election season that were mostly not on view to the general public. According to this narrative, Biden believed that his name recognition, the body of work he'd turned in over his decades-long political career, his association with Barak Obama via his two terms of Obama's vice president would serve to make his case to the country that he was experienced enough, well meaning enough and calm enough to serve as the antidote to Donald Trump and get him elected president. What America wanted, went Biden's theory, as a compassionate, non-controversial figure. Especially during the primary season, the attraction would be to nominate someone capable of projecting the kind of calm needed to defeat Trump. Also, and very importantly, Biden was help in high regard by many in the African American community and was thought of as the candidate who could attract high vote totals from people of color in general. In other words, he was at the same time the Anti-Trump and the Anti-Sanders. This book is, basically, the narrative of how this theory in the event played out successfully, though, as the title tells us, not without huge dollops of good luck at just the right times. Some examples of that luck:
* As the primary season opened, Biden, who had entered the race relatively late in the going, knew he was going to have serious troubles in the first two primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire, because they were mostly white states and would be leaning toward more progressive candidates. The goal was to somehow make just enough of a showing to remain viable until the South Carolina primary, when Biden's natural constituency would come into play. Biden, in fact, got buried in Iowa in a showing so disastrous that it might have torpedoed his campaign right away, except for the fact that the App that state primary officials were using didn't work, and the vote results were delayed so long that by the time they finally came out they were yesterday's news.
* During the debates prior to the New Hampshire primary, Amy Klobuchar did some of Biden's work for him by skewering Pete Buttigieg, who was more or less presenting himself as a younger, more energetic version of Biden, so effectively that he never really recovered. Klobuchar wasn't trying to help Biden. Her goal was to take out Buttigieg, who was polling higher than her, but she'd helped clear a path for Biden's subsequent rise, nevertheless.
* During the primary debate, just as Michael Bloomberg was beginning to gather strength as a Biden replacement with lots of his own money to spend and a better chance to beat Trump than Biden represented, Elizabeth Warren came to the rescue with a withering attack on Bloomberg for which he had no response and which more or less ended his candidacy on the spot. Again, Warren was trying to help Biden. She just despised Bloomberg and his belief that he could swoop in and buy the nomination. But, again, clearing the field of Bloomberg at that point served Biden enormously.
* Everybody in the in the Democratic field, with the exception of Warren, feared a Sanders candidacy above all else, thinking that Trump and his campaign strategists would wipe the floor with him. So, as Biden did indeed win in South Carolina, and then cleaned up in several states on Super Tuesday, many of Biden's moderate Democratic rivals made haste to drop out of the race and endorse Biden.
Well, there are other "luck" factors described, but those are some of the key moments from the primary campaign. Again, the story here is almost exclusively one of campaign offices, strategies and personalities. We spend precious little time with the candidates as the campaign. (The infamous incident in which Biden, objecting to comment made by a voter at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, called that person a "lying dogfaced pony soldier" is related as a throwaway example of Biden's inadequate skills as an in-person campaigner.) And the authors either never tried to (or tried and failed to) interview and of the candidates themselves. It clearly never occurred to them to talk to voters to find out why people made the voting decisions they did. Also, the authors' mostly effective breezy style sometimes spills over into glibness, as when we're told, "By nature, {Biden} came to decisions at a pace that only a badly wounded slug would envy." Finally, the authors interject made up thought bubbles, presented in italics to set them apart, as they conjecture about what the candidates or their aides and strategists were thinking at any given time. These are almost uniformly annoying, and I learned to skip over them as I read.
Overall, I'm happy to have read this contemporary history. I will say that the book's first half, about the primary season, was more interesting for me than the second half about the Biden/Trump general election. But as an insight into how presidential electoral politics work, especially in an election that played out within very particular circumstances--the desperation of Democrats to unseat Trump and, of course, the onset and fury of the Covid 19 pandemic--this book serves a very useful purpose. For me, its strengths overcome its flaws, sort of like Joe Biden, come to think of it. (For the record, I was a Warren supporter, myself.) And Lucky's 413-page length notwithstanding, it was a fairly quick read for me. show less
* As the primary season opened, Biden, who had entered the race relatively late in the going, knew he was going to have serious troubles in the first two primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire, because they were mostly white states and would be leaning toward more progressive candidates. The goal was to somehow make just enough of a showing to remain viable until the South Carolina primary, when Biden's natural constituency would come into play. Biden, in fact, got buried in Iowa in a showing so disastrous that it might have torpedoed his campaign right away, except for the fact that the App that state primary officials were using didn't work, and the vote results were delayed so long that by the time they finally came out they were yesterday's news.
* During the debates prior to the New Hampshire primary, Amy Klobuchar did some of Biden's work for him by skewering Pete Buttigieg, who was more or less presenting himself as a younger, more energetic version of Biden, so effectively that he never really recovered. Klobuchar wasn't trying to help Biden. Her goal was to take out Buttigieg, who was polling higher than her, but she'd helped clear a path for Biden's subsequent rise, nevertheless.
* During the primary debate, just as Michael Bloomberg was beginning to gather strength as a Biden replacement with lots of his own money to spend and a better chance to beat Trump than Biden represented, Elizabeth Warren came to the rescue with a withering attack on Bloomberg for which he had no response and which more or less ended his candidacy on the spot. Again, Warren was trying to help Biden. She just despised Bloomberg and his belief that he could swoop in and buy the nomination. But, again, clearing the field of Bloomberg at that point served Biden enormously.
* Everybody in the in the Democratic field, with the exception of Warren, feared a Sanders candidacy above all else, thinking that Trump and his campaign strategists would wipe the floor with him. So, as Biden did indeed win in South Carolina, and then cleaned up in several states on Super Tuesday, many of Biden's moderate Democratic rivals made haste to drop out of the race and endorse Biden.
Well, there are other "luck" factors described, but those are some of the key moments from the primary campaign. Again, the story here is almost exclusively one of campaign offices, strategies and personalities. We spend precious little time with the candidates as the campaign. (The infamous incident in which Biden, objecting to comment made by a voter at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, called that person a "lying dogfaced pony soldier" is related as a throwaway example of Biden's inadequate skills as an in-person campaigner.) And the authors either never tried to (or tried and failed to) interview and of the candidates themselves. It clearly never occurred to them to talk to voters to find out why people made the voting decisions they did. Also, the authors' mostly effective breezy style sometimes spills over into glibness, as when we're told, "By nature, {Biden} came to decisions at a pace that only a badly wounded slug would envy." Finally, the authors interject made up thought bubbles, presented in italics to set them apart, as they conjecture about what the candidates or their aides and strategists were thinking at any given time. These are almost uniformly annoying, and I learned to skip over them as I read.
Overall, I'm happy to have read this contemporary history. I will say that the book's first half, about the primary season, was more interesting for me than the second half about the Biden/Trump general election. But as an insight into how presidential electoral politics work, especially in an election that played out within very particular circumstances--the desperation of Democrats to unseat Trump and, of course, the onset and fury of the Covid 19 pandemic--this book serves a very useful purpose. For me, its strengths overcome its flaws, sort of like Joe Biden, come to think of it. (For the record, I was a Warren supporter, myself.) And Lucky's 413-page length notwithstanding, it was a fairly quick read for me. show less
As Hillary Clinton herself struggles to understand "What Happened" in her new book – and blames everything and everybody from James Comey to Russians to misogyny to Bernie Sanders – "Shattered" offers another point of view: Hillary's problem was Hillary herself.
The authors had previously written a sympathetic biography of her at the State Department, "HRC," which gained them access to the campaign. They were able to talk to staffers off the record as long as they didn't reveal anything show more before the election. If they could have, the narrative would've changed.
Hillary starts under the cloud of the email server debacle, and it never really gets much better. She is angry at her staff for being unable to formulate a statement of her reason for running – but they can’t because she doesn’t really have one. She’s deep into policy, but short on likeability. People don’t trust her, and haven’t for more than two decades.
In short, she’s her own worst enemy. And yet, as a Clinton, she expected to win. And when it wasn’t going her way, she blamed.
To be fair, the tales of backstabbing and turf wars could probably be told about any major campaign. But hers were particularly interesting because the tiffs set up old-style politicians (like Bill) against new-age analytics gurus (like campaign manager Robby Mook). Decisions were made with faulty premises, and the voting reflected that. For example, the candidate never visited true-blue Wisconsin, either in the primary or the general campaign. And she lost both times.
There are plenty of revelations in this book, and although the tone is sympathetic toward Hillary, there is one fact the authors do drive home: In a climate of rising populism, both within the Democratic party and the nation at large, Hillary was the wrong candidate for the wrong time.
I received this book through Penguin Random House’s Blogging for Books program. For more of my reviews, visit Ralphsbooks. show less
The authors had previously written a sympathetic biography of her at the State Department, "HRC," which gained them access to the campaign. They were able to talk to staffers off the record as long as they didn't reveal anything show more before the election. If they could have, the narrative would've changed.
Hillary starts under the cloud of the email server debacle, and it never really gets much better. She is angry at her staff for being unable to formulate a statement of her reason for running – but they can’t because she doesn’t really have one. She’s deep into policy, but short on likeability. People don’t trust her, and haven’t for more than two decades.
In short, she’s her own worst enemy. And yet, as a Clinton, she expected to win. And when it wasn’t going her way, she blamed.
To be fair, the tales of backstabbing and turf wars could probably be told about any major campaign. But hers were particularly interesting because the tiffs set up old-style politicians (like Bill) against new-age analytics gurus (like campaign manager Robby Mook). Decisions were made with faulty premises, and the voting reflected that. For example, the candidate never visited true-blue Wisconsin, either in the primary or the general campaign. And she lost both times.
There are plenty of revelations in this book, and although the tone is sympathetic toward Hillary, there is one fact the authors do drive home: In a climate of rising populism, both within the Democratic party and the nation at large, Hillary was the wrong candidate for the wrong time.
I received this book through Penguin Random House’s Blogging for Books program. For more of my reviews, visit Ralphsbooks. show less
Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign is an insightful and unflinching look at the failings of the candidate and her campaign. Well-written and fast-paced, the book covers it all, including Clinton's inability to articulate why she was running; her inherent weaknesses as a presidential candidate; the dysfunctional infighting within the campaign heirarchy; the e-mail server scandal and the inability to properly address it; the overreliance on polling analytics; the failure to show more heed warnings that polls did not fully account for a small but critical element of Trump support; the Comey effect; and the crucial homestretch in which the Trump campaign outmaneuvered the Clinton campaign, saw the slim Rust Belt path to Electoral victory, and eked out the presidency. The 2016 election will be analyzed and dissected for decades to come; this is a worthy first entry in that canon. show less
Wild Thing
A review of the William Morrow hardcover (April 1, 2025) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.
Even as a Canadian observer I couldn't help but have my attention constantly drawn to the 2024 American election and see events taking various dramatic turns resulting in the re-election of Donald Trump. There are sure to be countless further books written during the current 4-year term and even afterwards, depending on how events unfold. The Trump Tell-Alls Listopia on GR show more numbers 254 books as of mid-May 2025, so watch that space.
This current book is perhaps the first of the Biden Tell-Alls though, released on April 1, 2025. Chris Whipple's [book:Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History|220131692] (April 8, 2025) followed only a week later, but seems to be poorly rated. Jake Tapper's [book:Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again|223927267] (May 20, 2025) will follow next week, but is already being 1⭐star review bombed by people who likely have not even read it. GR may even lockdown reviewing on it, if the 1-stars continue.
Allen & Parnes do give what seems to be a balanced account with as much of the inside story of both the Trump and Biden/Harris campaigns as they could uncover in the time available. There is only a minor whiff of rush-to-print about it in that it lacks an index, so it is a bit of a blur of names to follow without any convenient way to refer back to when they were first introduced. The main figures do get quickly stuck in your head though. So watch for mentions of Susie Wiles on the Trump campaign and Jen O'Malley Dillon on the Biden/Harris campaign. They emerge as the dominant driving forces.
The prominent gaffes and missteps of both campaigns are likely well known at this point so much of this will not be that surprising. The overwhelming impression is the number of self-inflicted errors by the Democrats though, especially the behind-the-scenes takedown of Biden by Obama & Pelosi, even while their public faces pretended friendship. The last minute candidate switch, despite a superior fund-raising effort, seems to have doomed the campaign from the start.
In case you wonder where I stand politically, I did an online comparison poll back in 2015-2016 where you answered about 20 questions on various issues and how you felt about them. Once the results were tabulated, the answer told you which American politician your values aligned with. Mine was Bernie Sanders, probably not too surprising due to universal health care in Canada and other social issues, eh? show less
A review of the William Morrow hardcover (April 1, 2025) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.
Even as a Canadian observer I couldn't help but have my attention constantly drawn to the 2024 American election and see events taking various dramatic turns resulting in the re-election of Donald Trump. There are sure to be countless further books written during the current 4-year term and even afterwards, depending on how events unfold. The Trump Tell-Alls Listopia on GR show more numbers 254 books as of mid-May 2025, so watch that space.
This current book is perhaps the first of the Biden Tell-Alls though, released on April 1, 2025. Chris Whipple's [book:Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History|220131692] (April 8, 2025) followed only a week later, but seems to be poorly rated. Jake Tapper's [book:Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again|223927267] (May 20, 2025) will follow next week, but is already being 1⭐star review bombed by people who likely have not even read it. GR may even lockdown reviewing on it, if the 1-stars continue.
Allen & Parnes do give what seems to be a balanced account with as much of the inside story of both the Trump and Biden/Harris campaigns as they could uncover in the time available. There is only a minor whiff of rush-to-print about it in that it lacks an index, so it is a bit of a blur of names to follow without any convenient way to refer back to when they were first introduced. The main figures do get quickly stuck in your head though. So watch for mentions of Susie Wiles on the Trump campaign and Jen O'Malley Dillon on the Biden/Harris campaign. They emerge as the dominant driving forces.
The prominent gaffes and missteps of both campaigns are likely well known at this point so much of this will not be that surprising. The overwhelming impression is the number of self-inflicted errors by the Democrats though, especially the behind-the-scenes takedown of Biden by Obama & Pelosi, even while their public faces pretended friendship. The last minute candidate switch, despite a superior fund-raising effort, seems to have doomed the campaign from the start.
In case you wonder where I stand politically, I did an online comparison poll back in 2015-2016 where you answered about 20 questions on various issues and how you felt about them. Once the results were tabulated, the answer told you which American politician your values aligned with. Mine was Bernie Sanders, probably not too surprising due to universal health care in Canada and other social issues, eh? show less
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