Win Bigly by Scott Adams

Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter by Scott Adams
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The thesis of this book is that Trump is a master persuader. Let's grant him this even though he has only persuaded 30% of the US population and no world leaders. I suppose he was more persuasive than the other (too many) Republican primary candidates. The concept that he was more persuasive than Hillary Clinton is low grade ridiculous since she persuaded 3 million more people than Trump.

Here's another central proposition in this book: that Trump is not incompetent. See Adams wrote this at the beginning of the administration when that was even moderately believable. Shutting down the pandemic response, and increasing covid deaths in the US say otherwise.

Also he claims that Trump is often "directionally" correct but operates in the realm of hyperbole. But he's not "directionally" correct. And Adams claiming Trump is "directionally" correct is ridiculous levels of bias in favor of Trump no matter how many times Adams says it is not.

Another main theme is that Scott Adams is so smart. He doesn't even understand the most basic concepts about racism. Of course, a racist can hug a black person or kiss a black baby. What utter nonsense. Adams claims he was able to predict elements of the 2016 election accurately! But again, reading this in 2020, you can see that Hillary Clinton is still healthy, Donald Trump has come out in support of white supremacists repeatedly and it was the election of Trump, that erupted in violence in the US. The idea that Trump supporters are not violent and Clinton supporters is divorced from reality. Adams will of course disregard facts in favor of emotions. Possibly because Adams gets everything wrong.

Surprise surprise, Adams is also a climate denier in that he feels that scientists could be in a mass delusion which is just not how science works. Yes, sometimes scientists are wrong but the point is to follow the experiments and analysis and studies until there is something that contradicts it. After decades, there isn't much doubt left about climate science.

Here are some Trump strategies:
1) Refocusing your energy on what he wants to discuss even if he's claiming something crazy. You want the critics to scream so you get attention on what you want.

2) "Setting the table" You can negotiate down from your crazy stance to a more moderate position where you are the winner. (Not at all what Trump has done - he's insisted on the crazy stance.)

3) Continue to repeat the big lie after they've been completely debunked. Adams didn't phrase it like this because he thinks comparisons to Nazis are hyperbole. Or maybe Adams is wrong again.

At a certain point, I started wondering if Adams is mentally ill as he has delusions of grandeur and thinks he can predict the future. I'm not kidding.

This book gets 1 star for making the world a worse place than if Adams had not written it.

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White House, Inc. by Dan Alexander

White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business by Dan Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The worst of this is mostly things I already knew from following the news and the rest is not that exciting.

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It Was All a Lie by Stuart Stevens

It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is pretty much what I want to say to Senator Ben Sasse and all the other Republicans who claim to be "reasonable." Let's never forget how they betrayed everything our country stands for because they were afraid of losing power.

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Raising Trump by Ivana Trump

Raising Trump by Ivana Trump
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is more of an autobiography of Ivana Trump with a special focus on her children (and written contributions from Don Jr, Ivanka, and Eric). She’s had an interesting life and her book is very readable. There’s barely a bad word about Donald Trump and that’s just as well, because despite picking this book, I am sick of reading about him. It was an accidental break from him.

I don’t buy it though. 1) She claims Donald wasn't particularly rich when she married him. Compared to what? He paid the tab for her entire table of models, right? And we all know he inherited all of his wealth from his father and made investments that only cost him money. 2) Also, hard work is nice, but what about all the hard-working employees Trump failed to pay? 3) I'm glad that she feels she worked hard at the family business but who was going to tell her otherwise if she was slacking? How would she have qualified for such a job in the first place if it wasn't the family business? 4) But okay, supposing she did work hard, if you happen to be at the intersection of hard work and good luck it’s easy to say that hard work got you where you are. But what about all the many people who work just as hard for their whole lives and don’t get a fraction of the pie? To overlook them or to purposely look away is to miss the entire story.

I don’t buy her biased view of her children, here they are supporting the worst administration in my lifetime so I snorted reading about her children’s charities when Donald Trump stole money from his and Eric resigned from his for reasons that are unclear to me from news stories.

It's my experience that people that struggle in communist regimes tend to over-value ambition and the accumulation of money precisely because their lack of political freedom was tied to a lack of economic freedom. I despise tyranny, and I am not advocating laziness, but I think the helping professions are of greater spiritual value than those in which the only focus is the accumulation of wealth. And when the accumulation of wealth results in active harm to employees (such as those Donald did not pay) it is an evil.

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Melania and Me by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff

Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a good primer on what happens when you try to befriend the devil or the devil's "sweet" wife. But this doesn't just apply to the Trumps or evil people in politics more generally, I think it's a pretty good breakdown on how and why you can't expect to successfully deal with people who break rules, laws, take advantage of others, or lack basic empathy.

It's also an excellent reminder of why it's important not to sign non-disclosure agreements, though frankly, I have signed one myself. Often, when people are confronted with such agreements they are tied to money and the signee feels that they don't have a choice of whether or not to sign. But if you don't absolutely have to sign one, do not sign!

Also, I find am very suspicious of Maggie Haberman's journalism now.

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Rage by Bob Woodward

Rage by Bob Woodward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's not at all about rage. It's surprisingly interesting given that I've been very carefully paying attention for 4 years and therefore didn't expect there to be anything new here. I mean a lot of it is things we know about Trump but it's a bit a different view with Woodward asking him things over and over in hopes of getting answers, and it's more organized and thorough than Woodward's Fear. He's clearly trying to be fair to Trump and interviewed people who know him well and both dislike or like him. In particular, I was engaged - if not completely convinced- by the concept that China possibly failed to contain the virus to just China on purpose for economic or political reasons (given that shutting off travel from the China end was more straightforward than all countries shutting down all travel). Worth reading, and better than Woodward's "Fear." Interestingly, Woodward clearly read "The Room Where It Happened" and only found one sentence of value in that entire book so it's probably skippable.

Update: I just heard some of the Woodward recordings and now I know why the book is called Rage. It's not what is written in the book it's probably the sense Woodward got that Trump is enraged when answering Woodward's questions. But this might possibly be because Trump interrupts constantly, defensively, and speaks condescendingly to Woodward. Or it could be Woodward's sense that Trump hates Democrats collectively and individually.

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Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is mostly about the Trump family more than Donald Trump specifically. Definitely interesting and terribly sad- mostly for all the people the Trump family ripped off. Of course, saddest of all is the 160,000 dead Americans and counting.

The final section where she opines on the Trump presidency is skippable, as it just an obvious statement of what a complete failure and human tragedy his presidency has been.

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A Warning by Anonymous

A Warning by Anonymous
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good part: viewpoint of a conservative in the White House seeing things first hand.

Bad part: absolutely everything in the book is readily available in the newspapers.

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Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

10 million stars. I'm recommending this to everyone. Despite the large number of books I've been reading about feminism, this one is still transformative. Has the slow trickle of oppression been why I've been just sloshing around in a vague depressed state for the last decade? I think so. It's like having someone snap their fingers in front of your face until you awaken to how powerful passionate (angry) groups of women can be, and how all this squashing of emotion has been maintaining a terrible status quo.

Here are some things I'm ENRAGED about:
1) That time Trump suggested “the second amendment people” murder Hillary. What an attack on democracy to suggest people murder your political opponent! What a monstrous-woman-abusing thing to say! What a monstrous pro-gun-for-murder thing to say. How he so lightly endangers the secret service too. RAGE.
2) Total inaction in the face of global warming. Goodbye, humanity. Sorry future grandkids, no planet for you.
3) School shootings. My son had to hide during a lockdown THIS WEEK. This is his third lockdown. He is in second grade. I AM SO ANGRY, I CRY ABOUT THIS.
4) Kids in detention camps. If this doesn't make you enraged, you might be suffering from mild-to-intense sociopathy.
5) The Supreme Court is at least 33% misogynistic men: Kavanaugh, Thomas, Gorsuch.
6) The number of Americans that are totally unaware of the oppressive history of our country, how this has built systemic injustice that is still completely relevant.
7) I am still so angry about Matt Lauer. Forget that he was so without skill or talent in the first place, what he did to America in the 2016 Election is unforgivable. Not if he feeds all the world's orphans. (Okay, maybe only if he feeds all the world's orphans.)
8) Every time men use the expression "witch hunt."
9) The very idea that "the war on Christmas" is real, but that institutional racism and sexism is not real or individually surmountable. Remember all those men that got harassed at work because they celebrate Christmas? Those kids that got sent to detention camps because they are Christian? Nope, me neither.


ROAR!!!

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Facts and Fears by James R. Clapper

Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence by James R. Clapper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Americans need to read this book. In his memoir, Clapper shares his lifetime of experience as an honorable servant of our country and our democracy. He gives readers a unique window into the American intelligence community, their capabilities, sacrifices, and limitations. The memoir covers in some detail: Assange, Snowden, North Korea, Russia, and the sadly still very fresh in our memories 2016 Election and Russian election interference.

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Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I feel like this book got worse as it went on. This would be a great book if someone took a firm editing-and-reorganizing hand. I feel like Woodward was treating me like I am Trump. He mentioned all the topics in not-so-short summary, in case I couldn't or wouldn't finish the book? And then he started repeating and repeating topics and even specific quotes, driving me to distraction. It was almost like the reality TV format of repeating clips that makes me not watch reality TV.

That said, here is what I found interesting about it. This is a very even-handed view of Trump. It was, dare I say, sympathetic towards him and the people around him. The people who speak most harshly about Trump in this account are Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

The most interesting parts for me were the in-depth discussions of:
1) the existential threats of both North Korea's nuclear capabilities,
2) the threat Russia's defense of the Baltics,
3) the neverending Afghanistan quagmire,
4) the not always unfavorable comparisons to President Obama,
5) private discussions of Senator Lindsay Graham and President Trump,
6) disagreement among Executive staff regarding free trade, and
7) discussions with Trump leading up to the tax cuts.

4 stars for substance, 3 stars for writing execution.

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The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis

The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this audiobook for free as part of my $15/month Audible membership. (Free as in, it didn't use up a credit.) It's about 2.5 hours long.

There are a lot of really interesting things in this book regarding government data collection and weather data. I don't read enough books about data, especially considering how important it is to our society today. Especially now that I live in an area prone to tornados, I was especially interested in the tornado section.

I don't understand the people who seemed not to like this book because they claim there is an attack on Trump contained within. Either the information regarding the Trump administration and data dissemination and restriction is correct or incorrect. None of the reviewers claim it's incorrect (except one person, more on him later). Let's say you support Trump and you think the information is correct but negatively described, well, go ahead and explain why it's okay to take away data (paid for with public funds) from public use that would help the public. There was one reviewer that claimed he formerly worked for AccuWeather, and that Lewis was incorrect about AccuWeather. He wrote an entire blog post basically confirming exactly what Lewis said.

I took a star away because I really don't like the entire concept of audiobooks that are only available on Audible. I think you should be able to verify sources in print. An audiobook-only format, especially for a book this short, strikes me as a glorified podcast. Also, I really didn't like the ending.

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Unhinged by Omarosa Manigault Newman

Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is mostly Omarosa’s memoir with a focus on her business and personal relationship with Donald Trump over the years.

The first half the book was well-written and compelling. The second half was basically a laundry list of the things that we all know Trump did. In general, it didn’t contain a lot of new information, but it seemed as neutral as anyone could possibly be on the topic of the 2016 Election and subsequent Trump administration. Omarosa was also on the Ready for Hilary campaign- and Trump himself was fairly recently a Democrat. At the same time, Omarosa was really game on for the Trump campaign (more on that later) so she's as neutral a reporter as we could hope for.

The biggest complaint a lot of readers have that I agree with is that Omarosa didn’t take enough responsibility for her role in the campaign. I'm not an Apprentice-watcher so I'm not familiar with her television alter-ego. I am familiar with her political leanings and volunteer work. I met her a few times in person. I have little doubt that she is basically a good religious person but with a big healthy dose of ambition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being ambitious regardless of whether you're a man or woman. The problem is when ambition causes you to do things contrary to ethics/the golden rule for the sake of that ambition. I'm an attorney, don't tell me you have to sometimes to get ahead. There's nowhere worth getting that badly. It is possible, as she claims, that she was a little gaslighted into her position due to her long-term friendly and professional relationship with Trump, but even so, she should really take responsibility for her (albeit small) role in reaping destruction on the country. Absolutely everyone on his campaign should take responsibility. Absolutely everyone that voted for him should. Absolutely everyone that didn't vote should take responsibility. Absolutely everyone in his family that didn't try to steer him to a retirement home instead should take responsibility. But what I didn't enjoy reading was how it wasn't really Omarosa's fault because she didn't really do anything wrong. I mean, for one thing, I already read that one- the Comey book.

Don’t read this if you’re looking for new information. Don’t read it if you have some irrational hatred for Omarosa because then nothing will sink in anyway. Read it if you’re curious how an intelligent person with a relatively neutral political stance viewed the events in real time.

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A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book that every American should read in order to consider the difference between the American values we should all honor, and partisan politics. Comey makes a clear case that integrity and honesty should be our most dearly held values and I agree with that because the inverse-corruption and dishonesty- are effective tools of oppression.

This is not a Republican book or a Democratic book. This is an interesting look at how challenging it is to separate oneself from the quagmire of American partisan politics, and how important that separation can be, especially in law enforcement.

Most of all, this book is very well-written, very entertaining, and very educational.

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The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by Bandy X. Lee, Craig Malkin

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President by Bandy X. Lee, Craig Malkin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of 27 essays by mostly experts in psychiatric medicine. I was surprised and interested that many of the essays examined a different angle.

First, the authors discuss the ethics of this book. The author-psychiatrists have not personally met Donald Trump to diagnose him, so the American Psychiatric Association's Goldwater Rule states it is unethical for psychiatrists to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not examined in person. They note that they disagree with association rule where public safety is at great risk as they believe it is, that members of the APA did not vote on the rule, that if they had met with him as a client they would be forbidden to give a public opinion based on confidentiality, that no other profession is barred from expressing an opinion regarding the mental health of the president except the people who are actually experts on mental health.

Also, they briefly mentioned the Tarasoff Rule, which is a legal standard in American. I'll quote in its entirety here: "When a therapist determines, or pursuant to the standards of his profession, should determine, that his patient presents a serious danger of violence to another, he incurs an obligation to use reasonable care to protect the intended victim against such danger."

The essays present different points of view regarding the president's mental health both as a general idea that Democracy needs to address, and as it specifically relates to Donald Trump. Despite the different angles of the essays a few themes emerge.

1) Donald Trump is likely mentally ill in that his behavior is not beneficial to himself, is harmful to individuals he attacks- which he does frequently, and is harmful to the country generally. In addition to the harm that he has already caused, he might present additional dangers to the country and world.

2) Whether or not he is mentally ill, the more important question is whether he is dangerous, which he definitely is according to his own statements and actions. No psychiatric expertise necessary to understand this point.

As an aside, I often read reviews that disagree with my views in order to find points which I should concede. In this case, the one-star and two-star reviews make no sense to me and seem to be more emotional than logical.

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Shattered by Jonathan Allen, Amie Parnes

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen, Amie Parnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though I witnessed most of these events- I was an election junkie and watched all the debates and read all the articles- I was still captivated by this fairly straightforward account. The authors got all of the information for the book "on background" during the election in exchange for not going public until after the election. The writers do a great job of giving everyone and everything that happened a lot of life and movement. I think this book will be especially helpful as a historical account one day. Because honestly, no one will be able to understand how this horror happened unless we get it down clearly now.

It's a pretty good campaign playbook complete with dos and don'ts, though the authors put a lot of blame on Robert E. Mook, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, who relied a lot on "analytics." It also places blame on Hillary, Bill, Senator Bernie Sanders, and former FBI Director James Comey.

This book mentions but does not really examine the Russian involvement which seems like a huge oversight when the numbers were in tight in numerous states and the Russian advertisement was targeted at precisely the people who did vote for Trump. Nor does it talk about the two third-party candidates who also drained votes. But that's just not what this book about. This is fairly solidly about what Democrats did wrong, not what others contributed to this mess.

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Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff


I'm not going to give this a star rating for the time being. I'm just going to share my thoughts for now.

For me, the first question is how do I know anything in this book is true? Well, the most convincing thing is that there isn't a lot of "new" information in this book so much as there is a more complete picture based on behind-the-scenes information from inside sources. A lot of what is in this book has been public information in terms of Trump speeches, interviews, and tweets. The author himself was given White House access and claims to have been there for a lot of the events. About a half of the book is information and impressions that must have been provided by Bannon. Bannon's information appears colored by his dislike of Jared and Ivanka Kushner but does not appear otherwise significantly biased. (By which I mean that Bannon is pretty open about the ways in which he's evil, and isn't too bothered about it.) Jared Kushner himself leaked a great deal of information which seems to be in play in the book as well-- especially trash talk about Bannon. That leaves very little which I have any reason to doubt. Perhaps there isn't any good reason to believe the details of Trump's relationship with Melania, but that appears to be it.

Even though there's not a lot of new or shocking information, I think the book's full narrative of events is useful. For example, before reading this book, I kept thinking that maybe Donald Trump was "crazy like a fox." But after reading this, my impression is that he's just really ignorant (more than I thought) and even less curious about reality than I thought he was. He seems to believe he can just invent his own reality and buys into it to a certain degree. All of this is puzzling and troubling and definitely gives different coloring to how I view recent political events.

The conclusion is that Trump is unfit to be president according to his own advisors. Additionally, his advisors are unable to educate him or restrain him in any meaningful way. He is inconsistent and has poor impulse control. The "fire and fury" quote which the title uses is from Trump's threats to North Korea, but the book ends before the bulk of his North Korea threats. The whole world is at danger from this presidency and everyone knows it, but the people with the power to do anything about it, Senate Republicans, refuse to do anything.

PS: The Prologue and Chapter 1 aren't written as well as the rest of the book. If you find the beginning annoying you might want to reserve judgment until Chapter 2.

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