David Frum

David Frum has provided the best written indictment of the Trump presidency available. He succinctly describes the many things that the Trump presidency has damaged or destroyed and does this from a very conservative point of view. The second half of the book then provides his suggestions for what needs to be done to repair this damage.

David Frum is a conservative writer for The Atlantic Monthly. Neverthless, he is staunchly anti-Trump, and in his introduction to this book states that it "is the story of those who enable, empower, support, and collaborate with Donald Trump." This, to me, is an important issue--we have in Trump one dangerous and crazy person, but why are so many supporting him?

Frum calls out the conventional republicans who, wanting someone to sign the bills enacting their pet conservative laws, go along, show more stating that Trump really can't be an autocrat, and he can't really destroy democracy, because he is too incompetent and chaotic. Frum points out that what we as a country have to fear is not the overthrow of our constitution, and not the state power to intimidate its citizens, but the paralysis of government and erosions of its norms, and the incitement of private violence by radicalized supporters. Frum states that he voted for Hillary,"not to advance my wishlist on taxes, entitlements, regulations, and judicial appointments," but to defend a "commitment to norms and rules." Although he disagreed with Hillary on many issues, he expected that Hillary would comply with these norms and rules, unlike Trump "who would subvert those standards."

The book only focuses briefly on campaign irregularities (Chapter 2 "Enablers"). The majority of the book deals with Trump's methods of governing since his election, and Frum again states that it is not Trump's "own cunning that enabled him to defy long-established standards of decent behavior. It was the complicity of his allies among the conservative and Republican political, media and financial elite."

So what are Trump's methods of governing, what constitutes a "Trumpocracy"?
First, as in his businesses, Trump grabs the benefits for himself and a few associates while offloading the costs onto those foolish enough to trust him. Examples of his kleptocracy abound, and no president in history has used as much public money to sustain his and his family's personal lifestyle. He continues to use his position to make money for his businesses, which unlike previous presidents he did not divest himself of. One by one he is disabling the federal government's inhibitions against personal corruption.

His corruption extends to his appointment of his cabinet and aides. He tends to appoint servile people. For example Dan Scavino, in charge of on-line communications, is his former golf caddy. He has insisted on reviewing the resumes of every candidate for every sub-cabinet secretary and sub-sub-cabinet job. Many of these jobs are as yet unfilled, partly due to his short attention span, poor work ethic, and ferocious demand for abject personal loyalty. Frum believes this to be part of a conscious effort to paralyze the state either by failing to staff it or by staffing it with incompetents. One could point to a number of cabinet secretaries who appear to be unqualified, incompetent, corrupt, or who espouse an "elimination of government" philosophy.

Frum sees Trump's "greatest" accomplishment thus far in his undermining of the public's trust in the press. He has managed to convince many of his supporters that the honest media is actually giving them "fake news," and has taken the giant leap into labeling the press an "enemy of the people."

Another aspect of a Trumpocracy, is his isolating the U.S. from its former close friends and allies, as well as his regular empowering of and deference to dictators. There are examples of these two aspects of Trump's foreign policy in the news nearly every week.

Its all pretty dismal, but Frum offers several items to be hopeful about. First, Trump has awakened a new era of citizen awareness and activity. He has revived in us (if not in his core supporters), a new appreciation of the preciousness of the truth. Thirdly, he has also revived in many a renewed disgust for those who join power to cruelty. (We see this not only in his support of dictators and torture, but in his downright meanness--just today the news is full of what appears to have been his retaliative firing of Andrew McCable hours before he was eligible for his pension, as well as his proposal to apply the death penalty to drug dealers. One person who knows Trump fairly well stated, "He is the meanest man I ever met.") Trump has also recalled to us an appreciation of the vital role of our national security agencies. Finally his election has brought to the forefront the issue of the integrity of our voting system.

There are generally few substantive issues on which I agree with Frum. For example, he states early in the book regarding Obama's establishing of the Dreamers, "In the long history of presidential overreach, there had never been a case like it." Really??--what about torture, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, illegal spying on U.S. citizens, etc.? Nevertheless, he is, in my view, spot on in calling out the politicians who have failed to defy Trump's actions, and his description of Trump's governing ethos is terrifying.

Highly recommended.

4 stars show less

I had never thought to live in the dark and dangerous times of Trump.

The vain, odious Trump is devoid of spiritual values, for he is a boastful narcissist, serial philanderer, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, thrice married, twice divorced, uncontrite compulsive liar, a billionaire who hasn’t paid taxes in 20 years, accused of serial sexual assaults, misogynist, racist, bigot, homophobe, who misused donations to his foundation to pay legal fees and portraits of himself, an angry old show more white man on a par with a rutting goat.

He’s an egotistical megalomaniac, a pompous blowhard who has become the Groper in Chief, the Pervert of the United States, the director of nepotism, the cesspool of toadies, sycophants, bagmen, lickspittles, a self aggrandizer, a paranoid, delusional, purblind bully.

David Frum’s book has laid open the rotting body of the GOP administration by exposing the enablers, appeasers, and believers of Trump and his kakistocracy. show less

The title of this book, "Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic", makes it clear that Mr. Frum has strongly anti-Trump views. While a former Bush speechwriter with conservative credentials, Frum's book will not appeal to Trump supporters. It will, however, appeal to Trump opponents, as it details example after example of how Trump disregards the traditional limits of the Office, how Trump ignores facts and truths. continues to trample on American values and norms, and is a show more destructive force to our democracy. show less