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Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era
"We badly need [this] book.” —Tina Brown
A devastating reckoning with the people and institutions whose failure to stand up to Trump’s brazen grab for authoritarian power has been particularly shocking and consequential
It may be scant solace, but history will be particularly harsh to a subset of Trump enablers with a few key things in They have money and power. They represent intuitions that are central in determining whether America remains a free, functioning democracy or not. And they absolutely know better. History starts now.
In Profiles in Cowardice, Jacob Weisberg has written one of the first defining books of the Trump Era—how this pitch-black political moment happened, why so few resisted, and what it reveals about the character of American leadership.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon, and Big Tech. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone, and Wall Street. Brad Karp, Paul, Weiss, and Big Law. Mitch McConnell and the United States Senate. Eight individuals in all, together forming an entwined network of power in America, and a new way to understand how authoritarianism can take root in an open society—not by overthrowing institutions, but by bending and bullying them into submission.
The book is a masterful study of the ways people create rationalizations to justify basic human instincts such as greed, vanity and fear—above all fear. Fear is the great enemy of democracy, and the book illuminates how it operates, how it disguises itself, and how it spreads. The book is its profiles are case studies, but they are also mirrors. They ask readers to examine their own instincts, their own silences, their own thresholds for action. This is not a morality tale with easy villains. It is an attempt to describe the moral mechanics of democratic failure. By studying that failure up close, we may better understand what courage truly requires—and why it is so rarely summoned when it matters most.
A devastating reckoning with the people and institutions whose failure to stand up to Trump’s brazen grab for authoritarian power has been particularly shocking and consequential
It may be scant solace, but history will be particularly harsh to a subset of Trump enablers with a few key things in They have money and power. They represent intuitions that are central in determining whether America remains a free, functioning democracy or not. And they absolutely know better. History starts now.
In Profiles in Cowardice, Jacob Weisberg has written one of the first defining books of the Trump Era—how this pitch-black political moment happened, why so few resisted, and what it reveals about the character of American leadership.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon, and Big Tech. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone, and Wall Street. Brad Karp, Paul, Weiss, and Big Law. Mitch McConnell and the United States Senate. Eight individuals in all, together forming an entwined network of power in America, and a new way to understand how authoritarianism can take root in an open society—not by overthrowing institutions, but by bending and bullying them into submission.
The book is a masterful study of the ways people create rationalizations to justify basic human instincts such as greed, vanity and fear—above all fear. Fear is the great enemy of democracy, and the book illuminates how it operates, how it disguises itself, and how it spreads. The book is its profiles are case studies, but they are also mirrors. They ask readers to examine their own instincts, their own silences, their own thresholds for action. This is not a morality tale with easy villains. It is an attempt to describe the moral mechanics of democratic failure. By studying that failure up close, we may better understand what courage truly requires—and why it is so rarely summoned when it matters most.
Audiobook
First published January 1, 2026
About the author
Jacob Weisberg
27 books26 followersJacob Weisberg (born 1964) is an American political journalist, who served as editor-in-chief of The Slate Group, a division of Graham Holdings Company. In September 2018, he left Slate to co-found Pushkin Industries, an audio content company, with Malcolm Gladwell. Weisberg was also a Newsweek columnist. He served as the editor of Slate magazine for six years before stepping down in June 2008. He is the son of Lois Weisberg, a Chicago social activist and municipal commissioner.
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was a book I was excited to return to night after night, even though its unsettling profiles of powerful individuals who have cowered in the face of authoritarian pressure ought to make me feel demoralized. Somehow it doesn't. Not only are the eight profiles of a wide range of individuals, but the form of each profile--each a similar page length--was easy to digest, even on subjects and histories I was only passively aware of.
Each profile details a sector of our culture, focusing on one representative individual, that once stood firm against Donald Trump's authoritarian actions in his first term but quickly keeled over in his second term. The legal sphere as well as finance, business, journalism, higher education, and the federal government itself (Congress, the Executive branch, and the Supreme Court) have all failed the massive stress tests imposed by the Trump regime. Jacob Weisberg approaches each sector with the same level-headed and heavily researched critique.
Perhaps the most powerful chapters are "Mean Girl (Megyn Kelly)", "Old Crow (Mitch McConnell)", and "Umpire (John Roberts)" for how well Weisberg elucidates the stakes of each individual's capitulation to Trump and its significance for their fields more broadly (journalism, Congress, and the judiciary, respectively). And yet the weakest chapters may be "Trekkie (Jeff Bezos)" and "Expressionist (George W Bush)" for how they felt more manifestly biographical instead of incisive and contextual. But I read every word all the same.
Most importantly, Weisberg lists the five principal factors that commonly lead to capitulation (in most social circumstances):
1) Peer Pressure 2) Fear of being ostracized 3) Fear of violence 4) Money 5) Institutional responsibility (or preservation)
He also pairs these with five ways to approach and prepare for resistance to fascism:
1) Pre-thinking (or, knowing the principles you are willing to act on) 2) Building a habit of resistance 3) Demonstrating decency through everyday action 4) Institutional leadership 5) Public shaming
Weisberg begins the book with a nod toward grace for the individuals profiled here, saying how each of us cannot truly know what we would do in any given high-pressure situation until we find ourselves in that moment. I agree with this. But I think most of us will look back on 2025 and beyond with a sense of shame for our country and those entrusted to lead it. We must recognize our faults so that we can correct them. The more people that read this book and internalize its lessons, the better off collectively we will become.
Each profile details a sector of our culture, focusing on one representative individual, that once stood firm against Donald Trump's authoritarian actions in his first term but quickly keeled over in his second term. The legal sphere as well as finance, business, journalism, higher education, and the federal government itself (Congress, the Executive branch, and the Supreme Court) have all failed the massive stress tests imposed by the Trump regime. Jacob Weisberg approaches each sector with the same level-headed and heavily researched critique.
Perhaps the most powerful chapters are "Mean Girl (Megyn Kelly)", "Old Crow (Mitch McConnell)", and "Umpire (John Roberts)" for how well Weisberg elucidates the stakes of each individual's capitulation to Trump and its significance for their fields more broadly (journalism, Congress, and the judiciary, respectively). And yet the weakest chapters may be "Trekkie (Jeff Bezos)" and "Expressionist (George W Bush)" for how they felt more manifestly biographical instead of incisive and contextual. But I read every word all the same.
Most importantly, Weisberg lists the five principal factors that commonly lead to capitulation (in most social circumstances):
1) Peer Pressure 2) Fear of being ostracized 3) Fear of violence 4) Money 5) Institutional responsibility (or preservation)
He also pairs these with five ways to approach and prepare for resistance to fascism:
1) Pre-thinking (or, knowing the principles you are willing to act on) 2) Building a habit of resistance 3) Demonstrating decency through everyday action 4) Institutional leadership 5) Public shaming
Weisberg begins the book with a nod toward grace for the individuals profiled here, saying how each of us cannot truly know what we would do in any given high-pressure situation until we find ourselves in that moment. I agree with this. But I think most of us will look back on 2025 and beyond with a sense of shame for our country and those entrusted to lead it. We must recognize our faults so that we can correct them. The more people that read this book and internalize its lessons, the better off collectively we will become.
September 25, 2026
Jacob Weisberg's book is very timely, focusing primarily on the first eighteen months of Donald Trump's second presidential term. The title and the cover design are explicit homages to John F. Kennedy's Profiles In Courage. Where Kennedy profiled eight United States senators that he admired, Weisberg gives us eight individuals from various professions that have aided and abetted Trump's ongoing attempts to destroy American democracy.
Weisberg must have had some difficulty in trimming his scope to only eight short biographies, since the number of people with money and power that have bent the knee to the Orange Menace makes for a very long list. But in general, he has chosen his subjects well, and his chapters on Mitch McConnell and John Roberts are particularly effective. Both of these highly partisan individuals have been engaging in a decades-long effort to pack the United States federal court system with judges aligned with the Federalist Society and its extreme conservative agenda. In the case of McConnell, that effort has been explicit; Roberts tries to portray himself as a neutral jurist, but his actions make clear that his public persona is built on a collection of lies.
To Weisberg's credit, Profiles in Cowardice is not solely a takedown of eight contemporary poltroons. His last chapter is titled "In Search of Courage", and he does find it even in these troubled times: federal judges, including some appointed to the bench by Trump, have frequently struck down his capricious executive orders. A large number of Justice Department attorneys have quit rather than pursue his baseless legal attacks on opponents. And millions of Americans have protested in the streets on multiple occasions.
That last point gets to my only reservation with Profiles in Cowardice. Weisberg's text focuses on various figures from society's elite ranks, and they certainly deserve a lot of blame. But the rest of us are guilty as well, and not just those who have voted for Trump. We've collectively built a culture that equates celebrity with ability, and wealth with wisdom. Many of us try to hide from our culpability behind "Not My President!" signs and sentiments. But he is our president, whether we voted for him or not, and I think Profiles in Cowardice could have been improved by acknowledging that cowardice can be a societal trait, and not just a personal one.
Weisberg must have had some difficulty in trimming his scope to only eight short biographies, since the number of people with money and power that have bent the knee to the Orange Menace makes for a very long list. But in general, he has chosen his subjects well, and his chapters on Mitch McConnell and John Roberts are particularly effective. Both of these highly partisan individuals have been engaging in a decades-long effort to pack the United States federal court system with judges aligned with the Federalist Society and its extreme conservative agenda. In the case of McConnell, that effort has been explicit; Roberts tries to portray himself as a neutral jurist, but his actions make clear that his public persona is built on a collection of lies.
To Weisberg's credit, Profiles in Cowardice is not solely a takedown of eight contemporary poltroons. His last chapter is titled "In Search of Courage", and he does find it even in these troubled times: federal judges, including some appointed to the bench by Trump, have frequently struck down his capricious executive orders. A large number of Justice Department attorneys have quit rather than pursue his baseless legal attacks on opponents. And millions of Americans have protested in the streets on multiple occasions.
That last point gets to my only reservation with Profiles in Cowardice. Weisberg's text focuses on various figures from society's elite ranks, and they certainly deserve a lot of blame. But the rest of us are guilty as well, and not just those who have voted for Trump. We've collectively built a culture that equates celebrity with ability, and wealth with wisdom. Many of us try to hide from our culpability behind "Not My President!" signs and sentiments. But he is our president, whether we voted for him or not, and I think Profiles in Cowardice could have been improved by acknowledging that cowardice can be a societal trait, and not just a personal one.
September 18, 2026
Thoroughly engaging. There are many different paths that can lead to the dismantling of our nation's soul. This book exposes the variety of ways a handful of powerful leaders in finance, law, government, industry, etc. have come to collude with the comically oafish bully currently in the White House. If the picture of the future we seem to be heading towards weren't one of utter self destruction, I would use the word "satisfying" to describe how the author answers the question of how this could be happening. Instead, I will say its story "makes sense." It is much the way that the doctor explains how the patient's disease has spread to the shutting down of multiple body systems making death inevitable. So now we know. But no one is happy.
October 10, 2026
This is a good book. Which means that, given its topic, it's both depressing and really well written. Jacob Weisberg is notable for, among other things, launching Slate's Trumpcast podcast, which analyzed the Trump phenomenon back in the heady days of 2015 and 2016, when we naively thought there was no way an ass-clown like Trump could win. What innocent times. O tempora! O mores!
Here, Weisberg ambitiously and somewhat riskily aims to name eight of the most egregious moral reprobates in Trump's America whose distinguishing feature is their rank cowardice in the face of Trump's assault on American democracy and institutions and on the notions of truth and moral value.
One might quibble with some of his choices about who makes the finale in this rogue's gallery of the craven. I'm not so sure what sets financier Steven Schwarzman, a pointless and effete bargain-basement Wall Street financier, apart from most of his colleagues. Like many infantile and insecure billionaires, he seems to be motivated primarily by the need for fawning admiration rather than money (which he sees mostly as a vehicle for delivering the fawning admiration he craves). There's little evidence that he has ever had even a whiff of concern for morality or political virtue.
The same could be said, in her own way, of Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News talking head and provocateur (never a real journalist!)--she does not adopt a moral point of view in living in this world, and her only use for moral concepts is destructively instrumental, i.e., as cudgels for bludgeoning whomever at the moment she had decided is her political opponent or personal foe. She is the ultimate anti-Kantian. This diagnosis is also true, I would submit, without the prominence or theatrics, of Dartmouth President Sian Beilock, who appears to simply not to take into account morality as a valid or relevant feature in human life and whose principal motivation is personal survival, the welfare of others be damned.
In short, such people are villains . . . but are they really cowards? That would require them to have had moral principles and commitments in the first place.
The remaining players in this cast of cowards are indeed cowards, the only question is which one is the most vile. I don't think it's Jeff Bezos. He once did have principles, but his motivations now (space travel! the glitterati showing up at my Venetian wedding!) are silly, he has degenerated into a Schwarzman-like figure, and it's just hard to expect any meaningful virtue in the top 0.001% (Bill Gates being the lonely and glaring exception that almost proves the rule). It's a low bar indeed when the best that can be said about you from a moral point of view is that you're not as odious as Elon Musk. Mitch McConnell has always, other than at the very start of his political career 55 years ago, been about power, so his sabotaging democracy and Trump's impeachment on the altar of confirming Neanderthal right-wing judges is hardly surprising. The cowardice is kowtowing to Trump even after Trump's conduct on January 6 put his very life in jeopardy.
As to treason to the American experiment, my money is on George W. Bush, Brad Karp, and Chief Justice John Roberts. Bush is on the list because, notwithstanding his disastrous presidency, which among other things needlessly broke the Middle East and forever undermined America's credibility on torture, he appears to be a personally good and decent man. (He likes immigrants! He's besties with Michelle Obama!) It's hard to chalk up his failure at critical moments, particularly in 2016, to publicly denounce Trump as anything other than cowardice.
Brad Karp wins the silver medal for odiousness to me, probably because I'm a lawyer. He's the former managing partner of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, an oink-oink BigLaw firm, until he was unmasked as a Jeffrey Epstein enabler. Karp was the most abject of the law-firm sell-outs to Trump, characterizing his gutless caving to Trump's caudillo demands as consistent with his firm's long-held commitments. Weisberg takes this view of Paul, Weiss at face value, buying into the fairy tale that it was populated with and motivated by left-leaning lawyers who wanted to do well while doing good. Good luck with that! That's the flaw here for me, which makes Karp not the grand champion in idiousness. Paul, Weiss was never in any sense that would make a systemic difference to left-of-center values left-leaning. A Paul, Weiss partner rakes in $12 million or more a year carrying the water for Eastern European oligarchs, purveyors of conflict diamonds, and tech bros intent on destroying civil society (on a good day) by trying to preserve and entrench the existing power imbalances in the political and legal systems, not by refashioning society to operate for the poor, the middle class, the working class residents of post-industrial wastelands, and people of color (particularly poor schmucks of color who live in the Global South). The sell-out WAS the firm's values. As to Karp's whining about the firm's possible dissolution, it's hard to sympathize with someone whose income will temporarily decline from $12 million to $20 million per year to $6 million to $8 million per year and who could easily provide comfortable severances to secretaries and delivery messengers. Cry me a river, you creep.
But winning the gold medal for cowardice, and still the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in selling out, is Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts alone had the power to put a stop to Trump's anti-democratic machinations and, for the most part, he chose not to. Weisberg pithily sums up Roberts's degeneracy (p. 199) as him thinking of "Trump as good news wrapped in bad taste. The chief justice was getting the results he wanted--an end to affirmative action, an end to the Voting Rights Act, and a unitary executive--so he closed his eyes to everything else." John Roberts has been running a long con on American democracy since he was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2005 and spearheading a judicial activism that makes the Warren Court look like a potted plant. The fact that, unlike Thomas and Alito, he, so to speak, bathes and combs his hair and doesn't wallow in unethical subsidies from right-wing billionaires and speaks in dulcet tones makes him all the more dangerous. The next Democratic president needs to reform the Court or break it.
Here, Weisberg ambitiously and somewhat riskily aims to name eight of the most egregious moral reprobates in Trump's America whose distinguishing feature is their rank cowardice in the face of Trump's assault on American democracy and institutions and on the notions of truth and moral value.
One might quibble with some of his choices about who makes the finale in this rogue's gallery of the craven. I'm not so sure what sets financier Steven Schwarzman, a pointless and effete bargain-basement Wall Street financier, apart from most of his colleagues. Like many infantile and insecure billionaires, he seems to be motivated primarily by the need for fawning admiration rather than money (which he sees mostly as a vehicle for delivering the fawning admiration he craves). There's little evidence that he has ever had even a whiff of concern for morality or political virtue.
The same could be said, in her own way, of Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News talking head and provocateur (never a real journalist!)--she does not adopt a moral point of view in living in this world, and her only use for moral concepts is destructively instrumental, i.e., as cudgels for bludgeoning whomever at the moment she had decided is her political opponent or personal foe. She is the ultimate anti-Kantian. This diagnosis is also true, I would submit, without the prominence or theatrics, of Dartmouth President Sian Beilock, who appears to simply not to take into account morality as a valid or relevant feature in human life and whose principal motivation is personal survival, the welfare of others be damned.
In short, such people are villains . . . but are they really cowards? That would require them to have had moral principles and commitments in the first place.
The remaining players in this cast of cowards are indeed cowards, the only question is which one is the most vile. I don't think it's Jeff Bezos. He once did have principles, but his motivations now (space travel! the glitterati showing up at my Venetian wedding!) are silly, he has degenerated into a Schwarzman-like figure, and it's just hard to expect any meaningful virtue in the top 0.001% (Bill Gates being the lonely and glaring exception that almost proves the rule). It's a low bar indeed when the best that can be said about you from a moral point of view is that you're not as odious as Elon Musk. Mitch McConnell has always, other than at the very start of his political career 55 years ago, been about power, so his sabotaging democracy and Trump's impeachment on the altar of confirming Neanderthal right-wing judges is hardly surprising. The cowardice is kowtowing to Trump even after Trump's conduct on January 6 put his very life in jeopardy.
As to treason to the American experiment, my money is on George W. Bush, Brad Karp, and Chief Justice John Roberts. Bush is on the list because, notwithstanding his disastrous presidency, which among other things needlessly broke the Middle East and forever undermined America's credibility on torture, he appears to be a personally good and decent man. (He likes immigrants! He's besties with Michelle Obama!) It's hard to chalk up his failure at critical moments, particularly in 2016, to publicly denounce Trump as anything other than cowardice.
Brad Karp wins the silver medal for odiousness to me, probably because I'm a lawyer. He's the former managing partner of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, an oink-oink BigLaw firm, until he was unmasked as a Jeffrey Epstein enabler. Karp was the most abject of the law-firm sell-outs to Trump, characterizing his gutless caving to Trump's caudillo demands as consistent with his firm's long-held commitments. Weisberg takes this view of Paul, Weiss at face value, buying into the fairy tale that it was populated with and motivated by left-leaning lawyers who wanted to do well while doing good. Good luck with that! That's the flaw here for me, which makes Karp not the grand champion in idiousness. Paul, Weiss was never in any sense that would make a systemic difference to left-of-center values left-leaning. A Paul, Weiss partner rakes in $12 million or more a year carrying the water for Eastern European oligarchs, purveyors of conflict diamonds, and tech bros intent on destroying civil society (on a good day) by trying to preserve and entrench the existing power imbalances in the political and legal systems, not by refashioning society to operate for the poor, the middle class, the working class residents of post-industrial wastelands, and people of color (particularly poor schmucks of color who live in the Global South). The sell-out WAS the firm's values. As to Karp's whining about the firm's possible dissolution, it's hard to sympathize with someone whose income will temporarily decline from $12 million to $20 million per year to $6 million to $8 million per year and who could easily provide comfortable severances to secretaries and delivery messengers. Cry me a river, you creep.
But winning the gold medal for cowardice, and still the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in selling out, is Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts alone had the power to put a stop to Trump's anti-democratic machinations and, for the most part, he chose not to. Weisberg pithily sums up Roberts's degeneracy (p. 199) as him thinking of "Trump as good news wrapped in bad taste. The chief justice was getting the results he wanted--an end to affirmative action, an end to the Voting Rights Act, and a unitary executive--so he closed his eyes to everything else." John Roberts has been running a long con on American democracy since he was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2005 and spearheading a judicial activism that makes the Warren Court look like a potted plant. The fact that, unlike Thomas and Alito, he, so to speak, bathes and combs his hair and doesn't wallow in unethical subsidies from right-wing billionaires and speaks in dulcet tones makes him all the more dangerous. The next Democratic president needs to reform the Court or break it.
September 28, 2026
Weisberg inverts JFK's famous book by profiling six men and two women who have bent the knee to Donald Trump. This book thus serves an important public service: naming the complicit and documenting their moral cowardice so that -- when the day comes that Trump is finally off the national stage and we reckon with the lasting damage he has done to our democracy -- they cannot escape the consequences of their complicity.
It is self-evident, however, that these eight are not all created equal. I'm no fan of Jeff Bezos, but I don't expect a billionaire (Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, gets a profile here too) to do anything but act in his own material interests. Mitch McConnell, though, is an elected official who took an oath to support the Constitution. Had he not lost his nerve in the weeks following January 6, 2021, performing the patented two-step of condemning Trump while still supporting him (McConnell said Trump was "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day" yet still voted against Trump's impeachment), McConnell could've prevented Trump 2.0.
Then there's Justice John Roberts, whose opinion in Trump v. United States (2024) prompted Justice Sotomayor to dissent, "The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law." Weisberg has the Chief Justice dead to rights when he closes the Roberts chapter with this: "Roberts believes he is protecting the court by maintaining neutrality, refusing to wade into politics. But neutrality in the face of legal mayhem is not impartiality -- it's surrender. The chief justice has become the umpire who lets one side play without rules while insisting that the most important thing is for everyone to remain calm."
The figure here that Weisberg knows best is the last Republican president before Trump, George W. Bush, whom Weisberg wrote about in The Bush Tragedy (and many volumes of Bush-isms). If blaming Bush seems a stretch, Weisberg makes a compelling case. Bush, he argues, has pulled his punches on Trump because, essentially, he doesn't want the spotlight back on him and the mistakes he made as president, first and foremost being the disastrous Iraq War. Weisberg dispenses with the argument that it's breaking norms for past presidents to criticize current ones, even within the same party, and draws a pointed contrast between Bush's silence and Dick and Liz Cheney's criticism of Trump by name. Weisberg doesn't even take up the line of argument that Bush's presidency and his penchant for anti-intellectual demagoguery (Bush supported a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and rode to reelection in 2004 behind the Karl Rove-masterminded opposition to same-sex marriage, not to mention slanderous attacks on his rival's record of military service) paved the way for the modern G.O.P. playbook. See, for example, tax cuts for the rich, culture war fodder, and pointless wars in the middle East. And of course Bush nominated Roberts and installed him as Chief Justice.
So as much as McConnell, Roberts, and Bush may want to disassociate themselves from Trump, they created the party and the circumstances which made him the Republican nominee in 2016, and allowed him to run again in 2024. Weisberg, and history, won't let them forget that.
The bright side for others who have enabled Trump? There’s still time to locate the courage of their convictions. As Weisberg says in the conclusion, “In Search of Courage,” “The danger in a democratic crisis is not that people forget what courage means but that they postpone the moment to act on it.”
It is self-evident, however, that these eight are not all created equal. I'm no fan of Jeff Bezos, but I don't expect a billionaire (Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, gets a profile here too) to do anything but act in his own material interests. Mitch McConnell, though, is an elected official who took an oath to support the Constitution. Had he not lost his nerve in the weeks following January 6, 2021, performing the patented two-step of condemning Trump while still supporting him (McConnell said Trump was "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day" yet still voted against Trump's impeachment), McConnell could've prevented Trump 2.0.
Then there's Justice John Roberts, whose opinion in Trump v. United States (2024) prompted Justice Sotomayor to dissent, "The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law." Weisberg has the Chief Justice dead to rights when he closes the Roberts chapter with this: "Roberts believes he is protecting the court by maintaining neutrality, refusing to wade into politics. But neutrality in the face of legal mayhem is not impartiality -- it's surrender. The chief justice has become the umpire who lets one side play without rules while insisting that the most important thing is for everyone to remain calm."
The figure here that Weisberg knows best is the last Republican president before Trump, George W. Bush, whom Weisberg wrote about in The Bush Tragedy (and many volumes of Bush-isms). If blaming Bush seems a stretch, Weisberg makes a compelling case. Bush, he argues, has pulled his punches on Trump because, essentially, he doesn't want the spotlight back on him and the mistakes he made as president, first and foremost being the disastrous Iraq War. Weisberg dispenses with the argument that it's breaking norms for past presidents to criticize current ones, even within the same party, and draws a pointed contrast between Bush's silence and Dick and Liz Cheney's criticism of Trump by name. Weisberg doesn't even take up the line of argument that Bush's presidency and his penchant for anti-intellectual demagoguery (Bush supported a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and rode to reelection in 2004 behind the Karl Rove-masterminded opposition to same-sex marriage, not to mention slanderous attacks on his rival's record of military service) paved the way for the modern G.O.P. playbook. See, for example, tax cuts for the rich, culture war fodder, and pointless wars in the middle East. And of course Bush nominated Roberts and installed him as Chief Justice.
So as much as McConnell, Roberts, and Bush may want to disassociate themselves from Trump, they created the party and the circumstances which made him the Republican nominee in 2016, and allowed him to run again in 2024. Weisberg, and history, won't let them forget that.
The bright side for others who have enabled Trump? There’s still time to locate the courage of their convictions. As Weisberg says in the conclusion, “In Search of Courage,” “The danger in a democratic crisis is not that people forget what courage means but that they postpone the moment to act on it.”
September 20, 2026
This seems like an important book. Weisberg analyzes what happened when Trump began his second term with the determination to avenge his enemies and destroy the institutions that are the bedrock of democracy. He does this by examining eight people -- Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, Jeff Bezos, Megyn Kelly, Brad Karp, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Sian Beilock and John Roberts. He looks at their lives, their careers, their motivations and then the choices they made in light of Trump's actions. He then lets their actions speak for themselves. His approach is helpful in that it makes us understand what many of them did or did not do. For example, one possible reason he gives for George W. Bush's refusal to condemn Trump is that Bush is dependent on money from Trump supporters to fund his presidential library that is the primary vehicle for repairing his reputation.
In the last chapter Weisberg looks at some of the people and institutions that resisted Trump and discusses factors that can enable and reinforce public courage.
In the last chapter Weisberg looks at some of the people and institutions that resisted Trump and discusses factors that can enable and reinforce public courage.
October 6, 2026
Well written but holy fucking shit is it infuriating to read. One thing in here that gave me comfort was a deep explanation of how nothing meant more to Mitch McConnell than the institution that was the Senate and how Mitch helped destroy it for nothing but a bunch of judges. Anyways, great person-by-person write up of people that capitulated to the Trump administration along with an analysis of their motives.
Also, note my fractional rating!
Also, note my fractional rating!
October 1, 2026
A scathing indictment of the modern cowards that have allowed President Trump to destroy the world. Weisberg did his homework and can back up every one of his claims. I agree with the author...let's bring back shame! Fuck all of these cowards and the world they have wrought!
September 24, 2026
What would it take to get you to capitulate? To back down from the moral high ground and accept, even promote and assist something that you know in your heart is wrong? That you have even spoken out against in the past? That you know may have lasting consequences and cause immense damage?
This is the theme of Jacob Weisberg's new book. He profiles 8 Americans who have promoted, backed, assisted and validated the current Trump regime even though most of them had a record of holding the line against it in the past. Weisberg is sometimes scathing in his critique but he also looks deeply at the human elements that may have driven some of these powerful people to turn tail and support what they know is abhorrent.
Many of these folks we are familiar with (Jeff Bezos, Megyn Kelly, George W Bush) and several are not household names but who are very powerful people (Stephen Schwarzman, Brad Karp) - and the list could have been much, much longer. Each represents a discipline of society - Tech, Law Firms, Education, the Judicial System, Politics, Media.
To me the most interesting of these are the profiles of people who, in Weisberg's opinion, "robbed Peter to pay Paul" (as my dad would have said) - they got something they really wanted and believed in, had been fighting for, by giving Trump and his minions things they wanted - in the case of Chief Justice Roberts, for example, he believes firmly in strong presidential powers, and of course Mitch McConnell clearly wanted a long standing Republican majority and wanted to pack the courts with "conservatives". These folks have sold their souls to the devil. It is hard for me to feel for them.
The slime is all over the place in this book tho. Hard to feel for Jeff Bezos, kowtowed by Elon on X, embarrassed by his own shortcomings as he reached middle age. Who can even look at him now and not think "diminished human" ??? And Megyn Kelly, who was so beat up by the masochistic system that she now spends her days spewing venom on a podcast? Don't get me started on Stephen Schwarzman, founder of Blackrock.
This is the theme of Jacob Weisberg's new book. He profiles 8 Americans who have promoted, backed, assisted and validated the current Trump regime even though most of them had a record of holding the line against it in the past. Weisberg is sometimes scathing in his critique but he also looks deeply at the human elements that may have driven some of these powerful people to turn tail and support what they know is abhorrent.
Many of these folks we are familiar with (Jeff Bezos, Megyn Kelly, George W Bush) and several are not household names but who are very powerful people (Stephen Schwarzman, Brad Karp) - and the list could have been much, much longer. Each represents a discipline of society - Tech, Law Firms, Education, the Judicial System, Politics, Media.
To me the most interesting of these are the profiles of people who, in Weisberg's opinion, "robbed Peter to pay Paul" (as my dad would have said) - they got something they really wanted and believed in, had been fighting for, by giving Trump and his minions things they wanted - in the case of Chief Justice Roberts, for example, he believes firmly in strong presidential powers, and of course Mitch McConnell clearly wanted a long standing Republican majority and wanted to pack the courts with "conservatives". These folks have sold their souls to the devil. It is hard for me to feel for them.
The slime is all over the place in this book tho. Hard to feel for Jeff Bezos, kowtowed by Elon on X, embarrassed by his own shortcomings as he reached middle age. Who can even look at him now and not think "diminished human" ??? And Megyn Kelly, who was so beat up by the masochistic system that she now spends her days spewing venom on a podcast? Don't get me started on Stephen Schwarzman, founder of Blackrock.
September 23, 2026
Many rich, powerful people will compromise their ideals to remain rich and powerful. This book is hit-or-miss with its examples of how those rich and/or powerful people compromised their ideals and chose not to stand up to Trump and the Trump administration. People tell you who they are if you pay attention and we shouldn't be surprised that Jeff Bezos, Mitch McConnell, Megan Kelly show why they are who they are. George W Bush has been clear from the time he left the presidency that the wasn't going to speak up about anything ever. The argument against Sian Beilock seemed unfair and lacking additional context. Brad Karp and Steve Schwarzman were never going to risk losing money and power. And John Roberts agrees with much of Trump's agenda. I don't know if I'd call of these people cowards because I never expected anything from them to begin with. None are to be admired, but let's not pretend like we should have counted on them to defend the country against Trump to begin with.
October 2, 2026
For a while now, I have been thinking about two things: 1) How did so many Germans accept Hitler and the ideology of the Nazi Party; 2) How is it that so many white Southerners (my people) think they are not racist because they do not commit acts of overt racism, yet racial prejudice gurgles underneath the surface of their contemporary culture? So, this book is a natural fit: Why are these prominent Americans giving into Donald Trump's authoritarian remaking of the American political system and society? It has historical value because of the portraits it paints -- lest we forget. Its description of the antidote -- civic courage -- is not groundbreaking: we know what we need to do! The portraits suggest some of the pitfalls ensnaring some of those gaining various kinds of success in American society today.
October 14, 2026
This is the ultimate click bait book for the anti-Trump crowd. It’s full of reprehensibles and moral cowards like Jeff Bezos, George W. Bush, and Mitch McConnell. Some fear retribution (like Bush) while others lust for power and money or historical significance (like McConnell). An enjoyable read though a little over the top at times with some specious speculation by the author.
September 21, 2026
This book is a tour de force that applies the principles of
Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize book, Profiles on Courage to a number of prominent people, who have sold their souls to the devil (Trump). It is a fascinating review of self-interest, expediency, dissociation, fear, and acquired impotence. Reading the book reveals the depth of problem in many but not all otherwise good people and how regaining our principles of moral judgment and integrity may prove more challenging than we might expect! Thinking about the issues should be a prerequisite for all as we vote in the midterms and 2028!
Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize book, Profiles on Courage to a number of prominent people, who have sold their souls to the devil (Trump). It is a fascinating review of self-interest, expediency, dissociation, fear, and acquired impotence. Reading the book reveals the depth of problem in many but not all otherwise good people and how regaining our principles of moral judgment and integrity may prove more challenging than we might expect! Thinking about the issues should be a prerequisite for all as we vote in the midterms and 2028!
November 2, 2026
This was fascinating. Weisberg profiles 8 people from different areas (finance, academia, politics, etc) most of whom at one point disavowed Donald Trump but all of whom eventually capitulated and now support him. In doing so, he refreshed my memory about many events and discussed others I wasn't aware of. His writing is crystal clear and very compelling. But it uncomfortably raises the question, would I have made a different decision than any of these people?
September 25, 2026
A must read!
This book has helped me to understand why people and institutions have caved to trump! It has also given me great respect for those who stood up to him. Like me I think most people are baffled to see trump supporters blindness to his evil agenda. I am a proud Canadian and love my country for its values and freedoms. Please America come to your senses!
This book has helped me to understand why people and institutions have caved to trump! It has also given me great respect for those who stood up to him. Like me I think most people are baffled to see trump supporters blindness to his evil agenda. I am a proud Canadian and love my country for its values and freedoms. Please America come to your senses!
September 18, 2026
Well written and researched book about how five prominent figures lost whatever integrity they had in order to bend the knee to our current President. Some were more interesting and flagrant than others. The book ends with the five factors that enable public courage in standing up for Democracy: rethinking, resistance as a habit, decency loves company, institutional leadership, and shame. The Puritans understood shame as a motivator. We need to use it more often. This book was well worth reading.
October 23, 2026
When I realized that Weisberg blatantly apes the structure of J. F. Kennedy’s book, Profiles in Courage, I became intrigued. (Never mind his aping the artwork of Kennedy’s dust jacket.) A mere child when JFK’s book was published, I felt I must now first read his book before seeing what Weisberg is up to, what his thesis is.
In his book, JFK cites eight important senators throughout our history who stand up to their constituents and work along more philosophical than political lines. Some of the senators lose their seats because of the staunch positions they take, and some of them remain in office. But Kennedy’s point is that these (all) men demonstrate a certain courage—acting as political leaders not as representatives of the House of Congress, who should (theoretically) cater to their constituents.
Weisberg attempts to do the opposite. He cites eight personalities of “American Leadership,” who demonstrate a lack of courage—particularly with regard to Donald Trump’s so-called leadership. Cowardice. Among these personalities are Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, and one woman, Megyn Kelly.
Weisberg notes that Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the Senate, decides not to cast a vote in favor of Trump’s impeachment, what would be the deciding vote. The other seven considering joining the Democrats? Mitt Romney, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, (gasp) Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, and Pat Toomey. “Disastrously, he decided not to call the Senate back into session for a trial before Inauguration Day on January 20. The Senate would have to wait until the early days of Biden’s term to take up Trump’s second impeachment” (111).“ Ironically, at the University of Louisville, McConnell had studied and admired Henry Clay, who, as a subject of Kennedy’s book, helped preserve the Union. Mitch even wrote his senior thesis on the Compromise of 1850, foreshadowing his ambition to pursue Clay’s path. Hah. The leader’s ambition to pack the Supreme Court with Trump appointees, it turns out, manifests itself as a stronger impulse. One has to wonder, if, on his deathbed, he will still be proud of that accomplishment in light of his fear of displeasing Trump.
Megyn Kelly herself is bullied as a child, and she finds the best way to deal the mean girls in her life is to give them a taste of their own medicine. Briefly, she does the same with regard to Trump’s later attacks on her for coming out against him. Then, speaking at a Trump rally in 2024, Kelly reverses herself concerning Trump by claiming, ““‘He will be a protector of woman and it’s why I’m voting for him’” (84).“ One wants to “like” Megyn Kelly, but her actions are all over the map. She doesn’t put up with her boss’s sexual harassment when she works at Fox News, but in the end, she sacrifices her honor by supporting the biggest bully of them all.
Trump even cows George W. Bush, who could have spoken out in support of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and again in 2024 when he could have joined the Cheneys’ endorsement of Kamala Harris. Weisberg says of him: “A leader who framed politics around a straightforward, Christian morality of right and wrong saw evil and failed to call it out” (153). And mostly because it might have ruined his quiet life, not to mention his pocketbook: “Bush depends in part on money from Trump supporters to fund the post-presidential infrastructure [of his library] that is his primary vehicle for repairing his reputation” (142) With some people, it all comes down to money. The bottom line can’t seem to drop any lower!
If Weisberg is asserting that his book is on par with Kennedy’s (itself a controversy because JFK’s speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, is purported to have played a large part in drafting the tome), I believe he fails. Mostly Weisberg fails because of his choice of subjects. The best, perhaps, is the one he saves for last, Chief Justice John Roberts: “A less charitable view is that Roberts thought of Trump as good news wrapped in bad taste. The chief justice was getting the outcomes he wanted—an end to affirmative action, an end to the voting Rights Act, and a unitary executive—so he closed his eyes to everything else” (199). What a damning statement. Roberts should be so proud!
In his book, JFK cites eight important senators throughout our history who stand up to their constituents and work along more philosophical than political lines. Some of the senators lose their seats because of the staunch positions they take, and some of them remain in office. But Kennedy’s point is that these (all) men demonstrate a certain courage—acting as political leaders not as representatives of the House of Congress, who should (theoretically) cater to their constituents.
Weisberg attempts to do the opposite. He cites eight personalities of “American Leadership,” who demonstrate a lack of courage—particularly with regard to Donald Trump’s so-called leadership. Cowardice. Among these personalities are Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, and one woman, Megyn Kelly.
Weisberg notes that Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the Senate, decides not to cast a vote in favor of Trump’s impeachment, what would be the deciding vote. The other seven considering joining the Democrats? Mitt Romney, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, (gasp) Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, and Pat Toomey. “Disastrously, he decided not to call the Senate back into session for a trial before Inauguration Day on January 20. The Senate would have to wait until the early days of Biden’s term to take up Trump’s second impeachment” (111).“ Ironically, at the University of Louisville, McConnell had studied and admired Henry Clay, who, as a subject of Kennedy’s book, helped preserve the Union. Mitch even wrote his senior thesis on the Compromise of 1850, foreshadowing his ambition to pursue Clay’s path. Hah. The leader’s ambition to pack the Supreme Court with Trump appointees, it turns out, manifests itself as a stronger impulse. One has to wonder, if, on his deathbed, he will still be proud of that accomplishment in light of his fear of displeasing Trump.
Megyn Kelly herself is bullied as a child, and she finds the best way to deal the mean girls in her life is to give them a taste of their own medicine. Briefly, she does the same with regard to Trump’s later attacks on her for coming out against him. Then, speaking at a Trump rally in 2024, Kelly reverses herself concerning Trump by claiming, ““‘He will be a protector of woman and it’s why I’m voting for him’” (84).“ One wants to “like” Megyn Kelly, but her actions are all over the map. She doesn’t put up with her boss’s sexual harassment when she works at Fox News, but in the end, she sacrifices her honor by supporting the biggest bully of them all.
Trump even cows George W. Bush, who could have spoken out in support of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and again in 2024 when he could have joined the Cheneys’ endorsement of Kamala Harris. Weisberg says of him: “A leader who framed politics around a straightforward, Christian morality of right and wrong saw evil and failed to call it out” (153). And mostly because it might have ruined his quiet life, not to mention his pocketbook: “Bush depends in part on money from Trump supporters to fund the post-presidential infrastructure [of his library] that is his primary vehicle for repairing his reputation” (142) With some people, it all comes down to money. The bottom line can’t seem to drop any lower!
If Weisberg is asserting that his book is on par with Kennedy’s (itself a controversy because JFK’s speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, is purported to have played a large part in drafting the tome), I believe he fails. Mostly Weisberg fails because of his choice of subjects. The best, perhaps, is the one he saves for last, Chief Justice John Roberts: “A less charitable view is that Roberts thought of Trump as good news wrapped in bad taste. The chief justice was getting the outcomes he wanted—an end to affirmative action, an end to the voting Rights Act, and a unitary executive—so he closed his eyes to everything else” (199). What a damning statement. Roberts should be so proud!
October 31, 2026
Americans should thank Jacob Weisberg for giving up his perspective on just what it means to not only cave in the tyranny but to join it graciously. Those who do this, including all those he writes about in the book, will pay a price than did not contemplate at some future point and (sorry for being so unkind) they will deserve it.
As a lawyer, I was first stunned, then mortified, then embarrassed at being naive (I've been a lawyer since September 1972 (54 years), and I always, without exception, believed that the one thing lawyers consistently did--the good ones, the bad ones, even the indifferent ones-- was stand up to power grabbing bullies and pricks. But the example set by Paul, Weiss, Rifkin and its Chair Brad Karp left me cold and discouraged because I knew that if an entity as powerful as Paul, Weiss readily caved to the tyranny of demands made by Donald Trump, then every company, every law firm, every university, and every other American institution was at least capable of the same submission and lack of courage.
That is a very discouraging thought for a lawyer to have. It is a very discouraging thought for an American to have.
Karp is not the only story. His assessment of Chief Justice Roberts is astute and pinpoints what many observers have identified as Roberts' hypocrisy in fashioning himself the "impartial umpire calling balls and strikes". Weisberg points out that Roberts who eschews admitting to trying to create more conservative legal landscape essentially "just goes for it" when the opportunity arises, with or without legal precedent to guide his decision and with or without Constitutional precedent to inform it., He hits the nail on the head. Roberts is a good lawyer but he is a very good lawyer with a partisan and ideological viewpoint, and we should never, ever forget that John Roberts, then a mere lawyer, was the chief lawyer representing George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida elections case, Bush v. Gore. As C.J., Roberts can now implement his partisan proclivities and has on most occasions when the opportunity presents itself.
The others profiled, among whom are Steven Schwartzman and Sian Beilock, President of Dartmouth, remind us that the absence of courage which is cowardice comes with a cost. Schwartman's discussion is almost funny. Blessed with riches beyond Solomon, he spends his time donating money and arguing for months about which building or annes is going to be named after him. Lordy, lordy. He cannot give without strings, irrespective of the worthiness of the cause. He as the other profiled have earned membership in that notorious club which concedes courage to seek friendship with the bully known as Donald Trump, who they will ultimately discover will use the first crosswise maneuver made by the condescender to publicly scorn and throw that overboard. As Mark Shields constantly reminded us while he was alive, anyone who cozies up to Donald Trump will come to know his scorn and diminished thereby.
As a lawyer, I was first stunned, then mortified, then embarrassed at being naive (I've been a lawyer since September 1972 (54 years), and I always, without exception, believed that the one thing lawyers consistently did--the good ones, the bad ones, even the indifferent ones-- was stand up to power grabbing bullies and pricks. But the example set by Paul, Weiss, Rifkin and its Chair Brad Karp left me cold and discouraged because I knew that if an entity as powerful as Paul, Weiss readily caved to the tyranny of demands made by Donald Trump, then every company, every law firm, every university, and every other American institution was at least capable of the same submission and lack of courage.
That is a very discouraging thought for a lawyer to have. It is a very discouraging thought for an American to have.
Karp is not the only story. His assessment of Chief Justice Roberts is astute and pinpoints what many observers have identified as Roberts' hypocrisy in fashioning himself the "impartial umpire calling balls and strikes". Weisberg points out that Roberts who eschews admitting to trying to create more conservative legal landscape essentially "just goes for it" when the opportunity arises, with or without legal precedent to guide his decision and with or without Constitutional precedent to inform it., He hits the nail on the head. Roberts is a good lawyer but he is a very good lawyer with a partisan and ideological viewpoint, and we should never, ever forget that John Roberts, then a mere lawyer, was the chief lawyer representing George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida elections case, Bush v. Gore. As C.J., Roberts can now implement his partisan proclivities and has on most occasions when the opportunity presents itself.
The others profiled, among whom are Steven Schwartzman and Sian Beilock, President of Dartmouth, remind us that the absence of courage which is cowardice comes with a cost. Schwartman's discussion is almost funny. Blessed with riches beyond Solomon, he spends his time donating money and arguing for months about which building or annes is going to be named after him. Lordy, lordy. He cannot give without strings, irrespective of the worthiness of the cause. He as the other profiled have earned membership in that notorious club which concedes courage to seek friendship with the bully known as Donald Trump, who they will ultimately discover will use the first crosswise maneuver made by the condescender to publicly scorn and throw that overboard. As Mark Shields constantly reminded us while he was alive, anyone who cozies up to Donald Trump will come to know his scorn and diminished thereby.
October 29, 2026
Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era by Jacob Weisberg
If you're aware of the news on a regular basis (or, let's be honest, you're a BlueSky user) you're probably not going to find anything new in this book, content-wise. It is nice to see an author expand the scope of people to criticize in this particular moment. I didn't need another look at, say, Lindsey Graham or Mike Johnson or Stephen Miller. The eight profiled in this book, however, (with the exception of Mitch McConnell, I think) under-covered in their particular cowardice or obsequiousness in this moment.
Weisberg's voice is incredibly grating to me. This isn't his fault, BUT I do imagine that my general skepticism to this being a more significant addition to the canon of the Trump era was damaged by this fact. I wish someone else had written it.
Reading history:
Normally I keep this in my private notes section, but I'm moving it. Yay!
Reading history was not added on Goodreads, but was instead kept on a small piece of paper with the book.
Started October 27th, 2026.
Finished October 27th, 2026.
October 27th, 2026: listened to entire book via Spotify with physical copy nearby.
If you're aware of the news on a regular basis (or, let's be honest, you're a BlueSky user) you're probably not going to find anything new in this book, content-wise. It is nice to see an author expand the scope of people to criticize in this particular moment. I didn't need another look at, say, Lindsey Graham or Mike Johnson or Stephen Miller. The eight profiled in this book, however, (with the exception of Mitch McConnell, I think) under-covered in their particular cowardice or obsequiousness in this moment.
Weisberg's voice is incredibly grating to me. This isn't his fault, BUT I do imagine that my general skepticism to this being a more significant addition to the canon of the Trump era was damaged by this fact. I wish someone else had written it.
Reading history:
Normally I keep this in my private notes section, but I'm moving it. Yay!
Reading history was not added on Goodreads, but was instead kept on a small piece of paper with the book.
Started October 27th, 2026.
Finished October 27th, 2026.
October 27th, 2026: listened to entire book via Spotify with physical copy nearby.
November 1, 2026
Jacob Weisberg "borrowed" JFK's format from "Profiles in Courage", that highlighted 8 prominent past Americans, and the courage they displayed in their leadership.
Jacob's format highlights 8 current American's who have capitulated their morals and ethics to appease Donald Trump.
He has given detailed background to each person in separate chapters - admittedly, there were 3 whose names I was totally unfamiliar with, so reading about them was highly interesting.
The 8 Americans Jacob chose were:
Brad Karp
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Jeff Bezos
Megyn Kelly
Mitch McConnell
George W. Bush
Sian Beilock
John Roberts
Jacob's account of what these 8 have contributed to the demise of our democracy under DJT is discouraging, however, Jacob ends his book with positive re-enforcement of how America can turn the tide by the actions of everyday citizens.
It was interesting to read why he included George W. Bush, since he has basically remained silent during Trump's 2nd term.
It was disheartening to read how John Roberts has contributed to DJT's ability to side step the Constitution.
Jacob's format highlights 8 current American's who have capitulated their morals and ethics to appease Donald Trump.
He has given detailed background to each person in separate chapters - admittedly, there were 3 whose names I was totally unfamiliar with, so reading about them was highly interesting.
The 8 Americans Jacob chose were:
Brad Karp
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Jeff Bezos
Megyn Kelly
Mitch McConnell
George W. Bush
Sian Beilock
John Roberts
Jacob's account of what these 8 have contributed to the demise of our democracy under DJT is discouraging, however, Jacob ends his book with positive re-enforcement of how America can turn the tide by the actions of everyday citizens.
It was interesting to read why he included George W. Bush, since he has basically remained silent during Trump's 2nd term.
It was disheartening to read how John Roberts has contributed to DJT's ability to side step the Constitution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2026
In Profiles in Cowardice, Jacob Weisberg examines the role of influential individuals and institutions during the Trump era, focusing on the decisions and failures to resist that he argues helped enable the concentration of political power. Through profiles of eight figures connected to technology, finance, law, and government, Weisberg explores how fear, greed, vanity, and self-interest can shape the conduct of people in positions of influence.
Beyond its political focus, the book raises broader questions about leadership, moral responsibility, and the strength of democratic institutions. Its exploration of how institutions can be weakened through pressure, accommodation, and silence gives readers an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between personal choices and public consequences. This book may appeal to readers of political nonfiction, American history, biography, and essays, particularly those interested in democratic accountability and the responsibilities that come with power.
Beyond its political focus, the book raises broader questions about leadership, moral responsibility, and the strength of democratic institutions. Its exploration of how institutions can be weakened through pressure, accommodation, and silence gives readers an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between personal choices and public consequences. This book may appeal to readers of political nonfiction, American history, biography, and essays, particularly those interested in democratic accountability and the responsibilities that come with power.
October 3, 2026
This book provides an inverse frame from John F. Kennedy's 1956 book "Profiles in Courage" and applies it to the way people in various segments of power responded to trump's second term. John F. Kennedy studied moral courage: people who voted their conscience despite tremendous pressure from constituents to vote the other way. These were people willing to lose political power in order to uphold their values and make moral decisions.
Jacob Weisberg takes the contrasting view. He looks at people who knew better than to follow Trump into moral wrongs, but bent to his will to save themselves politically and financially. The sell-outs. Not politicians, but leaders on wall street, in law, higher education, media, etc. He writes with great nuance and really explores the factors that intervene and make people cowardly. I loved Kennedy's book and this one was just a good, but more relevant to the current moment.
Jacob Weisberg takes the contrasting view. He looks at people who knew better than to follow Trump into moral wrongs, but bent to his will to save themselves politically and financially. The sell-outs. Not politicians, but leaders on wall street, in law, higher education, media, etc. He writes with great nuance and really explores the factors that intervene and make people cowardly. I loved Kennedy's book and this one was just a good, but more relevant to the current moment.
October 21, 2026
Excellent book although admittedly in a very depressing way. My approach was to skip around as each chapter, which focuses on a single individual, stands alone. I prioritized the people that piqued my curiosity the most such as Mitch McConnell, who I have followed for many years; Megyn Kelly, who I now realize is even far more disgusting than I ever realized; Jeff Bezos, George W. Bush, and finally John Roberts. I may or may not finish the book by reading about the last three people. The chapter on John Roberts was surprisingly short but then again there is not much to say once the author made the case that Roberts is totally complicit in supporting DJT and therefore eroding our democracy.
So again, a good book but only read it if you can not inflict self-harm by knowing even MORE about these disappointing cast of characters -- all who we once held up in society as people we might wish to admire and respect.
Kudos to Jacob Weisberg. You have performed a public service.
So again, a good book but only read it if you can not inflict self-harm by knowing even MORE about these disappointing cast of characters -- all who we once held up in society as people we might wish to admire and respect.
Kudos to Jacob Weisberg. You have performed a public service.
September 26, 2026
I really enjoyed this book because it doesn't give us easy villains to hate. The author provides an overview of each individual's life and how their worldview has been shaped by their experiences and values. Within this context, we see the difficult choices being faced and the deficiencies in the decisions taken. Personally, I found myself imagining myself in the shoes of the decision-maker and wrestling with the (often) many reasons for failing to make the more courageous choice. It might be appropriate to judge these individuals as harshly as Mr Weisberg does, but this raises the question of what we would do facing similar challenges and circumstances. As Edmund Burke wrote, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one...". The subjects of this book failed this test and each has fallen in turn.
October 6, 2026
A timely, succinct read detailing high profile capitalizations to the overreach of the second Trump administration. Part biography, part political science, the result is a damning overview. The insights were surprising and the profiles descriptive. I found the chapter on Bush particularly illuminating.
What is missing in my opinion is an analysis as to how the conservatives profiled particularly Roberts and McConnell could have achieved their ideological objectives otherwise. Is the cowardice theirs or more aptly Congress which forfeited responsibility to address many of the issues that drove Trump’s rise, specifically abortion, illegal immigration and never ending wars.
Well done but more of an appetizer rather than a main course.
What is missing in my opinion is an analysis as to how the conservatives profiled particularly Roberts and McConnell could have achieved their ideological objectives otherwise. Is the cowardice theirs or more aptly Congress which forfeited responsibility to address many of the issues that drove Trump’s rise, specifically abortion, illegal immigration and never ending wars.
Well done but more of an appetizer rather than a main course.
November 5, 2026
Modeled on John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, this Trump-era version examines the lack of principles of eight American leaders in academia, the law profession, ex-presidency, Supreme Court and other areas. At a time when a stand against some of the outrageous, often unconstitutional actions of the Trump Administration was called for, these individuals buckled, retreated or just remained silent.
Weisberg's arguments are well researched and persuasive and often contrasted with peer leaders in similar professions who stood up for the rule of law and the ethics of their individual professions. Chapters on Paul Weiss head partner Brad Karp, President George W. Bush and Chief Justice John Roberts are especially telling.
Weisberg's arguments are well researched and persuasive and often contrasted with peer leaders in similar professions who stood up for the rule of law and the ethics of their individual professions. Chapters on Paul Weiss head partner Brad Karp, President George W. Bush and Chief Justice John Roberts are especially telling.
October 3, 2026
It's bad when you're reading a book about Soviet/Russian spying and see the logical end to the culture of lying so many of our voters have fallen prey to, right here in the land of the free and brave. The book is readable and I never thought of these eight people as once having had ideals and values, which was interesting. Weisberg does his best to end on an inspiring note, but conspicuous by its near-absence is mention of Trump's co-opting of a brownshirt corps that has been building in the US for some time. That is what's going to bring on the oppression of the Russian state if the rule of law does not get reestablished.
October 22, 2026
An honest and bold assessment of current culture in the United States that deserves reading and much conversation. Weisberg well describes the purpose of this book in one sentence from the introduction: "It's about those who recognized the danger Trump posed to American values, who had the ability to say no to him, and who at earlier moments showed flickers of integrity--but who, when a more serious test came, failed to act courageously, in ways that reveal both their moral weakness and the fragility of the institutions they represented." (p. xx)
Read the book. Join in conversation and find ways to live with courage.
Read the book. Join in conversation and find ways to live with courage.
October 15, 2026
Written in the format of Profiles in Courage (i.e., a separate chapter on each person), this book hit the mark in many ways. However, it was very uncomfortable to read because it described every evil thing that Trump has done over the years and made me sick. It also made me wonder why anyone would defy Trump given the pressure he puts on people -- politically, financially, and evilly. It made me wonder what I would do if put in a similar situation. It also made me even more impressed (and thankful) for those who have tried to defy Trump over the years.
October 27, 2026
The author has modeled this book after Profiles in Courage trading JFK's admirable choices for Weisberg's not so courageous people. A couple I had not heard of before, but there several easily identifiable public figures. The author writes with an authority about the inner workings of law firms, universities, and the Supreme Court.
Enlightning.
Enlightning.
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