NOT a supporter, but I’m interested for “know your enemy” reasons. I’d prefer to avoid anything written by him (as if he could write a book) or his lackies, because they don’t need my money. Also anything about his cabinet members and/or delegates.
I feel that I know what I need to know, but I’m also surrounded by like-minded people. I’m looking for things that are relatively non-biased, I suppose. I just want the info. With that said, I read one of Bernie’s books and enjoyed it, and that was obviously biased. So I’m not entirely opposed, as long as it’s good reading! I’m intelligent enough to sort through the bias if needed.
Thanks!
Edit: for those making judgmental comments and/or downvoting. Yes, I am biased! I’m working on an MSW and I’m continuously studying oppression and other depressing/upsetting topics. I have a nuanced understanding of human oppression and civil rights issues. With that said, I don’t want to hear his bullshit. This is my “for pleasure” reading. As such, I’d like to ease myself away from the echo chamber, i.e. not dive into more things that are going to piss me off.
by Nice_Parsley_8458
24 Comments
Try What Were We Thinking: A Brief intellectual history of the Trump era by Carlos Lozada. Essentially he reads every book about Trump and then writes a book about them all.
American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump by Tim Alberta. He admits the faults of Obama and McCain and Boehner and Pelosi that led to the current day.
No suggestions but I really appreciate your interest in learning about the “whole picture.” I am also a NON-supporter of the man but I think it’s incredibly important to look beyond our own biases. It also helps to understand where people who disagree with you may be coming from. Good on you friend😊
“Why We Did It” by Tim Miller sheds some interesting insights! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59039973
Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy is a great book that resonated with my father-in-law hardcore as somebody who went from the Bronx to Princeton and a career as an aerospace engineer. And it’s available in a lot of libraries because it was so popular when it was published.
Read the stuff with bias. It sounds, reading between the lines, that you have read plenty biased the other way and have pretty entrenched views and assumptions of your own.
I’d also suggest things like The Political Brian by Drew Weston (I think) and Don’t think of an Elephant by Lakoff to better understand your own views and the views of others. I am not American but from my perspective half the problem with the level of division and half the wind in the sails of Trump is that people do not understand one another. They have too many assumptions, misconceptions and look down their nose at each other too much.
Not to sway you to read or not to read, but if youre truly interested in “knowing your enemy” you should absolutely read the source material. Read his books. Rent from the library or use libby or become a good ol fashioned sailor of the seas if you dont want to give “him” your money. But you cant ask to know the enemy and continue to put yourself in a vacuum chamber by ONLY reading one sided books. Read them, learn the arguments they use for and against, and develop your own rebuttals to them.
Food for thought.
A start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_Donald_Trump
Not “by” him – but read Project 2025 (it’s essentially his manifesto.)
Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue (By Ryan Holiday)
More of a portrayal of Thiel than the average trump voter. But essential if you want to understand the mind of one of Trump’s richest allies.
On Liberty (and On Tyranny) by Timothy Snyder, Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt.
Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright. It’s not directly about Trump but about patterns in history and it is fantastic. I read it in 2019 for obvious reasons. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35820413
Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House
Book by Donna Brazile
Everyone has biases. Good writers and insightful thinkers will recognize and acknowledge their biases and be clear about how that informs their analysis and interpretation of historical or current events. We are all shaped by our personal histories and the circumstances in which we live.
Not specifically about Trump but if you want books that help you understand why liberals and conservatives think differently try:
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell
Both were extremely interesting.
Liberals misunderstand conservatives more than the other way around (according to studies). I would honestly start here if you want to get into the conservatives mind.
I’m a moderate/centrist fwiw.
The View From Flyover Country by Sarah Kendizor
I’ve heard good things about *The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion* by Jonathan Haidt and *Strangers in Their Own Land* by Arlie Russell Hochschild. In the latter, a journalist who is herself Democrat goes out of her way to spend time with Trump supporters (Tea Party members in Lake Charles, Louisiana) to better understand where they’re coming from.
Haven’t read either of them yet though.
It is not a pro-right book. But it is a book that tries to explain why, hmm, the left/democratic/center was failing many people, and in reality, they were failing to stand by their nominal values. Not to justify the direction the backlash took, in supporting nationalistic movement, but to illustrate: why are they angry and disappointed with a status quo.
_We Have Never Been Woke_ by Musa al-Gharbi
I’ve been a fan of Robert Greene the past few years and he recently had an interview on MSNBC about how the Democrats failed to stick to “The 48 Laws of Power,” while Trump and his advisors did, and it made all the difference in the election. And I’d have to agree. His books, The 48 Laws of Power and The Art of Seduction (my favorite of his books) are both great ways to dig into these topics that examine things from a neutral, timeless point of view.
I’d caution that, while every point is backed up with historical accounts and evidence, (and even the reverse of the laws is considered as well) some of the directives are so simple to grasp it will make you hate how incompetent and stupid “the resistance” to Trump is.
They Knew by Sarah Kendzior explains not only Trumpism but also how his political career was fostered and the failures of the Democratic Party and so-called Democratic systems that allowed him to win again. Also gets into Pizzagate and other QAnon beliefs.
MAGAs see people from the outside simply calling them “deplorables” and not trying to see them. People on the right have learned that you need to show a connection to people to get them to follow you. This connection must be safe and inclusive of all their fears, sensitivities, and self-loathing as a community but with a clear path to improve that takes their culture into account, and inclusive of them in particular.
So I’d recommend Hillbilly Elegy first. It is a quick read and speaks to the spirit of things rather than going straight to the intellectual side of it. The circumstances described were familiar to me growing up. How the people there brought in on themselves was accurate in some ways but was missing a whole lot of nuance and completely missing who benefits from it.
Survival mode usually doesn’t bring the best out of people as far as saving the world goes and the right has found a way to harness that energy. The left tries to focus on everyone and forgets that people in a burning house might not have the bandwidth necessary to care about someone else’s house killing them with toxic mold. The people in Vance’s book don’t have the luxury of giving a fuck about anyone else.
Many people from the region suffer from some serious self-loathing and don’t feel seen at all by anyone, and especially not people on the left. After reading the book, a disturbing number of people feel that Vance sees them and their feelings are validated. They see that self-loathing as the key to hope to improve, a reason for the Ameican dream being unattainable for them in particular, or as a virtue.
To me, a lot of the mental gymnastics where someone would go from the abused to the abuser were gently alluded to as a positive but stopped just short of saying that.
While he walked away from the area, he still sees them and sees them as being strong enough to ruin their lives themselves, which is more credit than they feel people on the left give them. Being looked down on isn’t an insult from someone of his perceived origin, as being looked down on is taken from those from “outside.” And many embrace him.
Hiding In Plain Sight and They Knew, both by Sarah Kendzior.
The origins of totalitarianism by Arendt.