American Carnage

On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

By: Tim Alberta

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Politico Magazine’s chief political correspondent provides a rollicking insider’s look at the making of the modern Republican Party - how a decade of cultural upheaval, populist outrage, and ideological warfare made the GOP vulnerable to a hostile takeover from the unlikeliest of insurgents: Donald J. Trump.

The 2016 election was a watershed for the United States. But, as Tim Alberta explains in American Carnage, to understand Trump’s victory is to view him not as the creator of this era of polarization and bruising partisanship, but rather as its most manifest consequence.

American Carnage is the story of a president’s rise based on a country’s evolution and a party’s collapse. As George W. Bush left office with record-low approval ratings and Barack Obama led a Democratic takeover of Washington, Republicans faced a moment of reckoning: They had no vision, no generation of new leaders, and no energy in the party’s base. Yet Obama’s forceful pursuit of his progressive agenda, coupled with the nation’s rapidly changing cultural and demographic landscape, lit a fire under the right, returning Republicans to power and inviting a bloody struggle for the party’s identity in the post-Bush era. The factions that emerged - one led by absolutists like Jim Jordan and Ted Cruz, the other led by pragmatists like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell - engaged in a series of devastating internecine clashes and attempted coups for control. With the GOP’s internal fissures rendering it legislatively impotent, and that impotence fueling a growing resentment toward the political class and its institutions, the stage was set for an outsider to crash the party. When Trump descended a gilded escalator to announce his run in the summer of 2015, the candidate had met the moment.

Only by viewing Trump as the culmination of a decade-long civil war inside the Republican Party - and of the parallel sense of cultural, socioeconomic, and technological disruption during that period - can we appreciate how he won the White House and consider the fundamental questions at the center of America’s current turmoil. How did a party obsessed with the national debt vote for trillion-dollar deficits and record-setting spending increases? How did the party of compassionate conservatism become the party of Muslim bans and walls? How did the party of family values elect a thrice-divorced philanderer? And, most important, how long can such a party survive?

Loaded with exclusive reporting and based off hundreds of interviews - including with key players such as President Trump, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Jim DeMint, and Reince Priebus, and many others - American Carnage takes us behind the scenes of this tumultuous period as we’ve never seen it before and establishes Tim Alberta as the premier chronicler of this political era.

©2019 Tim Alberta (P)2019 HarperAudio

Full Spectrum Revealed

This book helped me understand how people I know and so many others can vote for a man like Trump...They believed his lies and empty promises!

There are so many billionaires in the world today (shocking increase in Russia and China) who hold positions of power in their governments. As a baby boomer, I was so hopeful to see that we Democrats and Independents would continue to clean up the environment, promote fairness and equality for people of color and provide for respect and equality for women. When I woke up after the election and my husband told me he had won, I thought it was a sick joke, then I cried tears...He is a classic narcissistic goofball. His addictions to power and control are frightening. Surely, those blinded by his lies and empty promises will not reelect him. Most disturbing is his hatred for the Obamas. The Republicans need to look at the big picture and support Global Warming, help create a fair health care system and establish a fair immigration plan. Time is short and if they are resisting immigration support now, how will it be when full countries lose their home due to Global Warming ? Sure, I am a Christian, but very liberal...Not all Christians are Evangelical...Like I would tell my Kindergarteners, "Think of others first." "You didn't make this mess, but let's work together to clean it up so we can have more time at recess."

Thank you, Tim Alberta...I have resolved to continue the protests and elect anyone but Trump...Keep revealing the truths in spite of Trump's hatred to journalists. Social media is a blessing and a curse...Why does he continue to rant his Tweets without censorship by his staff? (Or at least more effort by the staff)...I remember Walter Cronkite's calm voice on the news when I would come home from school...Those were trying times, but seem "white-washed" compared to what is happening now.

Outstanding Narration and Reporting

The narration of this in-depth but still taut recounting of the Republican party's decline into Trumpism is superb. One of the best political books I've read in years.

Fox, CNN, MSNBC and PBS tied together nicely.

It tied what I see on the news outlets nightly including Hannity together quite nicely.

Not much new here for politics junkies

A solid review of Republican shenanigans of the past decade, but comes up short on unique stories and novel insights.

Essential Reading

Tim Alberta has written a clear-eyed political history of the 21st century, so far. He has written a narrative, backed up by quotes and news events, that tells us how we came to where we are. And he offers a range of diagnoses and possible prescriptions to heal American politics. Highly recommended.

Illuminating look at the decline of a party

This was a good look at the last decade of the Republican party. The interviews and quotes from both current and former leaders of the party show how tiring and unrewarding it was to be leader of a republican party and go up against Trump who cared little for policy, platform, or beliefs.

A mostly evenhanded view of the Republican party..

...circa 2020 after the rise of Trump. Author sports a healthy liberal bias and is no fan of 45. Two minor quibbles: Trump was able to wrest control of the party away from its elders, and, in that sense, represents something of a "post-party" candidate who appeals to those who are fed up with their government (calling him a "populist" does no justice to Trump fans who aren't nationalists). Second quibble: Trump is almost always viewed through the lens of his oversized persona, hence there are too many repeated lib talking points about how the man who won the biggest upset in the history of politics is dumb and doesn't know what he is doing. I would pay good money to read this authors take on the Democratic Party, just to get the other side of the story.

p.s. This book is chock full of interesting anecdotes about political figures. Did you know that Trump saw star power in Ocasio-Cortez before her upset victory that led to her being seated in Congress?

the true story of the new Republican party

very informative and on the mark. I fear for the country but we have weathered worse

Bye bye GOP!!

As a Progressive Democrat, this book gives me great hope. The GOP is busy tearing itself apart to accommodate the craziness and illegality of trump, his family, and his administration. The future belongs to progressive multicultural Democrats as the republicans try to preserve their antebellum version of the USA. Great read.

Grand Ole Populists

The first half of Tim Alberta's book focuses on how the TEA Party insurgence turned itself into a predictable racket, perfecting as political strategy overpromising, under-delivering, and lashing out at detractors. The GOP was primed for a populist takeover but it took making peace with a celebrity to get the power and what happens when that celebrity leaves is anyone's guess.