David Cay Johnston (1) (1948–)

Honestly, this book didn't so much have me exclaiming "Oh no, it is even worse than I think!" so much as it had me muttering "Yeah, no duh" a lot. There were some things that were new to me here -- mostly involving some fairly complex economic subjects -- but I think you'd have to either be willfully ignorant or to have been living under a rock not to know most of it. (I myself often do hide under rocks when the shitstorm of US politics gets to be too much for me, but apparently I've at show more least crawled out often enough to get all the basics of how bad it is.)

Still. It's nice -- if that's quite the right word -- to have all the ugliness laid out in an organized and coherent fashion. Well, all the ugliness up until sometime in 2018, when this book was published, anyway. There have certainly been new revelations and developments and reasons to bang one's head against a wall pretty much daily since then, so it is a little dated already.

For the most part, it's all pretty clearly presented. I did find some of those fairly complex economic subjects a little difficult to follow, but, unlike Trump, I've never presented myself as an expert in economics.

I will say that while I appreciate how fervently Johnston makes his arguments -- which include not just laying out all the reasons why Trump is bad at his job and bad for America, but also why it feels like he's setting an extremely worrying precedent -- I think there are a few times throughout the book where he can't resist taking what seems to me to be a slightly cheap shot. It's a temptation I understand, but in the case of Trump, it's hardly one that's necessary. There are so many perfectly legitimate shots to be taken at him instead, after all. show less

After reading Johnston's Free Lunch, I picked up a copy of this book and was again impressed with his research. The book details a number of ways that our government, under the influence of both Democrats and Republicans, has made life easier on the super-rich and tougher on everyone else. He details a loss of many billions of dollars of revenue, all belonging to the already-wealthy, leaving the rest of us to take up the burdens of keeping the government running. The techniques range from show more tax loopholes to interference with the IRS. Most of the politicians touting "fiscal conservatism" need to be turned over a patriotic knee and soundly spanked with a copy of this book. show less

77. The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston
reader: Joe Barrett
published: 2016
format: 5:47 digital audio
acquired: library
read: Dec 16-29
rating: 4

This was not a great book for me to read because I'm already overly worked up about what's going to happen to this world with this thing as our president and the book was terribly depressing, making him out to be much worse of a person than I had realized. But I'm trying not to hide under a friendly rock, trying to become informed.

I can show more knock the book around a little, but I should be gentle because it's important. If you like the idea of Donald Trump as president, you are not well informed. Period. There is no other answer. And...as a follow up, I would like to try to figure out why so many of us are ill informed, many willfully.

We all know he's narcissist in a class by himself, that he has a force of personality, is a highly effective salesman, that he goes his own way and doesn't listen to anyone, that he's all about his money and himself. That, however, does not make you informed. He's far worse. He perennial liar, and manipulator with adolescent ethics, no sense of consequences, a man with a wreckage in his wake everywhere, and who denies everything. He's someone that won't listen to anyone he doesn't agree with, and will listen to practically anyone who offers him the right kind of praise and loyalty. He has a long record of association with large-scale criminal and mafia elements, not to mention numerous scams, generally in the theme of real estate, but also in his charities and "university". This is the guy who will cause problems everywhere, and then blame everyone else, and get away with it. He more or less never suffers consequences. His record is a bit insane.

The book itself suffers a little because of its snark and the arrogance of Johnston. He's really well informed about Trump and really dedicated to his craft as a journalist, and that gives this book a lot of value. For this reason I recommend it, highly. But as you read it becomes clear that Johnston feels he can do no wrong as long he is honorable to the journalist's code of ethics. This is at best an incomplete story, and, if you like, a selection of highlights of the Donald Trump horror stories. It's rushed, and short, which is nice. But what is lost is much of the context in which all this stuff was taking place. I finished feeling very scared by Trump, aware of how bad he can get, but not feeling like I had a good sense of who he was day-to-day.

end rant.

2016
https://www.librarything.com/topic/226898#5862463 show less

Here the investigated journalist compiles a chronology of Trump's associations with criminals (American, not Russian so much), mismanagement of his casino, defrauding suppliers and employees, pushing tax avoidance far into unethical if not illegal areas and more. This was supposed to be for the would-be voter in the 2016 election. Trump comes across as a hopeless narcissist, frequent liar, and one that objectifies women.