Philip RuckerReseñas

This is an able recitation of the facts inside the Trump White House. What is now called for is the context of what was happening and not happening as a direct consequence of Donald Trump’s compulsion/ fascination with his press. While Donald Trump hasn’t so far paralyzed the American Government, what is in fact a very expensive institution is grinding away at trivialities while the central challenges of public policy today sit in abeyance.

Where is the planet headed? Where is democracy headed? When the traveling masses are in the hundreds of millions where and when, if ever, will they settle? What are we to do without work?

Damn, what a riveting read!

No need to recommend this. It was on my best reads of 2022 list.

Definitely belongs on my horror shelf, one of the most frightening books I've read.

Having read multiple books about Trump, along with a handful dealing with the 2016 and 2020 elections, there wasn't anything in these pages that surprised me. Still, what I Alone Can Fix It excels at is detailing the disturbing events that occurred in 2020 with sober and analytical prose.

A good read about Trump's last year in office. Because I follow MSNBC I had heard Philip Rucker speak about a lot of what's in the book. But these books are important so we don't forget!

5781 I Alone Can Fix It Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year, by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker (read 18 Feb 2022) This book relates the events of Trump's year from January 2020 thru Jan 20, 2021, and an interview held in March 2021. It tells of all the bragging misstatements and works up to the scary events of Jan 6, 2021. Since one knows how Jan 6 ended it was not as horrendous reading about it as it was living through it but nevertheless it was tension-ridden even so, realizing how nearly there could have been more injury and death than there was. One could sympathize with those responsible for keeping Congress safe. And after the evildoers were foiled nevertheless so many Republican members voted to reject electoral votes clearly obtained by Biden!½

Hard-to-read (because of the subject matter) but absorbing book that details the sheer lunacy that went on in the Trump White House during the last year of the administration. These authors present the facts in a straight-forward and elegant manner, and I trust their reporting.½

It is fairly obvious from the few personal opinions and descriptions from the authors and from the factual chronology uncovered during their writing and investigations and interviews, that they are not fans of Mr. Trump. Having said that, I found the string of events described to be accurate according to other sources and consistent with the news reports of the day. It is a good record of events leading up to the domestic terrorist attack of Jan 6, 2021. It is easy reading, but hard to read due to the overwhelming subject matter.

Everyone should read this. Those who really "should" read it, will not for obvious reasons. It is political and factual and not complimentary to the subject.

Blow by Blow
Review of the Penguin Press hardcover edition (July 2021)

I Alone Can Fix It is a real doorstopper of a book at 592 pages. It covers the final year of Trump's presidency as does Michael Wolff's Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency (336 pages) and Woodward/Costa's Peril (426 pages). All three covers the same major events i.e. the COVID pandemic, the George Floyd death and its aftermath, the 2020 election and the fraud allegations, the January 6, 2021 Capital riot, etc.

As with their earlier A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America (2020), Leonnig & Rucker again use one of Trump's own self-satisfied quotes for their title. There is also some craftily communicated symbolism in showing Trump "un-masking" himself on the cover image, as if to say: here he is, revealed for all the world to see.

Leonnig & Rucker make for quite exhaustive reading, sometimes feeling like it is almost a day by day account of the actions and reactions of the final year. The overall impression from I Alone Can Fix It is that its primary sources were from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and his staff and confidants. The focus becomes Milley's efforts to ensure a smooth transfer of power and for the military to not be co-opted by the Trump administration for either a coup attempt or for a wag-the-dog* scenario.

"I have four tasks from now until the twentieth of January and I'm going to accomplish my mission," Milley told this confidant, referring to the Inauguration in 2021. "Mission One is to get us from now until the election without U.S. troops on the streets of America killing Americans. Mission Two is no overseas war with Iran. Mission Three is maintaining the integrity of the U.S. military. Mission Four is maintaining my own personal integrity.
"That's my mission and I commit to you that mission," he continued. "And our mission is to ensure the United States of America has a free and fair election with no U.S. military involvement whatsoever." - excerpt from pgs. 188-189 of I Alone Can Fix It

The villains of the piece are here again portrayed by Trump's "TV lawyers" i.e. Rudy Guliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Lewis, et al, who incite and stoke Trump's claims of election fraud past all logical realms.

Similar to the conclusion of Michael Wolff's Landslide, Leonnig & Rucker interview Trump at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort for their Epilogue. They also find him basking in the glow of the attention of his associates and still defiant.

It is a very recent entry, so I Alone Can Fix It is currently (as of late October 2021) only the 81st top most voted book in the Trump Tell-Alls Listopia and the 111th top most voted book in the Books About, By or Involving Donald Trump Listopia on Goodreads.

I read I Alone Can Fix It as part of my reading survey of various books in relation to the 2020 American Election and ongoing events. As a Canadian I’ve generally ignored American politics and elections in past years, but the drama of the situation in 2020 and 2021 has heightened my interest.

* Wag-the-dog refers to the 1997 film Wag the Dog where a war or even a fictional appearance of a war is used to distract from a Presidential scandal.

Reading this book (or rather, listening to the audiobook) felt like reliving the chaotic year of 2020 - hardly enjoyable, but certainly a time worthy of reflection. The authors included details I was unaware at the time, but most of these details are now known from subsequent reporting. The value I find in this book and others like it lies in the reports of behind-the-scenes maneuvers and private characterization of public figures. I find it fascinating to delve into what government leaders were thinking over the course of 2020 and the first days of 2021. What was frustrating about this book was the ending - many questions are left unanswered, but (to be fair) the story itself isn't quite over and this book is a piece of the "first rough draft of history." I imagine many more drafts will be coming.

Anyone interested in reading this book should first understand that this is not a pro – Trump book. There are very few instances where Donald Trump is shown in a positive light or where he is shown competent in his job. This is not because of the prejudice of the author but based on the actual reporting and eyewitness accounts during the last year of the Trump presidency. If you keep up with the news or have not been in a coma the past four years, there is not a lot in this book that will surprise you. If I gathered anything new it was that things were a lot worse than even I imagined.

This book primarily focuses on three major events/issues in Trump’s last year: handling the coronavirus, the 2020 presidential election and post-election claims of fraud by Trump resulting in the January 6, 2021 invasion of The Capitol by his supporters.

What I was looking for were examples of competence and courage by people within the Trump administration. There were a few including General Mark Milley, who was very concerned about a possible coup and how Trump viewed the military as a weapon that he could use. Despite incredible abuse and intimidation by the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci continued to tell the truth about COVID-19. On occasion, even Attorney General Bill Barr showed some back bone when pressed by Trump to initiate some bogus investigations against Trump enemies.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was fired by Trump primarily due to his opposition to Trump’s plan to use the military against demonstrations from the George Floyd killing. Trump wanted to employ the Insurrection Act of 1807 as a means of curbing demonstrations.

Regrettably Trump had a lot of enablers. Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, and Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff was a faithful soldier to until the end of his Presidency. Mike Pence does not read well in this book. He blindly supported Trump throughout the four years. And though Pence did the right thing in certifying the electoral vote, it seems that he was looking for a way to blocking it. Pence comes off as a toady.

The authors appeared to make every attempt to keep this story as authentic and factual as possible. They also conducted a several hour interview with Trump after he left office.

A very revealing book though there are about 74 million people in the U.S. who might disagree.

Fine book, but I think I've read too many of these at this point.

After living thru all the chaos of the last few years, I was very familiar with the history in this book. I read it because I saw the writers interviewed and they were very credible with their research. The last 2-3 chapters were the most interesting as they detailed what was happening in the White House and the Capital before, during and after the January 6th event. May truth, kindness and compassion for others eventually prevail in our country. The alternative is a nightmare!

The second book by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker about the Trump presidency - the first, A Very Stable Genius - was a national best seller - is another page turner from beginning to end. They demonstrate time after time that the subtitle of I Alone Can Fix It, i.e., “catastrophic final year,” is more than apt.

The prize-winning reporters show how Trump’s pig-headed refusal to confront the reality of COVID-19 caused hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. But even more gripping is the nearly day-by-day narration of Trump’s unconstitutional and ultimately futile (thankfully) efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

If there is a hero in their story, it is General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose steadfast opposition to Trump’s efforts to enlist the military in overturning the election may have saved our democracy. A few, and only a few, other characters in Trump’s administration can be said to have acted somewhat honorably during the crucial days from immediately before the election to Biden’s final assumption of the presidency. Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense, generally advocated constitutionally acceptable behavior. And William Barr, who had done Trump’s bidding and had grossly mischaracterized the results of the Mueller Report for Trump’s benefit, finally refused (for whatever reason) to use the Justice Department to further Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud.

Some of the most chilling passages in the book appear in the Epilogue, which is a recapitulation of a two and one half hour interview that Trump gave to the authors. There they use Trump’s own words to show how demented he has become. His depiction of what happened on January 6, 2021, for example, can be justifiably characterized as bonkers. Not only does he claim it was “a loving crowd,” but that the Capitol Police were ushering people in… hugging and kissing them.”

Then there was Trump claiming he won Arizona in 2020: “I won Arizona, okay? By a lot. Didn’t turn out that way in terms of the vote, but I won Arizona.” It would be funny if it were spoken by anyone who didn’t have the power to turn millions into rabid mobs based on his lies.

Many in the crowd storming the Capital on January 6, for example, were yelling that “Our president wants us here.” Believing Trump’s claims that Biden “stole” the election and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence aided and abetted the thieves, the crowd reacted accordingly:

"Under battle flags bearing Donald Trump’s name, the Capitol’s attackers pinned a bloodied police officer in a doorway, his twisted face and screams captured on video. They mortally wounded another officer with a blunt weapon and body-slammed a third over a railing into the crowd.

'Hang Mike Pence!' the insurrectionists chanted as they pressed inside, beating police with pipes. They demanded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s whereabouts, too. They hunted any and all lawmakers: 'Where are they?' Outside, makeshift gallows stood, complete with sturdy wooden steps and the noose. Guns and pipe bombs had been stashed in the vicinity."

Thankfully, they were ultimately thwarted although Trump continues to encourage hate groups and political violence. (See, for example, this timeline of Trump’s incitement.)

The book ends by the authors observing that Trump is spending his post-presidency in much the same way he spent his time in office: watching television all morning, or playing golf at one of his nearby clubs [and still charging the Secret Service, it might be added.]. Then, as the authors write, “he puts on his suit, applies his makeup, and merges for meetings with whichever politician or acolytes have made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago.”

After reading this book , one would have to agree with Nancy Pelosi’s estimation of Trump she made on January 8, 2021:

“This guy’s crazy….He’s dangerous. He’s a maniac. We have deep concerns.”

(JAB)½

I'm sure everyone reading this lived through 2020. This book lets you relive the events in a nifty chronological package that I could not put down. It was interesting to match my recollection against the book's actual account.

No one in the Trump administration connected in any way to COVID-19 fared well. Those who tried to warn the president got fired. Those, like Pence, the "oleaginous sycophant", in George Will's memorable characterization, deferentially who did their master's bidding, got burned.

The authors clearly had a lot of these folks as sources; even Trump agreed to be interviewed. But that also means the reader must be careful as many of the comments, made with full hindsight, are clearly attempts to put themselves and their own actions in the best light possible.

Even where Trump's policies were popular and would have benefited the country, his administration's incompetence prevented their implementation. The Supreme Court turned away several petitions because of incompetent presentation; the proposal to reduce drug costs failed because they ignored the rules, and it was tossed in court; and we all know about the Great Wall.

If there is any hero, it has to be General Mark Milley who repeatedly tried to be the adult in the room during meetings and was devoted to the concept of civilian control of the military, which he interpreted as also implying that civilians could not use the military as their own police force. Trump's recurring fantasy was that, as president, all the people and agencies owed personal loyalty to him and him alone, not the Constitution nor its principles.

Trump, who had refused to be interviewed for the authors' first book, gladly agreed to two hours for this one. It's recounted in the epilogue and consisted primarily of diatribes against those he had initially lauded but now despised and how he really won the election by the greatest margin in the history of the world. The man doesn't know how to speak in anything but hyperbole and superlatives. Doesn't say much for his ability to judge people.

A great read.

This book is a report on the last year of Trump's presidency and contains little that is really new for someone who had been keeping up with the news during the year. The value of the book is the last section with its minute by minute depiction of the January 6th insurrection as well as direct quotes from members of the Trump administration who are trying to redeem their image. Although such a book is entertaining, it is probably better to wait a few years until a more definitive account is published.½

Pretty much what I expected but the details for political junkies.

Incredibly detailed and thoroughly shocking look inside Trump's final year. It was worse than we thought.½

The authors of "A Very Stable Genius", Pulitzer Prize winners Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, used President Trump's self-description as the title of their book, and then proceed to show why the President's opinion of himself is far from true.

Rucker and Leonnig's book seems similar in approach to Bob Woodward's earlier book "Fear". Like Woodward, Rucker and Leonnig interviewed Trump insiders and senior members of the Trump Administration. And like Woodward's book, the authors tried to write as reliable a book as possible, even if some of the sources they interviewed may be considered to be unreliable by critics. But when coupled with the plethora of other books already written about the President and his Administration, such as Michael Wolf's Siege, David Frum's Trumocracy, Omarosa Newman's Unhinged, David Cay Johnson's It's Even Worse Than You Think and The Making of Donald Trump, Michael Isikoff's & David Corn"s Russian Roulette, Katy Tur's Unbelievable, Michael Kranish's Trump Revealed, etc., the multiple of sources and the multiple corroboration of the same stories makes you believe that most of these stories are true.

One new source the authors had access to, which wasn't available to earlier book authors, is the recent information produced in the Muller Report. The 448 page Muller Report, which investigated possible collusion of the Trump campaign with Russia, is a catalog of presidential scheming and misconduct. Volume 2 of the report details 10 events scrutinized for obstruction of justice. The report notes that Trump pressured his aids to lie to investigators and fabricate false records. Muller suggested that Congress could / should investigate and prosecute, since Muller felt that Department of Justice policy prevents charging a sitting President with a crime. The only punishment option is Congressional impeachment. The Report writers stated that if the investigators were confident that Trump did not obstruct justice, they would have said so. The Muller report concluded: "While this Report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him".

On other matters, Rucker and Leonnig had access to a number of Trump associates, who while feeling honor bound to not openly criticize the President, did discuss what they observed within the White House. A theme which recurs throughout the book is that the dominant value of the Trump Administration is loyalty to the President. And the President's dominant value is the accumulation of wealth, praise and respect.

There's no shortage of critical commentary of the President in the book. But the criticism isn't from political opponents. Rather, it comes from Trump's own aides, people who have worked with the President. Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer and someone who's been Trump's "fixer" for 10 years, stated he was ashamed about his behavior acting for Trump. Cohen had copies of Trump's financial statements, copies of checks for hush money payments, copies of letters he wrote on Trump's behalf to Trump's high school, college, and college boards, threatening to sue if they ever release Trump's school grades or SAT scores, etc. None of these actions give credence to Trump's claim that he's as rich as he claims, or was as good a student as he claims. In pleading guilty in 9th District of NY, Cohen identified Trump as a racist, a con-man, a cheat, and said Trump was more craven, dishonest, and racist in private than seen in public.

Others, as we've heard previously, are no less kind. It was widely reported that former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster referred to the President a dope, that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis likened him like a 5th grader, Steve Mnuchin called him an idiot, as did Reince Priebus. Omarosa Newman, a former Trump aide and supporter, calls him racist. Anthony Scaramucci, briefly the White House Director of Communications, calls Trump a congenital liar. Replacement Chief of Staff John Kelly called him a f'n idiot, former Sec. of State Rex Tillerson called him a f'n moron, and Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn called him dumb as s#it, etc. With all that, the authors seemed to clearly make their point on this "Very Stable Genius".

This book impugns Trump mightily by his own actions and words. If you have been paying very close and steady attention to reliable news sources, then you will not learn much more from this book (and you may have been keeping your local liquor store in business since 2016 as I have), so not recommended for you diligent news followers; only two stars, for freshening your recollections.

It is you Fox fans who will benefit most from the book, if you are of the reading type; stars galore, for broad-mindedness and courage.

Unfortunately, this mostly went over ground that has been covered in many other books; the Mueller probe and some other events. Yes, there were some new stories but they just showed more of the horror of what is already known. I'm looking forward to some different political books in the future.

Donald J. Trump is anything BUT "a very stable genius," which is supported by the many anecdotes detailed in this book by two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. Absorbing and frightening read.½

When two Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winning reporters team up to write a book defining the Trump presidency; it is bound to be a disturbing read. Anecdotal records from those who laboured under Trump’s irrational leadership, plus on the record statements from those aghast at Trump’s bizarre behaviour, combine to make compelling reading.

If you listen to the news - all the news, not just Fox news - you can't help but question some of the antics of our POTUS. Still, after reading this book and learning about the behind-the-scene-shenanigans being carried out by our politicians in the White House, I believe this book is scarier than any Stephen King novel I've read to date. Congrats to Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig (both Pulitzer prize winners) for laying this out in clear and irrefutable terms. DJT is not fit to be running our country, and yet he has survived a two-year FBI probe into collusion with a foreign power, proven obstruction of the investigation, and impeachment for blatantly using his office for political gain. What else is our republican party going to allow him to get away with? As quoted in the book by William A. Galston, "We haven't seen anything like this in my lifetime. He (Trump) appears to be daring the rest of the political system to stop him—and if it doesn't, he'll go further. What we're discovering is that the Constitution is not a mechanism that runs by itself. Ultimately, we are a government of men and not law. The law has no force without people who are willing to enforce it." Where are our enforcers, and where is this going to end?