What do you think?
Rate this book
Rasputin Swims the Potomac: A Novel
From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk comes a biting satire of American politics and a searingly intelligent novel about the cruel absurdities of contemporary life, centering on a world champion professional wrestler with presidential ambitions
Reporter Clarence Thomas Jr. is looking for a great story, former country music teen star Faith Spack has parlayed her fame into a job at the White House, and the two-term incumbent president is campaigning for a constitutionally dubious third term.
After an outbreak at a campaign rally, a mysterious new pandemic of “weeping sickness” sweeps the nation, threatening the president’s hold on the Oval Office. Desperate to retain power, he enlists the mystical pro wrestler Rasputin to help ensure his reelection and guarantee additional seasons of his presidential reality TV show, The Real West Wing.
But as Rasputin’s appeal threatens to exceed the president’s, and the wrestler’s supposedly supernatural powers start to seem like the real thing, the campaign finds itself trapped in a spandex-clad destiny no number of executive orders can control, one in which both Clarence and Faith are compelled to play increasingly large parts.
Hilarious, compelling, and tragically relevant, Rasputin Swims the Potomac is both an escape and a warning, a scathing satire that explores the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.
Reporter Clarence Thomas Jr. is looking for a great story, former country music teen star Faith Spack has parlayed her fame into a job at the White House, and the two-term incumbent president is campaigning for a constitutionally dubious third term.
After an outbreak at a campaign rally, a mysterious new pandemic of “weeping sickness” sweeps the nation, threatening the president’s hold on the Oval Office. Desperate to retain power, he enlists the mystical pro wrestler Rasputin to help ensure his reelection and guarantee additional seasons of his presidential reality TV show, The Real West Wing.
But as Rasputin’s appeal threatens to exceed the president’s, and the wrestler’s supposedly supernatural powers start to seem like the real thing, the campaign finds itself trapped in a spandex-clad destiny no number of executive orders can control, one in which both Clarence and Faith are compelled to play increasingly large parts.
Hilarious, compelling, and tragically relevant, Rasputin Swims the Potomac is both an escape and a warning, a scathing satire that explores the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.
407 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 9, 2026
About the author
Ben Fountain
13 books405 followersBen Fountain's fiction has appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope: All Story, and he has been awarded an O. Henry Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and the PEN/Hemingway Award. He lives with his wife and their two children in Dallas, Texas.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 9, 2026
The only person unsurprised by the upcoming cage match on the White House lawn is Ben Fountain. His absurd new novel, Rasputin Swims the Potomac, is so timely it should win a Pulitzer Prize for Clairvoyance.
Timidity has long been the scourge of Trump satires. Even using Trump Math, it’s essentially impossible to inflate the president’s unpresidented inanity. One grasping parody after another has fallen short of the “short-fingered vulgarian,” either by curdling into frustrated rage or by shrinking next to some previously unfathomable corruption from the White House.
Fountain’s genius is to imagine the president being eclipsed by a new charlatan that Trump’s reign of chaos has prepared our weary country to crave. “We are living,” he writes, “in the era of the great spin-up, the mass unmooring of the American mind.”
In the opening pages of Rasputin Swims the Potomac, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for the president to run for a third term, and Congress is considering a bill to outlaw the Democratic Party. Victory seems secure until trouble erupts at an all-White MAGA rally. Suddenly, a psychic shockwave rips through the crowd. Supporters decked out in red, white, and blue begin crying hysterically, “dissolving in fits of violent tears.”
The “weeping sickness” has struck America with “mass incontinence of the tear ducts.” The grief is spreading fast.
A battalion of blathering cable news anchors, sociologists, psychiatrists, and brain specialists expound on this “behavioral deviation of....
You can read the rest of this review for free on Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/ben...
Timidity has long been the scourge of Trump satires. Even using Trump Math, it’s essentially impossible to inflate the president’s unpresidented inanity. One grasping parody after another has fallen short of the “short-fingered vulgarian,” either by curdling into frustrated rage or by shrinking next to some previously unfathomable corruption from the White House.
Fountain’s genius is to imagine the president being eclipsed by a new charlatan that Trump’s reign of chaos has prepared our weary country to crave. “We are living,” he writes, “in the era of the great spin-up, the mass unmooring of the American mind.”
In the opening pages of Rasputin Swims the Potomac, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for the president to run for a third term, and Congress is considering a bill to outlaw the Democratic Party. Victory seems secure until trouble erupts at an all-White MAGA rally. Suddenly, a psychic shockwave rips through the crowd. Supporters decked out in red, white, and blue begin crying hysterically, “dissolving in fits of violent tears.”
The “weeping sickness” has struck America with “mass incontinence of the tear ducts.” The grief is spreading fast.
A battalion of blathering cable news anchors, sociologists, psychiatrists, and brain specialists expound on this “behavioral deviation of....
You can read the rest of this review for free on Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/ben...
May 19, 2026
Very funny and over the top. To be honest, I bet I would have enjoyed this much more if we were not right in the midst of the horror that is the current administration. Too soon.
June 19, 2026
More of a 4.8, because I am not really sure where the ending took us and I have many unanswered questions. But the journey was break-neck speed hilarious and so on-the-nose. I’ve really been needing someone to give me a way to see the humor in our current situation.
In the category of “truth is stranger than fiction,“ the UFC cage fight on the White House lawn for someone’s 80th birthday last week comes in just a smidge crazier than the plot of this novel. Kudos to Ben Fountain for his precient imagination.
Have to add a shout-out to the old KLIF studio. That is the radio station I grew up with in my hometown of big D.
In the category of “truth is stranger than fiction,“ the UFC cage fight on the White House lawn for someone’s 80th birthday last week comes in just a smidge crazier than the plot of this novel. Kudos to Ben Fountain for his precient imagination.
Have to add a shout-out to the old KLIF studio. That is the radio station I grew up with in my hometown of big D.
May 27, 2026
The Supreme Court has eased the way for BLEEP to run for a third term, Congress is on the verge of outlawing the Democratic Party, and there’s a hit reality show called “The Real West Wing.” But, at BLEEP’s recent rallies, his loyal followers have been erupting into uncontrollable sobbing. The only person who has the power to Stop the Sob is a man who goes by the name Rasputin. He’s a wrestler who likes all things Russian so of course he’s invited to the Oval Office and asked to consult (ie stop any more outbreaks), enabling BLEEP to resume his political rallies.
The premise would be even funnier if it weren’t a waking nightmare! The satire is propelled by a young blonde assistant press secretary for BLEEP who is a former reality TV star and an older black reporter from Texas named Clarence Thomas Jr. Throughout the audiobook, the current president is referred to as BLEEP (the word bleep, not the sound), presumably to avoid reprisals. The narrator doesn’t go too far (or far enough) in mocking the president’s unhinged speechifying, but the thoughts and deeds are all there for easy comparison. Enjoyable (and scary).
My thanks to the author, publisher, @MacmillanAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #RasputinSwimsthePotomac for review purposes. Publication date: 9 June 2026, just in time for the midterms…
The premise would be even funnier if it weren’t a waking nightmare! The satire is propelled by a young blonde assistant press secretary for BLEEP who is a former reality TV star and an older black reporter from Texas named Clarence Thomas Jr. Throughout the audiobook, the current president is referred to as BLEEP (the word bleep, not the sound), presumably to avoid reprisals. The narrator doesn’t go too far (or far enough) in mocking the president’s unhinged speechifying, but the thoughts and deeds are all there for easy comparison. Enjoyable (and scary).
My thanks to the author, publisher, @MacmillanAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #RasputinSwimsthePotomac for review purposes. Publication date: 9 June 2026, just in time for the midterms…
May 31, 2026
Funny, timely, and (shudder) probably uncomfortably prescient.
June 11, 2026
Audiobook Review: Rasputin Swims the Potomac by Ben Fountain
Ben Fountain’s Rasputin Swims the Potomac drops us into a near-future America where a president, referred to in the audiobook as “Bleep,” pursues a questionable third term, a national crying epidemic spreads without explanation, and political reality has fully collapsed into performance. Journalist Clarence Thomas Jr. and White House staffer Faith Spack move through this environment as reluctant translators of chaos, still trying to treat events like they can be reported in a straight line. Into this system arrives Rasputin, a professional wrestler claiming mystical inheritance, who becomes less a disruption than a logical outcome of how the country already functions.
The novel is most effective when it focuses on Clarence and Faith as parallel forms of exhaustion. Clarence operates like someone who has watched language lose its grip on events, still committed to documentation even as meaning evaporates in real time. Faith, embedded inside the White House machine, understands the opposite problem: everything is already language, messaging, and damage control, with reality arriving only after it has been processed into something usable. Neither character is positioned as transformative. They are observers with diminishing leverage, which makes their perspective more credible than heroic.
Rasputin’s rise gives the satire its sharpest edge. He is less a person than a container for attention, absorbing public anxiety, media hunger, and political desperation into a single spectacle that no institution can quite classify. Fountain is clearly interested in how quickly seriousness collapses when everything is competing for visibility, and how authority begins to resemble entertainment once enough people agree to treat it that way. The humor lands hardest in institutional responses, where officials attempt to manage increasingly surreal events using the same tired vocabulary of messaging, optics, and control.
The audiobook intensifies this effect through performance choices that emphasize mediation over immediacy. The rendering of the president as “Bleep” becomes more than a gag, turning political speech itself into something partially censored, partially stylized, and constantly filtered through broadcast logic. It makes the whole novel feel like it is already being processed for public consumption as it unfolds. By the end, the satire does not rely on escalation so much as recognition. The unsettling part is not how strange it becomes, but how little strain it takes to believe it already is.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Ben Fountain’s Rasputin Swims the Potomac drops us into a near-future America where a president, referred to in the audiobook as “Bleep,” pursues a questionable third term, a national crying epidemic spreads without explanation, and political reality has fully collapsed into performance. Journalist Clarence Thomas Jr. and White House staffer Faith Spack move through this environment as reluctant translators of chaos, still trying to treat events like they can be reported in a straight line. Into this system arrives Rasputin, a professional wrestler claiming mystical inheritance, who becomes less a disruption than a logical outcome of how the country already functions.
The novel is most effective when it focuses on Clarence and Faith as parallel forms of exhaustion. Clarence operates like someone who has watched language lose its grip on events, still committed to documentation even as meaning evaporates in real time. Faith, embedded inside the White House machine, understands the opposite problem: everything is already language, messaging, and damage control, with reality arriving only after it has been processed into something usable. Neither character is positioned as transformative. They are observers with diminishing leverage, which makes their perspective more credible than heroic.
Rasputin’s rise gives the satire its sharpest edge. He is less a person than a container for attention, absorbing public anxiety, media hunger, and political desperation into a single spectacle that no institution can quite classify. Fountain is clearly interested in how quickly seriousness collapses when everything is competing for visibility, and how authority begins to resemble entertainment once enough people agree to treat it that way. The humor lands hardest in institutional responses, where officials attempt to manage increasingly surreal events using the same tired vocabulary of messaging, optics, and control.
The audiobook intensifies this effect through performance choices that emphasize mediation over immediacy. The rendering of the president as “Bleep” becomes more than a gag, turning political speech itself into something partially censored, partially stylized, and constantly filtered through broadcast logic. It makes the whole novel feel like it is already being processed for public consumption as it unfolds. By the end, the satire does not rely on escalation so much as recognition. The unsettling part is not how strange it becomes, but how little strain it takes to believe it already is.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.
May 31, 2026
I read an ARC provided by Netgalley*
The premise of this book piqued my interest but I really had no idea how enthralling and eerily parallel to real life this book would end up being. I truly enjoyed reading it from start to stop. If you are not a fan of Donald Trump then you will love this book as well. Rasputin stealing Melania from Donny was the icing on the cake. A couple of things I wish had gone differently:
- I wish Faith had taken back some of her own agency and leaked all of the trash and filth she had on both campaigns. I know we aren’t really supposed to like her, but I wish she would have had a different type of ending.
- Harvey should have died lol idc he sucks. Of course he doesn’t worry about birth control that’s silly women’s problems /s
- I think they really should have killed Rasputin at the end. It would have been interesting to martyr him in that way.
Clarence was the best, I enjoyed his POVs the most. I highly recommend reading this. I liked it so much I bought my own physical copy to keep.
The premise of this book piqued my interest but I really had no idea how enthralling and eerily parallel to real life this book would end up being. I truly enjoyed reading it from start to stop. If you are not a fan of Donald Trump then you will love this book as well. Rasputin stealing Melania from Donny was the icing on the cake. A couple of things I wish had gone differently:
- I wish Faith had taken back some of her own agency and leaked all of the trash and filth she had on both campaigns. I know we aren’t really supposed to like her, but I wish she would have had a different type of ending.
- Harvey should have died lol idc he sucks. Of course he doesn’t worry about birth control that’s silly women’s problems /s
- I think they really should have killed Rasputin at the end. It would have been interesting to martyr him in that way.
Clarence was the best, I enjoyed his POVs the most. I highly recommend reading this. I liked it so much I bought my own physical copy to keep.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2026
As someone who is not thrilled by the current state of politics, I was hesitant to read a political book, but after seeing other reviews decided to give it a try and I really enjoyed this!
Not-so-disguised President Bleep is running for a third term, but when a “weeping sickness” overtakes the nation, he calls to his friend, pro wrestler Rasputin for help. Rasputin believes himself to be The Rasputin Himself reincarnated, and later decides to run for president as well…
Our narrators are a minor celebrity named Faith, who is one of Bleep’s staffers, and a retired-professor-turned-reporter named Clarence Thomas (not to be confused with the other guy) who unwittingly becomes Rasputin's confidant.
The narrator is entertaining, and his Bleep impression is accurate enough to be amusing (but not so accurate that you can't stand to listen to it). My favorite bits are when he's reading misspelled memos and sounding confused as to what they're trying to say.
This book is a wild adventure and with as…. interesting….as the news has been lately it might not be too far off the mark, despite being a satire. However, it was super enjoyable the whole way through and I look forward to reading more of Ben Fountain's work. Thank you very much to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ALC and the opportunity to provide my honest thoughts.
Not-so-disguised President Bleep is running for a third term, but when a “weeping sickness” overtakes the nation, he calls to his friend, pro wrestler Rasputin for help. Rasputin believes himself to be The Rasputin Himself reincarnated, and later decides to run for president as well…
Our narrators are a minor celebrity named Faith, who is one of Bleep’s staffers, and a retired-professor-turned-reporter named Clarence Thomas (not to be confused with the other guy) who unwittingly becomes Rasputin's confidant.
The narrator is entertaining, and his Bleep impression is accurate enough to be amusing (but not so accurate that you can't stand to listen to it). My favorite bits are when he's reading misspelled memos and sounding confused as to what they're trying to say.
This book is a wild adventure and with as…. interesting….as the news has been lately it might not be too far off the mark, despite being a satire. However, it was super enjoyable the whole way through and I look forward to reading more of Ben Fountain's work. Thank you very much to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ALC and the opportunity to provide my honest thoughts.
June 9, 2026
Loved. Would have been 5 stars but I felt like we were missing something with the ending.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Rasputin swims The Potomac by Ben Fountain, when the book starts the character XX who is also America’s president is giving a speech when people in the front row start weeping they’re crying others are beating them up, due to the fact XX called them agitators but he would soon learn just like the rest of the country that this is a phenomenon sweeping America the weeping that is. A black reporter named Clarence Thomas (no relation to the Supreme Court Justice) works for a very little funded online paper called “The Dallas Star” just so happened to be at the speech that night but moving on to the next morning this is when we meet another POV Faith Harris a former reality star and current media manager for the White House. In the beginning of the book Faith has a slight crush and lots of affection for XX, his kids not so much. so when she gets a text while on a first date telling her to get to the White House immediately, that’s exactly what she does. When she shows up she notices that XX and XX Junior are watching wrestling it seems they just saw Rasputin curing people of the weeping disease. With a hug and a few words everyone at the wrestling match was cured. This is why he tells Faith they must get Rasputin the wrestler to endorse XX but what Rasputin eventually does is not only not endorse him but actually run against him so the president goes from telling everyone what a great guy Rasputin is to what a horrible horrible man he is, that wrestling is fake and he’s not even really Russian. To top it off Rasputin is gonna swim from an island in the Pacific to the mainland and although his backers say he’s doing it to reinforce his faith because that’s what he did back in Russia when he was in the monastery. If you think this is enough for a plot well trust me there’s lots more and it is such a great book I gave this book 5 stars cause it hits all the notes that make a great book compelling writing and interesting plot a great momentum in this book is longer than an average book but I read it all in one city I did not want to put this book down at all it’s not only funny you can absolutely tell the author knew his subject it was just a great book a great awesome phenomenal well done fantastic better than anything else type of book I wish I could scream it from the rooftops I can’t believe there’s only 12 reviews on this great great book watch when it comes out and word-of-mouth gets around everyone’s gonna be talking about this book. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book was a timely and humorous take on current political happenings in the US. Set in the future (though it doesn't feel far off), President BLEEP, who is very clearly meant to be Trump, has decided to run for his third term in office. When an epidemic of a weeping virus takes over the public, BLEEP finds Rasputin, a pro wrestler, is the only one who can offer relief to those afflicted. Rasputin is presented like a modern-day second coming of Jesus, making seemingly miraculous acts that he attributes to god, but with the complications of present human life. When Rasputin decides to run for president, we see the events unfold through the lens of a former white house worker and semi-retired professor turned reporter. The characters remain gray, and the audience is never clear on who the 'good guys' really are, if such a thing even exists.
I enjoyed this book overall, especially as someone who is continually frustrated by the state of politics in our country. This felt very timely and a little cathartic. I thought the book was well-written and clever; I had no idea where it was going, but I was happily along for the ride. In some ways, this book reminded me of Carl Hiaasen's writing, which, in my mind, is a compliment. My only complaint is the ending! Alone in my room, I found myself saying out loud, "That's it?!?!" I feel like I know what the author was trying to achieve with this choice, but after so much time invested in the story, this felt very anticlimactic and a bit frustrating. On the other hand, those are the exact feelings a lot of us have while watching political leadership and subsequent choices unfold, so I guess it was on the nose...
I received an advanced audio copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I thought the narration was extremely well done and really added to my enjoyment of this book. The pacing, use of accents, and various tones were spot on.
I enjoyed this book overall, especially as someone who is continually frustrated by the state of politics in our country. This felt very timely and a little cathartic. I thought the book was well-written and clever; I had no idea where it was going, but I was happily along for the ride. In some ways, this book reminded me of Carl Hiaasen's writing, which, in my mind, is a compliment. My only complaint is the ending! Alone in my room, I found myself saying out loud, "That's it?!?!" I feel like I know what the author was trying to achieve with this choice, but after so much time invested in the story, this felt very anticlimactic and a bit frustrating. On the other hand, those are the exact feelings a lot of us have while watching political leadership and subsequent choices unfold, so I guess it was on the nose...
I received an advanced audio copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I thought the narration was extremely well done and really added to my enjoyment of this book. The pacing, use of accents, and various tones were spot on.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A modern day Animal Farm. There was so much meaning behind everything and I'm sure I've missed a lot of it. Being a Canadian I'm able to choose how much of the disastrous American politics I am aware of, so I am certain a lot of little details slipped past me. However, I am, most unfortunately, in Alberta where our current political party is being referred to as Maple MAGA, so there are definitely some political overlaps.
This book really gives you a lot to sink your teeth into and I'm sure it will remain on my mind for quite some time as I try and figure it all out. I am left with oh so many questions (which I do believe is intentionally done, as even Clarence ends the book asking a question). The goal of satire is to make people think and look at things in a new light, this has given me so much to ponder.
Quotes I especially enjoyed:
-"This president, who is known to spend hours listening to the council of top advisors, then he'll ask a passing waiter for his opinion and follow that."
-"The unstated moral of the story, you don't have to be stupid to act stupid, but it helps"
-"I have seen the true face of BLEEP. I have seen him with these eyes that learned from the elders of the ancient Holy Rus, an entire millenium of grappling with the mysteries of faith...and I believe that BLEEP is infected with the spiritual disease of narcissism. And his is the most malignant species of this infection, he is the narcissist who has fallen into the abyss of nihilism. If he cannot be the sum and center of the world, the world cannot be permitted to exist. His mind cannot conceive it, his ego will not allow it."
-"Two things he's learned in the second act of his reporting career; one: the longer you talk to right wingers the angrier they get, two: many of them, the men especially, seem to have only the haziest notion of how human reproduction works."
This book really gives you a lot to sink your teeth into and I'm sure it will remain on my mind for quite some time as I try and figure it all out. I am left with oh so many questions (which I do believe is intentionally done, as even Clarence ends the book asking a question). The goal of satire is to make people think and look at things in a new light, this has given me so much to ponder.
Quotes I especially enjoyed:
-"This president, who is known to spend hours listening to the council of top advisors, then he'll ask a passing waiter for his opinion and follow that."
-"The unstated moral of the story, you don't have to be stupid to act stupid, but it helps"
-"I have seen the true face of BLEEP. I have seen him with these eyes that learned from the elders of the ancient Holy Rus, an entire millenium of grappling with the mysteries of faith...and I believe that BLEEP is infected with the spiritual disease of narcissism. And his is the most malignant species of this infection, he is the narcissist who has fallen into the abyss of nihilism. If he cannot be the sum and center of the world, the world cannot be permitted to exist. His mind cannot conceive it, his ego will not allow it."
-"Two things he's learned in the second act of his reporting career; one: the longer you talk to right wingers the angrier they get, two: many of them, the men especially, seem to have only the haziest notion of how human reproduction works."
June 10, 2026
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗦
In the not so distant future (2028), a sitting president decides to f*ck the constitution and run for a third term.
Faith, a member of his staff and former reality TV star herself, works on the campaign, enjoying unprecedented access to our not at all disguised current President.
When an outbreak of “the weeps” sweeps the nation - a sickness that causes people to lose their sh*t in sobbing fits - things get dicey.
Enter pro wrestler Rasputin, who, by laying his hands upon the weepers, can cure them. He’s charismatic and beloved and maybe running for president himself?
Clarence Thomas (not THAT one) is a reporter on the job, following the campaign closely. A Black man with no misgivings about the current state of affairs, he’s given access to Rasputin others dream of, and he watches everything unfold from a front row seat.
𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦
Well this is the political satire I came here for. Absolutely delivered. It’s wildly sharp, disturbingly prescient, wonderfully fresh.
I think what I liked most was the balance between sharp commentary and absolute hilarity. The exploration of current politics - with a nod toward professional wrestling’s “is it real or is it fake” line in the sand - with a focus on fame, power, and narcissism might hit too close to home for some but I ate it up.
[redacted]’s monologues might be too on the nose for some, but the First Lady subplot fed me.
𝗩𝗜𝗕𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗖𝗞
Satire along the lines of Lamb or Veep.
𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗
Only if you can handle it. But if you can, you MUST.
As someone who considers herself a thinker, I was surprised but how much this book made me think.
In the not so distant future (2028), a sitting president decides to f*ck the constitution and run for a third term.
Faith, a member of his staff and former reality TV star herself, works on the campaign, enjoying unprecedented access to our not at all disguised current President.
When an outbreak of “the weeps” sweeps the nation - a sickness that causes people to lose their sh*t in sobbing fits - things get dicey.
Enter pro wrestler Rasputin, who, by laying his hands upon the weepers, can cure them. He’s charismatic and beloved and maybe running for president himself?
Clarence Thomas (not THAT one) is a reporter on the job, following the campaign closely. A Black man with no misgivings about the current state of affairs, he’s given access to Rasputin others dream of, and he watches everything unfold from a front row seat.
𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦
Well this is the political satire I came here for. Absolutely delivered. It’s wildly sharp, disturbingly prescient, wonderfully fresh.
I think what I liked most was the balance between sharp commentary and absolute hilarity. The exploration of current politics - with a nod toward professional wrestling’s “is it real or is it fake” line in the sand - with a focus on fame, power, and narcissism might hit too close to home for some but I ate it up.
[redacted]’s monologues might be too on the nose for some, but the First Lady subplot fed me.
𝗩𝗜𝗕𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗖𝗞
Satire along the lines of Lamb or Veep.
𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗
Only if you can handle it. But if you can, you MUST.
As someone who considers herself a thinker, I was surprised but how much this book made me think.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Sometimes you just feel like a book is written for you. I'm happy to report, 'Rasputin Swims the Potomac' is one of those books for this reviewer. Professional wrestling meets political satire that feels way, way too real at some points, but often leaves you laughing.
Professional Wrestling champion Rasputin is invited by the President (the orange one, sort of, maybe, definitely is you know who) to the White House to help him secure a questionable third term the supreme court has cleared the way for. See, this feels all too real and scary. This, after Rasputin shows an ability during a wrestling television show to 'cure' the newly emerging 'Weeping Sickness' that's hitting the country.
Throughout the book the characters of Clarence Thomas Jr (no relation) and Faith Spacks share as being the focal point while giving the reader a view into the insane (and as I already mentioned, way too real) political landscape of the United States. All of the characters, including the president, first lady and Rasputin all felt real. It's hard to explain, but this book felt like an odd non-fiction account of what could happen. It's that real. Kudos to Ben Fountain for using the bizarre world we live in to spin off this story.
The only downside for me was the ending left a bit to be desired but I'm hoping a sequel is in the works...
If you hate MAGA and could use a dark laugh during these tough times, this book is for you.
Thank you to Netgalley, Flatiron Books and Ben Fountain for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Professional Wrestling champion Rasputin is invited by the President (the orange one, sort of, maybe, definitely is you know who) to the White House to help him secure a questionable third term the supreme court has cleared the way for. See, this feels all too real and scary. This, after Rasputin shows an ability during a wrestling television show to 'cure' the newly emerging 'Weeping Sickness' that's hitting the country.
Throughout the book the characters of Clarence Thomas Jr (no relation) and Faith Spacks share as being the focal point while giving the reader a view into the insane (and as I already mentioned, way too real) political landscape of the United States. All of the characters, including the president, first lady and Rasputin all felt real. It's hard to explain, but this book felt like an odd non-fiction account of what could happen. It's that real. Kudos to Ben Fountain for using the bizarre world we live in to spin off this story.
The only downside for me was the ending left a bit to be desired but I'm hoping a sequel is in the works...
If you hate MAGA and could use a dark laugh during these tough times, this book is for you.
Thank you to Netgalley, Flatiron Books and Ben Fountain for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
How do you satirize these here times we live in? Everything is already farcical so what can fiction do? I guess the answer is to center the story on a few fictional characters rather than the already absurd pols we're stuck with. What you get is our current president running for a now-legal third term, inviting a professional wrestler (inhabiting the persona of Rasputin) to be his running mate, observed by a journalist named Clarence Thomas Jr and a staffer who might be playing both sides. Rasputin, whose charisma can cure the weeping sickness afflicting MAGA America, becomes a movement sweeping into what is supposed to be President Bleep's victory tour after the Supreme Court grants a shot at a third term....and then is inevitably derailed (or is he) into a sex scandal because what's politics without one of those.
Honestly, 90% of it doesn't even read as satire, it's too plausible from where we're sitting now. Things that I think are supposed to register as bizarre, in the way that professional wrestling is bizarre, could be another headline in the news. I guess the ending, featuring the titular swim, is more unusual than most things so the ending left me with a little WTF but mostly this book is good for a chuckle and a wink that we, the audience, are at least all interpreting events similarly.
I liked the audio reasonably well, although the narrator's Bleep impression wasn't consistent enough; occasionally it was unsettlingly spot on, but mostly it blended in or become generic NY-ish.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!
Honestly, 90% of it doesn't even read as satire, it's too plausible from where we're sitting now. Things that I think are supposed to register as bizarre, in the way that professional wrestling is bizarre, could be another headline in the news. I guess the ending, featuring the titular swim, is more unusual than most things so the ending left me with a little WTF but mostly this book is good for a chuckle and a wink that we, the audience, are at least all interpreting events similarly.
I liked the audio reasonably well, although the narrator's Bleep impression wasn't consistent enough; occasionally it was unsettlingly spot on, but mostly it blended in or become generic NY-ish.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A fantastically hilarious read satirizing our politics and bringing readers a bit of fun in our dark days
Supposedly set in the future, the current President is thinking about a third term during which the “weeping and wailing” sickness has overtaken the country. Once the third term is approved by the Supreme Court and announced to a MAGA rally, mass sobbing ensues, followed by attacks in the weepers and a violent police attack. Meanwhile, the event between the wrestler, Rasputin, and Odo Olympo, his opponent, is interrupted by mass weeping. Rasputin goes into the crowd and hugs each weeper giving them joy. Rasputin is then given an invitation by the President to be his VP. And, then it’s a romp into all the craziness we are living through today. Finally, as one reviewer stated “the current administration is given the book it deserves.”
This is perfect book for lovers of satire and detesters of MAGA. Loved it.
My thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for giving me access to this ARC.
Supposedly set in the future, the current President is thinking about a third term during which the “weeping and wailing” sickness has overtaken the country. Once the third term is approved by the Supreme Court and announced to a MAGA rally, mass sobbing ensues, followed by attacks in the weepers and a violent police attack. Meanwhile, the event between the wrestler, Rasputin, and Odo Olympo, his opponent, is interrupted by mass weeping. Rasputin goes into the crowd and hugs each weeper giving them joy. Rasputin is then given an invitation by the President to be his VP. And, then it’s a romp into all the craziness we are living through today. Finally, as one reviewer stated “the current administration is given the book it deserves.”
This is perfect book for lovers of satire and detesters of MAGA. Loved it.
My thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for giving me access to this ARC.
June 20, 2026
Tediously long and unmemorable road to the primaries. It was trying to be bleak but it turned out chuckle worthy and unsophisticated, corresponding to the author's opinions on the state of US politics at the moment. I don't stand by him in his opinions but nevertheless I was ready to have a good time with it, which I didn't.
As much as the plot was disappointing, the characters were interesting twists on American stereotypes, I enjoyed spending time with each of them. Faith, the former child star of a reality singing show turned political advisor of sort; Clarence, a black academic turned journalist from Texas as the cynical side break. Most of all I liked the characterization of the titular man, Rasputin, a US army veteran who'd spent year in Russia and ended up as a sweet- talking Latin lover type, a pro wrestler who lives in a mansion with young women running around, affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church that wins the nation's heart even though his political agenda is never really revealed beyond universal love and a whole hearted "it'll be all right" mentality.
As much as the plot was disappointing, the characters were interesting twists on American stereotypes, I enjoyed spending time with each of them. Faith, the former child star of a reality singing show turned political advisor of sort; Clarence, a black academic turned journalist from Texas as the cynical side break. Most of all I liked the characterization of the titular man, Rasputin, a US army veteran who'd spent year in Russia and ended up as a sweet- talking Latin lover type, a pro wrestler who lives in a mansion with young women running around, affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church that wins the nation's heart even though his political agenda is never really revealed beyond universal love and a whole hearted "it'll be all right" mentality.
June 10, 2026
Rasputin Swims the Potomac
Ben Fountain
Publication Date: June 9, 2026
ARC courtesy of Flatiron Books and NetGalley.
Rasputin Swims the Potomac is Ben Fountain’s political satire set in the near future, with the American President seeking an unconstitutional third term. The nation is beset with an epidemic of the “Weeps,” causing uncontrollable sobbing that professional wrestler Rasputin apparently is the only one who has the solution to.
Told from two perspectives – that of White House staffer Faith Spack, and journalist Clarence Thomas, Jr. - Rasputin Swims the Potomac is clearly a jab at the current administration. A previous reviewer hit the nail on the head that current politics are already so bizarre that this novel, in all its exaggeration, feels kind of tame. The way things are, the old adage holds true – you can’t make this sh*t up.
Ben Fountain
Publication Date: June 9, 2026
ARC courtesy of Flatiron Books and NetGalley.
Rasputin Swims the Potomac is Ben Fountain’s political satire set in the near future, with the American President seeking an unconstitutional third term. The nation is beset with an epidemic of the “Weeps,” causing uncontrollable sobbing that professional wrestler Rasputin apparently is the only one who has the solution to.
Told from two perspectives – that of White House staffer Faith Spack, and journalist Clarence Thomas, Jr. - Rasputin Swims the Potomac is clearly a jab at the current administration. A previous reviewer hit the nail on the head that current politics are already so bizarre that this novel, in all its exaggeration, feels kind of tame. The way things are, the old adage holds true – you can’t make this sh*t up.
June 7, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio and Flatiron Books for the ALC/ARC of this book. I am leaving my review voluntarily.
I think listening to the audiobook made this book so much more enjoyable (I also read along with the ebook). In my opinion, the narrator did an amazing job of bringing out the humor of this book. They really brought the story and the characters to life. It was amazing that one person was voicing all these different characters.
I was really impressed by how much this book read like a satire and also like a scenario that I could absolutely see playing out in real life with our current political climate. This story was over the top and funny but also kind of sad because of how close to real life it felt. If you enjoy political satire, this book is definitely worth a read. I highly recommend the audiobook!
I think listening to the audiobook made this book so much more enjoyable (I also read along with the ebook). In my opinion, the narrator did an amazing job of bringing out the humor of this book. They really brought the story and the characters to life. It was amazing that one person was voicing all these different characters.
I was really impressed by how much this book read like a satire and also like a scenario that I could absolutely see playing out in real life with our current political climate. This story was over the top and funny but also kind of sad because of how close to real life it felt. If you enjoy political satire, this book is definitely worth a read. I highly recommend the audiobook!
June 19, 2026
I am something of a dogged loyalist to finishing a book, because even a story with a bad ending is better, in my mind, than a story without an ending.
Imagine my dismay when I arrive at the ending to find it has none. This is not some sort of “interpret as you will…” metaphorical cliffhanger, it just stops. It reads like a chapter got lost in the mail and no one noticed.
Did the editor fall asleep? Did the author?
The story is entertaining in the way that reality television is entertaining. The book simultaneously makes a spectacle of itself while looking down its proverbial nose at such diversions. It’s an easy read and who among us doesn’t love a little schadenfreude?
Though, I have to feel badly for poor Clarence, the reporter, because all of his dialogue and inner narrative read like the author wrote him during Fall term after discovering Baldwin over summer break.
Imagine my dismay when I arrive at the ending to find it has none. This is not some sort of “interpret as you will…” metaphorical cliffhanger, it just stops. It reads like a chapter got lost in the mail and no one noticed.
Did the editor fall asleep? Did the author?
The story is entertaining in the way that reality television is entertaining. The book simultaneously makes a spectacle of itself while looking down its proverbial nose at such diversions. It’s an easy read and who among us doesn’t love a little schadenfreude?
Though, I have to feel badly for poor Clarence, the reporter, because all of his dialogue and inner narrative read like the author wrote him during Fall term after discovering Baldwin over summer break.
June 9, 2026
*Review of advanced copy provided by NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read early.*
3.5 stars, rounded down. This was…a ride. At times it is bitingly funny, like laugh out loud - that did happen a few years ago, oh my I forgot about that, funny. And at other times I was setting it aside and picking up something lighter because the answer to “is this play about us?” - is very unfortunately - yes.
My gripe here is mostly with the ending, there is an absolutely ton of build up, like 300 pages of build up, and it felt very fizzled. Is Rasputin acting? Why? What is his motive? Is it just because he can? Is it to take to down *insert name here*?
Definitely worth the read if you like a good satire, and you’re at least somewhat comfortable with laughing at the state of the union.
3.5 stars, rounded down. This was…a ride. At times it is bitingly funny, like laugh out loud - that did happen a few years ago, oh my I forgot about that, funny. And at other times I was setting it aside and picking up something lighter because the answer to “is this play about us?” - is very unfortunately - yes.
My gripe here is mostly with the ending, there is an absolutely ton of build up, like 300 pages of build up, and it felt very fizzled. Is Rasputin acting? Why? What is his motive? Is it just because he can? Is it to take to down *insert name here*?
Definitely worth the read if you like a good satire, and you’re at least somewhat comfortable with laughing at the state of the union.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is the first book that I have read by Ben Fountain and I loved it from page one!
This book is set in the future but has a very real current event feel to it. Dripping in craziness that mirrors the current administration, this book is a funny read that is laugh out loud funny in places making dealing with current events a little more pleasant. I also felt that it had some Primary Colors vibes to it in its absurdity.
I laughed through this book and honestly only chose it because the title intrigued me. I'm so glad that I decided to enjoy this book early and would recommend it to others.
This book is set in the future but has a very real current event feel to it. Dripping in craziness that mirrors the current administration, this book is a funny read that is laugh out loud funny in places making dealing with current events a little more pleasant. I also felt that it had some Primary Colors vibes to it in its absurdity.
I laughed through this book and honestly only chose it because the title intrigued me. I'm so glad that I decided to enjoy this book early and would recommend it to others.
May 31, 2026
I went into this book knowing it was an absurd political satire about *BLEEPS* 3rd term reelection BUT I really didn’t know what to expect. This book did not disappoint. It was definitely absurd and wacky. You honestly have no idea what’s going to come out of the presidents mouth.. which sounds awfully familiar 👀. This book is very relatable to current political times which makes the humour so much better.
I loved that we got POVs from the president AND his staff. The narrator did a great job representing each character. The narrator made voice changes for each characters and that was a great way to keep track of who was talking and which persons POV it was.
I loved that we got POVs from the president AND his staff. The narrator did a great job representing each character. The narrator made voice changes for each characters and that was a great way to keep track of who was talking and which persons POV it was.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This book was one of the first bitingly funny things I have read about this "bring you to tears" second Trump administration. From the first page the absurdity of what is being done and how power is being wielded was "laugh out loud" funny. My favorite character was Clarence Thomas, not the Supreme Court Justice, but a black reporter for middling newspaper. Finished some time back, it was a little like reading the morning news....how could Ben Fountain possibly know the future! Was a masterpiece lol
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
This book was one of the first bitingly funny things I have read about this “bring you to tears” second Trump administration. From the first page the absurdity of what is being done and how power is being wielded was “laugh out loud” funny. My favorite character was Clarence Thomas, not the Supreme Court Justice, but a black reporter for middling newspaper. Finished some time back, it was a little like reading the morning news….how could Ben Fountain possibly know the future?
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I thought when I requested it that I could handle a satire of Tr*mp but turns out I couldn’t. It was too close to reality. In fact, ’s behavior in the book wasn’t even as awful as Tr*mp in real life. I couldn’t laugh because it was just too real. There’s a UFC fighting rink being built in front of the White House; we’re basically living this timeline. Terrifying, not funny. I skimmed the last 2/3 because I wasn’t enjoying it.
June 14, 2026
I don’t really know how to rate this book. There were times when this book had me laughing at loud but a decent amount of the time I was just sitting there saying “um ok I guess”. This book is a parody about our current political state and how the next election might go. It’s obviously about Trump which some people will like and others will hate. The pacing was off to me which I think made it only 3 stars. Some moments just seemed to drag on…
Read
June 20, 2026A twisting and biting dark satire that takes on the current political climate. It is both surreal and also so close to reality that I had to take breaks because it hit a little too close to home. It has been some time since I so desperately wanted to finish a book just to know where this could all possibly be going…hopeful? Are we all doomed? The book leaves the reader with more fascinating mysteries than answers.
Book was received through Goodreads Giveaway.
Book was received through Goodreads Giveaway.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I got this e-arc from NetGalley. I read about 50% of this and I had to end the torture.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This is a blast to read and hits pretty close to home on our absurd political system right now.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews