Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America

I think I came across this book on Twitter as a recommendation after the Jan 6 insurrection and I knew that I had to read it. Seems like many had the same idea because it took me this long to get the book from my library, but it was completely worth the wait.

While I don’t think I had not encountered the author’s writing before, it was not a surprise to know that she was among the few reporters who predicted a 45 win in 2016 because of her extensive experience in researching authoritarianism. And this book is not really about his horrifying campaign or his even worse presidency - this is about the circumstances under which a person such as him managed to ascend to the highest office of the country and how it came to be. But this is show more not an anti Republican Party book as some would like you to believe - this is an anti authoritarian and anti corruption book, calling out the people and policies which have enabled a 45 win.

As a resident of St. Louis Missouri, the author uses her own life experience to give us a view of how the country has changed across decades. Her meticulous research about the nexus between the political elites, corrupt businessmen and organized crime syndicates is commendable, and just like her, we are left equally dismayed about why none of these corrupt players ever faced any consequences. And when these people get away with their crimes, they continue on with more impunity and what results is the disaster we have seen play out on tv and Twitter for the past 5 years. The author doesn’t shy away from naming names, many whose corrupt and money laundering activities were known to the investigative agencies for almost decades but were never prosecuted because all of the organizations were infiltrated by these corrupt people. As she mentions many times, this is what happens when criminals become a major part of government - crimes and illegal activities become legal, because criminals are now writing the laws. She also details how this has been a decades long project - how slowly laws and ethics have been eroded across multiple presidencies that now, these corrupt elites boast about their criminal activities on national television because they know they will never be punished.

In the end, the author doesn’t give many solutions because there is not much everyday people can do against the rich and powerful. But she wants to keep fighting for and telling the truth, despite the reality of constant death threats. And I guess that’s what we can do too - never lose sight of the corruption that has permeated our system, keep ourselves informed about what’s happening around us, and make sure we exercise all the rights accorded to us by the constitution before they are forcibly taken from us. We may have managed to avert an immediate disaster due to the result of the 2020 election, but that doesn’t mean we can afford to close our eyes, because the fight is not yet over and probably won’t during our lifetimes. There is a lot more I can say about the book and the author’s amazing narration of the audiobook, but I’ll just end by saying this should be recommended reading for anyone who cares about their country. show less

The author of this book is a scholar of authoritarian regimes who lives in Middle America (St. Louis). In this book, she details the changes that have occurred in America over her lifetime, from the 1980's to the present day, which led to the election of Trump. Her primary thesis is that the Russian Mafia has taken over and that American democracy has been severely eroded. She details the corruption and abuses of power that occur daily with no consequences (and have been occurring for years). In the author's view, Trump's admiration of Russia is not mere circumstantial behavior, but hides a long dark money trail of reliance on oligarchs and mobsters. She views Trump as part of an illicit network of individuals from Russia, Saudi Arabia, show more Israel and the UK who are loyal to no country, only to themselves and their money. She states: "It would be bad enough had Trump merely emerged as a bigoted demagogue, but add long-standing ties to a transnational crime syndicate affiliated with the Kremlin and one ends up with a human road map to an American kleptocracy."

The book is full of facts to support her underlying arguments. Bill Barr features prominently (i.e. securing pardons for those convicted in the Iran Contra deal), even though the book was written before some of his more recent controversial actions. Relationships among many of the members of the Trump administration and family members are also detailed--these people are all interconnected in ways that are not entirely above-board.

The book ends with the question: How do we continue to allow a president to commit impeachable offenses on a weekly basis? It's even worse now, with covid, and Trump's overt and despicable attempts to suppress the vote and steal the election by destroying the Post Office. I, for one, am terrified by what may happen in November.

3 stars show less

You are welcome to take this review with a grain of salt. It could easily be argued that this book was not intended for me. I would argue it was aimed at people who have not been following the author's writings and talks fairly religiously for the past four or five years -- as I have been doing. What I learned new in this book was more about personal things about the author's life, not about what she believes and why she believes it. No, this book is more a rally-the-troops book for those already leaning her direction. It is decidedly not the best book for learning the base points she makes. I would point to Jane Meyer's Dark Money or Timothy Snyder's The Road to Unfreedom, for much more comprehensive and thorough insights into the main show more points the author emphasizes in this book. Even Steven Levitsky's and Daniel Ziblatt's book, How Democracy Dies is a better choice in my opinion. This not to say reading it was a waste of time for me or that it would be for anyone else. It's just not a "Why we're here" book, but more a "What are we going to do about it" book, even if quite a few of us still don't quite grasp where we are or how we got here, making it a problem much more difficult to solve. show less

A lot of (good) rhetoric but not a lot of facts per page about American corruption and its (I hope) apotheosis in Donald Trump. Her editorials and her earlier book, The View from Flyover Country, would be better reads in terms of forcing us to confront harsh truths about the criminals who have flourished over the past few decades.

There is important information here but Kendzior writes like an academic with footnotes for everything, instead of like a journalist who outlines the proof and then links it all together. Consequently, the book is weak and wouldn't convince anyone in need of convincing.

In HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT, Sarah Kedzior frequently mentions the plan of those trying to destroy our democracy is “Strip America down and sell it for its parts.” While she doesn’t present examples, they are obvious to anyone following the actions of the Trump administration including selling mining rights on public, protected land to destroying the United States Postal Service because he fears mail-in voting will hurt his chance of reelection.
The book, divided by decades and the Trump years, points out that the political problems that the US is facing today have been around for decades. Those who were intent on destroying our democracy have been carefully laying the groundwork towards accomplishing their goal of creating an show more autocracy. In the eyes of autocrats and plutocrats, the future is not a right but a commodity . “The last four decades have led to the hoarding of Resources on a heretofore unimaginable scale by people who have neither baseline respect or human life nor a traditional sense of the future.”
The income gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has exploded since 1980. Worker productivity continued to rise 70.3% from 1979-2017 but wages fell 11.1% since the early 1980s because of union busting and changes to laws that greatly reduce the percentage of income taxed. With the additional available funds that people could accumulate, the wealthy bought personal goods and influence. In politics, elections became more expensive. The Supreme Court decision on Citizens United allowed organizations to donate money to candidates in unlimited amounts from people and companies that did not have to disclose the donors. Money from foreign countries also entered the stream.
Trump’s relationship with Russia began in the 1980s. Sarah Kendzior exposes the various steps taken during those crucial years. The actions were not hidden. The media, who Trump calls fake and his enemy, were key players. In 2016, they gave him more attention to him and his activities than they did to Hillary Clinton. His rallies were broadcast, as were his speeches. The lies were never questioned. In fact, it is just recently, in late summer 2020, that journalists are willing to expose them during his conferences. As a result, he is walking out of them.
In 1987, he took out full page ads condemning US policies. That October he called America a failure. Newsweek ran a story on his Presidential ambitions saying “He’d love to be president, but only if he were appointed.“ In early 2014, on a Fox interview, Trump defended Russia. He said, “When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell, and everything is a disaster. Then you’ll have...riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great .” Welcome to 2020!
Under the Trump administration, the three separate but equal branches of government have been seriously damaged. Earlier, GOP gerrymandering allowed them to take control of the House of Representatives. The Senate, under Mitch McConnell, has done everything it could to block any compromise. (This started decades ago with the Tea Party movement.) Now, GOP members who didn’t support Trump before he won the nomination vote for anything and anyone he wants almost all the time. With the acquiescence of the Senate, the federal courts have been packed with conservatives, many of whom are extremely to the right and several who have been deemed “unqualified” by the ABA.
Kendzior calls the Mueller investigation “timid and plodding” and blames the “cowardice” of Congress that refused to act upon his findings. She does not mention that the House impeached him but the GOP Senate, headed by McConnell refused to follow through. She believes that impeachment should have started earlier, as early as 2017 because of issues that weren’t part of the probe (e.g., emoluments violations, abuse of migrants, abuse of pardon power) and quotes Nancy Pelosi as saying “Not worth it.” She doesn’t explain Pelosi’s reasoning.
During the Bush & Obama eras, two former heads of the FBI, William Sessions and Louis Freeh, began working as attorneys for the Russian mafia they used to fight. According to other reports, they were sent there to work together to fight organized crime that spread from Russia to the US.
This could have been an outstanding political assessment, but Kendzior, who used to write for Al Jazerra, has one major problem: She blames the problems on Russia, the Ukraine, and Israel. She notes that “Hostile states used digital technology not only to attack their own citizens but to attempt to transform foreign democracies into dictatorships.” China is not mentioned.
Referring to 2014, she equates “the Syrian war, the rise of ISIS, Ebola, Russia invading and annexing Crimea, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370, the shooting down of a passenger airliner in Ukraine by Russia, the kidnapping of girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the Israeli massacres of Palestinian citizens in Gaza.” She doesn’t mention the thousands of rockets and missiles lobbed from Gaza to innocent Israeli citizens from civilian areas which finally forced Israel to respond to protect its citizens.
When Jews were permitted to leave Russia, many went to Israel under the Law of Return which grants every Jew the right to move to Israel and become a citizen. (In Russia, previously, Jews were not allowed to practice their religion.) According to Kendzior, some the those who managed to escape were associated with the “transnational criminal networks.” They quickly left Israel and came to the US, determined to destroy our democracy. Her antagonism goes beyond Israel, however, almost every time she mentions a person, including Americans, who are Jewish, she indicates that either by saying it directly or pointing out a Jewish organization, including synagogues, with whom they are associated. She does this with no other people. She equates the NRA, which has worked hard to get military weapons into the hands of American civilians, to AIPAC, which lobbies to support the interests of Israel, an American ally.
Near the end of the book, she voices concern over the lose of freedom and the rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary
Because of this, I must give this book a low rating. show less

The information and events that Sarah Kendzior shares in this book is like shining light in the dark creepy corners of an abondoned basement ... but in reality it is all right there "hiding in plain sight".