When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present

by Nick Bryant

A comprehensive analysis of the political, economic, cultural and technological factors that contributed to America’s decline and inadvertently paved the way for Trump’s presidency.

The presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident. In When America Stopped Being Great, Nick Bryant argues that by 2016 it had become almost historically inescapable. In this highly personal account, drawing on decades of covering Washington for the BBC, Bryant shows how the billionaire capitalised on the mistakes of his five predecessors – Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama – and how also he became a beneficiary of a broken politics, an iniquitous economy, an ailing media, a facile culture, disruptive new technology and the creation of a modern-day presidency that elevated showmanship over statesmanship. Not only are we starting to see the emergence of a post-American world, Bryant fears we are seeing the emergence of a post-American America.

The history of Trump’s rise is also a history of America’s fall.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, American History, The United States Of America, American, United States

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 18, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR

Reviews

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE DISUNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Nick Bryant, a veteran and distinguished BBC correspondent, has written a book that every American should read.

He begins the book in 1984, because that was the year that he came to the United States as a teen-aged student. That was during Ronald Reagan’s campaign for a second presidential term. His slogan during his first campaign was “Morning in America,” and now in his second campaign it was “Morning in America Again,” which will remind readers of Trump’s campaign slogan during the three times he has run for the presidency.

At the time Bryant was impressed with the country and the Reagan presidency. But later on as a worldlier correspondent he saw that the nation he had fallen in love with was coming apart at the seams.

Published in August 2020, the book closes with the January 6th storming and invasion of the Capitol. It was the United States of America, but it had become the “Disunited States of America.”

As mentioned, Bryant begins his study of what went wrong with Ronald Reagan's presidency and he places part of the blame on Reagan. But then he isn't the only president who is criticized by Bryant. In fact, all of Reagan’s successors also receive a share of the blame for what has happened to the U.S. in the last forty years, with George H.W. Bush coming off better than the others, but he doesn’t escape scot-free.

George W. Bush, faulted for involving the country in two simultaneous wars and overseeing a national economic collapse, receives the most criticism – with one exception. At rock bottom is Donald J. Trump, the president that a survey of American historians – Republican and Democratic – rated the worst president in American history.

Bryant admits that he didn’t think Trump would win in 2016, but in hindsight he also admits that “Trump possessed the great skill of populists and demagogues down through the ages to articulate the fears and prejudices of voters better than they could themselves” and also “to offer simplistic solutions” for complex problems. In an interview Bryant said that had it not been for the internet and social media he did not believe that Trump could have been elected. And now he has been elected to a second term.

Bryant also discusses two weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution: the Electoral College and the amending of the document.

The Electoral College is heavily tilted in favor of the Republican Party since it gives an advantage to small, less-urbanized, red states. Bryant provides a shocking statistic that clearly illustrates the weaknesses of the Electoral College.

The population of Queens, a New York City borough, is about 2.4 million people; that is more than the population of the 16 smallest states combined. And yet, because of equal representation in the U.S. Senate, the state of New York has two senators and each of the 16 smallest states has the same number – for a grand total of 32 senators – 16 times as great as the state of New York. Since every state receives two electoral votes based on their Senate representation, New York receives two votes and the 16 smallest states combined receive 32 electoral votes. And all of those small states cast a majority of their votes for Republican candidates, including those running for the presidency.

That is the reason that Republican candidates often prevail without getting the most popular votes. The most recent example occurred in 2016 when Hillary Clinton received 3 million more popular votes than Trump, but lost the election because of the role played by the Electoral College.

Okay, then why not change the Electoral College – if not discarding it altogether at least make changes so that it will more closely reflect the wishes of the voters?

That brings us to Bryant’s second criticism of the Constitution: It has always been difficult to amend and with today’s political polarization it has become impossible. It requires a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress to propose an amendment and two-thirds vote of the states to approve one. The Republicans love the Electoral College as it is, and besides, the House can’t even pass a law, much less a constitutional amendment.

It shouldn’t be easy. On the other hand, it shouldn’t be impossible, but it is.

Nick Bryant’s book is well-written, thought-provoking, and deeply researched. There’s so much more to it than what I can include in a review. I hope readers who disagree with what I have written will read the book, write their own reviews, and then we can discuss it.
******
Thanks for leading me to this book, Lyn.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put this book down. In voting for Reagan the way was paved for the
Presidency of Donald Trump. So revered today, a lot of problems started with
Reagan's reign - seeing tax cuts as a cure for every economic ill and the old
favourite beloved of Conservatives and yet shown, at the end of Reagan's
presidency, to actually widen the divide between rich and poor - trickle down
economics!! From then on the GOP seemed to have been slowly overtaken by
the religious fundamentalist right (much like what is happening in Australia)
and the reason for Obama's later malaise is that he was continually being pummeled
by Republican senators who opposed his bills not because they were not worth
considering but because they were Democratic creations. Obama had his problems
as well - Bryant feels he was too laid back and standoffish, thinking that by the time
his Presidency finished Hillary would take over.... no one reckoned on Trump!!
A Vanity Fair article "Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%" written by Nobel Prize
winner Joseph Sliglitz seems to sum up the plight of America at the moment.

[Steven Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the past year, the United States has undergone a series of events that have accelerated our partisan divide and portends serious problems in the near future unless we can overcome our differences. Election conspiracy theorists and deniers, the January 6th attack on the capitol by insurrectionists, the continuation of gun violence, police actions, voter suppression legislation, cancel culture are just a few of the issues contributing to our political, social, and economic insanity. If this is not enough, we still are in the midst of a pandemic with 30-40% of the population refusing to be vaccinated. Former President Trump reigns in Mar-a-Lago as a potentate receiving his minions pouring out his venom, lies, and conspiracy theories and one must ask, OMG how did we get here?

Perhaps BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant provides some of the answers in his new book; WHEN AMERICA STOPPED BEING GREAT: A HISTORY OF THE PRESENT. I find it intriguing that someone from across the Atlantic seems to have greater insight into our situation than the majority of Americans arguing that “Ronald Reagan was one of the Founding Fathers of America’s modern day polarization.” Bryant develops his theme by explaining that Reagan and the arrival of his right wing supporters who loved his anti-government persona along with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act began the road to our current polarization. Barry Goldwater’s loss in 1964 gave birth to the Republican’s southern strategy as white voters grew afraid because of the fast pace of racial reform. The situation was further exacerbated by the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Immigration and Nationalities Act which expanded voting to minorities and ended white preferences for those entering the United States and enhanced the “browning of America.” The events surrounding the elections of 1976 and 1980 set the stage for the election of Ronald Reagan a man who relied on his acting ability, stage management, sense of humor, and ability to communicate to win over the American electorate.

It was Ronald Reagan who became our first movie star president and developed the theme of “Let’s Make America Great Again” paving the way for Trump to become the first reality TV star to enter the White House and refine Reagan’s message. The difference between the two was that Reagan’s personality was uplifting while Trump’s emitted a nastiness never seen before in the Oval Office. In a sense Reagan was Trump’s role model except he lacked the vindictiveness and abusive behavior that the former president exhibited over his term in office. According to Bryant Reagan created the choreographed presidency with evocative scripting, polished production values, an eye for the dramatic photo-op, and a variety of show-like mix of spectacle, entertainment and gags. The problem was that Reagan was intellectually incurious, ill informed, and overly reliant on cue cards resulting in a flawed blueprint that showed that the president could achieve historical greatness without even mastering the basics of the job. Americans felt comfortable with Reagan’s manner and presentation unaware of the lack of depth behind the scenes – sound familiar?

The Reagan era witnessed a massive increase in wealth and consumerism – “Greed is Good!” became the epitome of Reaganism. To prove his point Bryant does an excellent job referencing the the culture of the 1980s through film, television which reaffirms the results of Reagan era policies. Further he explores Trump’s role during the decade and concludes quite correctly that he became the poster child of a profit obsessed society highlighted by garishness, ego, and a sense of entitlement. But Bryant is clear Reagan is responsible for the anti-government sentiment that has proliferated over the last twenty years and he is also correct that if one digs down into Reagan’s record the result would be Reagan would probably be primaried today if he ran for office by the Trumpers!

Despite the fact that Trump/Reagan seemed to dominate large segments of the book there are a number of important specific reasons that Bryant relies upon to make his arguments. Key among them is the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the Immigration and Nationalities Act that have been mentioned. All deal with the racial divide in America which is a dominant reason for the lack are bipartisanship in Congress which is the main reason for the decline in America’s reputation worldwide and the fracturing of American society. 1991 stands out because of the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles which clearly proved that no one of color would receive fair treatment under the American justice system. This was a warning at a time that the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist, as the US saw itself as the dominant and most respected country in the world. But from this point it was all downhill.

The arrival of Newt Gingrich is another major cause for the developing dysfunction in US politics. Bryant follows Gingrich’s career, ideology, and actions that led to his Speakership of the House. Gingrich’s slash and burn mentality designed to create roadblocks for any democratic legislation along with his nasty confrontational style accomplished his goal of making the Republican party an opposition party and did away with any consensus in Congress. The resulting grid lock that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment, shutting down the government, among many other actions slowly eroded our democracy. Bryant does an excellent job connecting the political dots in bringing Gingrich to the Speakership as the Democrats rejected John Tower as Defense Secretary to be replaced by Dick Cheney whose leadership position in the House went to Gingrich launching the Georgia lawmaker to create his mayhem.

1992 would be the watershed election as it reflected the racism and anti-Semitism of Pat Buchanan wrapped in his ethno-nationalism. The election of Clinton would normalize presidential bad behavior, and gave us Ross Perot whose populist lure of nativism, nationalism, and protectionism which would dominate politics in 2016. This nativism would lead to the Oklahoma City bombing, American failure in Mogadishu, Bosnia and Rwanda further eroding America’s reputation in the world. It appeared despite the economic growth of the 1990s the US was self-destructing.

Bryant presents cogent answers to the question raised in the title of his book. He zeros in on the role 9/11, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent disaster in that country and Afghanistan, and the 2008 economic disaster that still reverberates with American voters as those who were responsible were never punished and the government bailed out the “too big to fail” banks. This would lead to the Tea Party and further divided the American polity. Events overseas roiled America’s allies particularly the occurances surrounding Abu Ghraib, torture at black sites conducting by CIA operatives and others, and the situation at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. All of this was occurring as Vladimir Putin pursued a revanchist policy in Russia. Angry over NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the state of Russian influence in the world he would take advantage of America’s continued slide in worldwide influence. Putin’s task was facilitated by George Bush’s “Axis of Evil speech,” President Obama’s decision to allow President Bashir Assad to cross his “red line” in Syria, President Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds in Syria, all of which gave Russia an opening in the Middle East, Crimea, Georgia, and eastern Ukraine which Putin took advantage.

Foreign policy bears a great deal of responsibility for America’s decline but also domestic policy. Globalization is seen by American workers in the “Rust Belt” which produced NAFTA as a major reason for their loss of their livelihood. Between 2001 and 2013 over 65,000 factories closed in the United States costing over 5,000,000 jobs which would provide the seed bed for Trump’s support. Trump would play on white resentment against trade policy, immigration, and cultural issues to ingratiate himself with the Rust Belt revolt against robots (automation that cost jobs) to gain the presidency. This white-working class revolt heated by US corporate tax policies would further inflame the US electorate.

Bryant does a good job developing themes that are difficult to disagree with, but he also produces vignettes that reflect American hypocrisy, i.e., Gingrich’s affair with a congressional aide, Bob Livingstone his replacement as Speaker was exposed by Hustler magazine for his own affair, and Dennis Hastert, his replacement was later exposed as a child molester – all while trying to impeach and ruin Bill Clinton! Another surrounds the Bush administration’s actions in dealing with or not dealing with Hurricane Katrina, and his approach to the 2008 economic crisis.

Bryant’s dissection of each presidential administration seems fair and accurate. “No drama Obama” receives his due apart from his defunct Syrian policy. By not addressing income inequality in America, lining up with Wall Street not main street, and trying to achieve consensus with a Republican Party that totally rejected him in large part because of race all contributed to a weak presidency which his “aloof” cerebral manner just exacerbated. This produced the election of 2010 which saw an increase in of 63 Republican seats in the House and 8 Senate seats. The argument is sound that perhaps Obama was doomed because of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s policy of making Obama a one term president which he is continuing with Joe Biden, but an attempt to confront McConnell’s tactics should have been more forceful.

Bryant does not disappoint in his examination of the Trump presidency. The analysis of Trump’s personality and actions line up with numerous books that have been written since 2017 that explains Trump’s “American carnage.” “Like Reagan’s and Obama’s, this was a hugely symbolic presidency., but whereas the Gipper signified resurgence and Obama embodied renewal, Trump represented revenge.” Trump greatly accelerated the world’s negative view of the United States. Though nationalists and right wing authoritarian leaders made Trump weak at the knees his policies of: withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal; withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership; withdrawal from the Paris climate accord; his fawning over Vladimir Putin; use of a wrecking ball to the Atlantic alliance; his denigration of allied leaders; withdrawal from Syria; his bromance with Kim Jong-un; praising Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman who ordered the death of a Washington Post reporter; trade wars; suspending US funding for the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic all resulted in America’s moral reputation worldwide coming close to an abyss which of course China benefited from along with other presidential actions. A Pew research poll gave Putin a higher international approval rating than Trump 33-29%, and Xi Jinping was at 28%!

On the domestic front Trump even raised the polarization level during a pandemic, i.e.; mask debate, anti-vaxers, holding virus spreading events etc. While Trump fiddled, minorities burned, or died at an unacceptable rate when compared to whites. Lacking health insurance and economic resources Trump just caste people adrift. Misinformation and conspiracy theories reinforced by the 2020 election outcome, the George Floyd murder by a Minneapolis policemen heightened support for the Black Lives Matter Movement all of which contributed to the rift between the “red” United States and “blue” United States making people overseas wonder how the richest country on earth has made such a mess of things resulting in its precipitous decline over the last twenty years.

But as Bryant makes clear, Trump is not the only reason America stopped being great, it was a process that began with Vietnam, racial issues of the 1960s, and the evolution of personalities and events over fifty years that saw Pax Americana last for a noticeably short period despite the claims of George H. W. Bush in 1991. The United States is confronted with a public health crisis that disproportionately affects people of color, an economic shock that disproportionately affects people of color, and civil unrest caused by police brutality that obviously disproportionately affects people of color. The United States according to Bryant is a shattered mirror being held up to a fractured country.

Bryant’s overall approach produces a tightly argued narrative that I would challenge anyone to disagree with. It is thoughtful, based on personal experience, and relies on facts and reality, which for some is difficult to accept.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present is a comprehensive and richly-detailed analysis of the political, economic, cultural and technological factors that contributed to America’s decline and inadvertently paved the way for Trump’s presidency. Nick Bryant is the BBC's New York correspondent, holds a doctorate in American politics and has had his finger on the pulse of American politics for decades. He fell in love with New York when he first visited in the 1980s when it was the USA's heyday of power and self-confidence. He once considered becoming a US citizen, but now he wonders if the nation brought low by income inequality, substance abuse, falling life expectancy, and gun violence, is in an irreversible state of decline. He posits that the presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident, but that by 2016 it had become almost historically inescapable. In this highly personal account, drawing on decades of covering Washington for the BBC, Bryant shows how the billionaire capitalised on the mistakes of his five predecessors – Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama – and how also he became a beneficiary of a broken politics, an iniquitous economy, an ailing media, a facile culture, disruptive new technology and the creation of a modern-day presidency that elevated showmanship over statesmanship. Not only are we starting to see the emergence of a post-American world, Bryant fears we are witnessing the emergence of a post-American America.

The history of Trump’s rise is also the history of America’s fall – we witnessing America’s post-millennial decline, but also the country's disintegration. The aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, when Donald Trump refused to accept defeat and incited his supporters to storm the US Capitol, and the Black Lives Matter protests have revealed more about the country’s chronic state of disunion than any other events in recent years. This is at once a fascinating and unsettling account of the gradual decline of America as the land of plenty and the countless anecdotes Bryant uses to illustrate his points are not only well thought out but engaging too. He explores how the ‘American dream’, ebbed away as successive Presidents allowed the divisions in the ‘United States’ to become so apparent again. So much of the country was being left behind economically and technologically as advances were made in the big cities; as standards of living started to fall, the attitude towards immigrants – for so long the driver of the country’s success – became far more negative and exposed the racial problems that stemmed from its slavery trade roots and which had never been fully dealt with. Bryant explains that Trump’s presence on the political stage will still likely loom large for some time and the destructive energy will still be present despite Biden's win. This is a powerful, assured and eye-opening read from start to finish; let's hope we can recover from the past few years as quickly as possible. Highly recommended.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone trying to understand how the US has come to be so viciously divided politically and how Donald Trump came to be elected to the Presidency not just once but twice.

Bryant begins his analysis with the advent of Reagan to the Presidency, and moves, election by election, President by President up until 2019, the third yea of what we now know was the first Trump Presidency.

His scope of attention is wide, as he aims to tease out what happened to a sense of common pursuit of national objectives and its replacement by bitter partisanship, and the language of rational decision making by invective and lies.

The starting point he chooses is the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR, after which the longstanding internal conflicts within America rose readily to the surface.

Economic inequality, worsened by technological change; endemic racism; weakening respect for the offices and institutions of government and justice; media preference for a sensational story over substance; rise of social media; feminism and misogyny are amongst the divisive factors he discusses.

Because the subject matter is so disturbing, I found it difficult to read and had to give myself breaks from the onward downward path. Bryant is an experienced writer and his prose is always clear and direct - my difficulty was the subject matter not the writing.

His conclusion is that 'Greatness will never be this country's defining characteristic while so many of its compatriots are at loggerheads; when mistrust, dislike and hate are the drivers of politics; when the spirit of common endeavour is displaced by the toxic energy and even nihilism that now pervades so many aspects of national life; when the quest for understanding is invalidated by the refutation of self-evident truths'.

Publisher's blurb
A comprehensive analysis of the political, economic, cultural and technological factors that contributed to America’s decline and inadvertently paved the way for Trump’s presidency.

Nick Bryant
During a career spanning almost thirty years, Nick Bryant came to be regarded as one of the BBC's finest foreign correspondents and was described as 'the new Alistair Cooke'. He has been posted in Washington, South Asia, Australia and, most recently, New York, where he covered the Trump years

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I asked for this book for Christmas, the US 2020 election hadn’t even occurred. Who knew that this book was going to become even more relevant after the election and in the last days of the current presidency?

Like many Australians, I have a fascination for US politics because it all seems so different and like many things American, on such a grand scale. Super Tuesday, rallies, slogans, T-shirts, music, the Electoral College…it’s all so different. Everyone seems so passionate and invested (while in Australia, the main dilemma is what sauce to put on your democracy sausage or travesty if the local polling place dares not to have a sausage sizzle). When America Stopped Being Great looks at how American politics has changed since Ronald Reagan was elected and how it hasn’t always been for the better. There are chapters on each president – Bush x 2, Clinton and Obama. Then, the book focuses on Trump’s campaign and his presidency up until mid-2020 in more detail. The premise is that Trump inherited a number of problems from previous presidents and the choices of Congress and the House. Bryant definitely doesn’t excuse Trump for all his choices but the book shows how previous politics has impacted on each presidency, often not in a good way.

The book describes how each president put his own spin on things – Reagan made the presidency a show, while Bush Senior tackled the end of the Cold War with a new show of force in Iraq. Clinton made things more personable, right down to boxers or briefs (and then some). George W. Bush took on the War of Terror, while Obama didn’t use force to claim America’s superiority in the world. And Trump – well, we’re living that right now. I didn’t always agree with Bryant’s statements about Obama – I commend him for not trying to solve every problem with force – but it was a fascinating read, particularly about presidents before my time. Along the way, Bryant shows the disparity between the Republicans and Democrats in their determination to chase those elusive voters who may be wandering away from the party and gain new followers. Over the past 40 years, the parties (G.O.P. in particular) have split into different factions, which has made governing difficult. The way it’s painted by Bryant (and I don’t know any different because all I see is the Australian news and the New York Times) is that intra- and inter- party differences and alliances rule over what’s best for the country. It seems near impossible to make any meaningful, lasting changes.

When America Stopped Being Great is an interesting read, and it’s very readable. It’s not dry at all and explains things in a way that it’s easy to understand if you’re not American. It doesn’t leave you with optimism that Joe Biden’s presidency will change things dramatically, but hopefully recent events will refocus the government on governing rather than party politics. A very worthwhile read.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

[Ronald Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confession time; this is the first book I've managed to read since April with everything going on in the world; COVID, recession, lockdown, BLM and the US election some people have found it great for reading books but I've been engrossed with what's happening in the world and found it hard to focus on reading anything longer than a Reddit thread.

This is an excellent book by the BBC journalist Nick Bryant on everything that has gone wrong in America that lead to the Trump presidency. In a way though, it very much feels like the polarisation in politics is only half the story; the other half being what is happening on the ground that would cause 70 million Americans to think Trump deserving of a second term.

Flicking between CNN and Fox News most nights for the last few months as COVID spiralled out of control in the US and the election approached, I can't underscore how important it is that we understand why America's democracy has come undone and what lessons other liberal democracies can take from this.

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When the president does it…that means that it’s not illegal.”

Starting off with Reagan, Bryant goes through all the presidents of the US up to the Donald, charting its grim and ongoing decline, and at times this can make for quite dispiriting or disheartening reading. Thankfully he writes well and this is an easy enough read, but still manages carry much substance and depth to make it worthwhile for those looking for something a bit more serious too.

We see that Reagan became the first candidate that the NRA would endorse in 1980, other low-lights in the 80s like Contra, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, AIDS etc are not really explored to any great degree, but he does make a point of talking about the Citizens United case in 1988, which permanently altered and poisoned the already dubious well of American politics with unlimited access to dark money from home and abroad, making a total mockery of the democratic process.

What is terrifying is the man who proudly displayed his anti-intellectualism like a trophy is still regarded as one of the greatest presidents in the history of America. Remember this is the man who once claimed that trees emitted more pollution than cars and during a call with Nixon described African delegates at the UN as “monkeys” who were “still uncomfortable wearing shoes.” Though we do hear of some of the positive action he took too, like his anti-nuclear stance and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which granted amnesty to over 1 million illegal immigrants.

We see that during the Clinton years the US spent more on defence than the rest of the world combined. He got got rid of the Glass-Steagall at the end of 99 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in Dec 00, both which played a significant part in the global financial crisis. We see that Facebook and Google were exempt from the Communications Decency Act in 96, granting them a license to run riot on their way to evading a phenomenal amount of tax.

And of course Clinton’s crazy 3 strikes law, inevitably led to mass incarceration of largely low-level criminals, and he oversaw the biggest increase in federal and state prison population in US history and by the end of his time the US would enjoy the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

We are told of Bush’s $1.4 trillion deficit and how 20% of government spending went on the military. Of course Bush’s foreign policy became the most successful incentive and enduring recruitment campaign for Muslim extremism and terrorism in the world. Nearly two decades on the rest of the world still gets to pick up the tab and clean up the mess, as the man who used to enjoy playing soldiers now plays cowboy in a ranch somewhere in Texas.

There is a long list of shame to tie to Bush and his time in office, Abu Ghraib, the Haditha massacre, Guantanamo Bay and of course the various black sites used around the world to torture many other suspects. And let’s not forget the Patriot Act. Or that over 10 years, his tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 took $3.2 trillion out of the economy.

What we also see in here is that how often the Democrats are so accomplished at doing what the Republicans want to do, it’s almost like they can’t stop themselves from betraying their electorate as they criminalise whistle blowers, escalate rates of incarceration, bail out banks at the expense of millions of tax payers, or escalate drone use. Between 2009-2013 95% of income gains went to the 1%. The Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Obama sanctioned the murder of thousands in some of the poorest parts of the world, including the killing of more than 300 civilians through his drone warfare campaign.

As these various men passed through the White House what we saw was the emergence of feelings over facts and security over liberty. Self-congratulation, self-delusion and self-enrichment, appear to be the only constants.

There are just too many examples to list concerning how dreadful and woeful the situation is in the United States of America, but personally I think you would do well to think of a more depressing or heart breaking reflection of what America and its politics is really about, when the world saw just how low it could sink in the aftermath of Sandy Hook and how difficult it was for so many people to show humanity or compassion when they were asked to change laws to protect the most vulnerable in society and those people showed the rest of the world just what was really important to them.

This book could easily have been called “Just How Awful American Politics Can Be” but that doesn’t really have a ring to it, does it?...But the childish, petty, awful lengths these people go to get their own way is breath taking, all of these dumb, desperate, dangerous and destructive people who will seemingly do or say anything against almost anyone if they think that it will get them closer to what they want.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thorough overview of the last several US presidencies and their particular culpabilities in helping create the current cult of Trump.

I grew up during Reagan, and it was not until I was older that I began to learn about the myriad ways in which his presidency re-shaped the public understanding of the office - mostly for ill, all told.

There isn't a lot of good covered in this book, though I think George H.W. Bush gets the best coverage overall. While I understand the book is sort of an answer in search of a question, the author could have devoted more time to giving more of a balance to the various administrations. Instead, we focus mostly on the negative, "performative" aspects of the presidencies.

The author assumes the reader has more than a just a passing familiarity with the events of 1980 onwards in US politics - this is very much a high-level, highlights-reel type of assessment (though we do go into more depth on occasion). Still, if you are not well-versed in US presidential politics, some things may come off as making less sense/having less import than I think the author would have intended.

There is a claim made near the end of the book that the US hasn't had a fully functioning government (or at least executive branch) in 25 years. Given the book was published in 2020, I don't fully understand or see how 1995 was the time given as the last "functioning" government... this was an odd assertion that seems to come out of nowhere, and it certainly is not foreshadowed by anything in the text. I believe, as with many books, the introduction and final chapter were written extemporaneously from the body of the work, which may explain the discrepancy.

Overall, however, this book's thesis aligned with my thinking, as I have been for several years now making the point that this particular decline of the US executive office really began with Reagan, and you can draw almost a straight line through him, GWB, and now Trump. While I think the GOP have been the worst offenders, the book certainly does not spare either the Clintons or Obamas from their fair share of the blame, though in Obama's case, I found some of the items to be a bit of a reach (the Obama White House's use of the internet doesn't presage Trump's use of Twitter as an actual vehicle of policy and personnel announcements). Whereas we've now lived long enough to have better assessed the pros/cons of the Clinton White House, the proverbial jury is still out on much of Obama's legacy.

Highly recommended for anyone trying to make broader sense of the root causes of Trump's rise, from the standpoint of the impacts of the previous occupants of the Oval Office.

[David Allwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Donald Trump is the illness, this book explains the period of contagion. According to the author vehement bipartisanship, lack of compromise, political zealotry, and financial irresponsibility took hold in Reaganism and only accelerated under Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, resulting in Trumpism - the most extreme and exaggerated version of this political self interest and community neglect. The result is best exemplified on page 368 where it is stated, “indeed, each successive crisis, whether it was Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico or Covid 19, has demonstrated how fragile America has become.” This book, although intense, is an easy read pitched in very personal terms by the journalist author, Nick Bryant. The book ends with a withering criticism of the Trump Administration but, unfortunately it would seem, this is not the end of the decline of the US.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bryant plods through the U.S. presidents from Regan, pointing out the slowly eroding dignity of the office. I like the fact that this Brit has no bias for either side but the writing is dull and the structure boring.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you believed that prior to Donald Trump, America was great and his election in 2016 was completely anomalous, then you need to read this book. Nick Bryant, a Brit who has lived and written for many years in the US, exposes how Trump was merely the inevitable conclusion to a long story of US decline, starting back with Reagan.

It's always interesting to be a bystander and this book describes something of a train wreck which is difficult to look away from. From the conversion of politics and politicians into 'entertainers', to the rewriting of history and the propaganda, Bryant's examination is terrifying in many ways. Of course, it is always easy to speak with hindsight, but in so many ways, Trump was completely inevitable.

I think the saddest thing about the book is that the trajectory of the US is unstoppable. Even with a new administration now in place, the division, the political culture of 'us and them' and deliberate obstructionism, and the hold of the media are not going to go away. I could sense the author's despair at this reality, but it is an understandable sentiment.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read on America and its politics since just prior to 1980 or so - about the time I arrived here from England, uncannily a just few years before the author. As an ex-BBC journalist he brings a passionate but balanced view to the trajectory of America both upward and downward over the past four decades. As we trod similar paths, I know exactly where he's coming from and heartily agree with his assessments. He is unsparing in both criticism and praise of all the major political players - and of other "leaders" who shaped the nation and its the world for better and worse. Quite honestly this is the best book on recent American Presidents and the related history that I've seen. It's a tale of what irks us as we all search for solutions to seemingly intractable squabbling - just as he does. It is up to us to read illuminating books like this to see where we have been going wrong. Then focus on the things that will improve the collective lot of Americans and the world.

[Scott Handsaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for a history of US politics over the last 50 years, albeit told by an author with very little good to say about it!

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Byrant’s book is a political, journalistic commentary on how Trump, Trumpism and the apparent decline of America came to be.

The work covers the American political scene from the Reaganism of the 1980s, George H. W. Bush, the “Third Way" political philosophy of Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, through to Trump in condense consecutive chapters. The book projects that the rise of Trump and the 2016 Presidential election result were always a destination for America based on years of decline in the authenticity, reliability, and power of the American political system.

“When America Stopped Being Great” is clearly a well-researched work and very informative for readers with little or no memory of the events covered in the Reagan to Bush eras. The criticism of key politicians’ failure to engage in bipartisanship and the centre line is sharp and the tracking of both sides’ movement to the extremes is well analysed.

However, the argument that 2016 and onwards was a sort of inevitability is not convincing and may allow those who were in a position to do better off the hook. The notes of negativity in the concluding chapter are disappointing and shows Byrant failed to account for the profound result of the 2020 election and changes already made under the Biden administration and how these things suggest the future of American politics and democracy is hopeful.

Change can happen, to an extent it already has.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

My answer to the question implied by the title would probably involve mastodons and sabertooth cats. The author doesn’t reach nearly so far back in time and isn’t really able to put his hands on an answer either. His tale pretty much starts with Ronald Reagan and ends with Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020. It details the downward trajectory in the political climate throughout that time period and the ways in which previous presidents set the stage for Trump’s arrival in Washington by defining the presidency as a form of stagecraft, normalizing behaviors that the electorate would not have accepted in previous eras, and/or making decisions that had the net effect of driving wedges in between groups of people in an increasingly polarized electorate. It was worth the read, but he hews a bit too closely to the conventional narrative for my tastes.

This paragraph was my favorite: “Among historians the Trump presidency was starting to be viewed as an aggregation of the lesser traits of his predecessors. The bullying of Lyndon Baines Johnson, who demeaned White House aides and even humiliated his vice-president, Hubert Humphrey – forcing his deputy once to recite a speech on Vietnam while he listened, legs akimbo, trousers round his ankles, on the toilet. The intellectual incuriosity of Ronald Reagan. The shameless lying of Bill Clinton. The paranoia of Richard Nixon. The incompetence of George W. Bush. The historical amnesia of Gerald Ford, who asserted during the sole 1976 presidential debate that Eastern Europe was not dominated by Moscow. The strategic impatience of Barack Obama, whose instinct always was to withdraw US forces from troublesome battlefields, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, even if it meant leaving behind a mess. The distractedness of Jack Kennedy, who whiled away afternoons in the White House swimming pool with a bevy of young women to sate his libido, an X-rated version perhaps of Trump sitting for hours in front of his flat-screen TV watching friendly right-wing anchors bowing down before him.”

[George Eraclides · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb political analysis of our USA dominated present and the recent past, undertaken in order to work out how we arrived at Donald Trump and a declining USA. Mr Bryant is an experienced BBC Foreign Correspondent with academic credentials as well as journalistic experience, having a PhD in American History. He intersperses his historical analysis with personal recollections which adds to the interest for the reader. This work is very up to date: Mr Bryant writes about the Covid-19 epidemic with personal experience having contracted the disease with his wife while living in New York. He has first-hand experience of many key events in the recent political life of the USA. He reminds us of what the American presidents from Reagan to Trump actually said and did (and in passing, covers key aspects of other presidents such as Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon et al), the changing world in which they lived and much more which we may have forgotten or insufficiently understood. He joins up all the dots to show how the USA was on course to produce the current shambolic mess with its polarised polity, functional decline, the rise of Trump and what appears to be an inevitable descent into second or third rate status. I am writing this review having just witnessed in horror, as has most of the world, the attack on the Capitol Building in Washington by Trump supporters, egged on (incited) by the President himself, unable to accept his electoral defeat. Can the USA stop its horror ride into decline and fall? The author is hopeful but he fears the worst and that was before the recent events in Washington. If you want to understand your political reality in this age, read this book. It features high level analysis, insight, revelation and is extremely well written. It reads like a political thriller, as it should. This is the time we are living through.

[Karina Pineda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise analysis of the interplay of modern politics and culture that gradually, and inevitably, led to the Trump presidency, starting with the still-very-much-beloved (among Republicans) Ronald Reagan. As someone who was not alive during the Reagan years and lacks memory of any presidency prior to Clinton, I found this book to be very insightful. It also transformed some thoughts I had of these presidents, especially that of Reagan and Bush Sr. The author supplements his narrative by including statistics and poll data to show how America's transformation was headed towards the direction it is now. Highly recommend for people wondering "How did the two political parties becomes so polarized?".

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a book it's  about as close to perfect as you can get - readable, interesting, analytical, detailed but not too detailed.  Explores the Trump phenomenon and How it came to be.  How Reagan and Sarah Palin paved the way, how,  how the Republican Party machine failed to keep trump out, how American politics became so partisan, etc.   Bryant is a British journo who has been covering American politics for many years and lived in the US for a long time.   I'm keen on a foreigner's perspective of a country especially if they have lived there for many years. Usually more insightful than the perspective of a citizen who has never lived elsewhere. 

[Avid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bleak and depressing summary of “the trump years”. All true. All awful. The writing is good. There are some original observations in the final chapter, but mostly this is all stuff we know. I looked forward to reading it every day, and it certainly kept my attention, but it’s really just a rundown of where we came from/how we got here. This will be a good resource some day, but for now, living it was enough!

[Lily Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for anyone trying to understand the state of polarisation in the US. By exploring key political and social developments throughout the past 40 years, Bryant argues that there is nothing surprising about a populist leader like Trump’s stronghold. From the presidencies of Reagan to Obama, Bryant shows that America has created the felicity conditions for a strongman presidency such as Trump’s.

[Stan Fleetwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes the case convincingly, and depressingly, that Trump is not the cause, but a symptom of a growing problem in American political life that started in Reagan’s time. While Trump has accelerated the trend, it will continue after he is gone.

[Cliff Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful review of Americas decline

Nick Bryant’s book illustrates how even the most pro American observer cannot ignore the the key events that have charted and signaled the decline of this country.

A fascinating well observed, non political account of Americas decline.

[Susan Hester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant analysis of why the US is where it is now politically. Depressing, though.

[Ali El Zein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this a lot - Bryant has a way of grouping information together and creating narratives which make the events they precipitated seem completely obvious (rise of trump, polarisation ect).

The book gives very good background for US politics, particularly its past presidents + I don’t think I’ve read a book that’s expanded my vocabulary more.

That being said the rhetorical flourishes about Trump’s failure seem to lack some of the cynicism others bits of the book have; as if Trump is the first US president to forgo moral leadership or support authoritarians.

[Jacob Celermajer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book about the divisive consequences of increasingly partisan politics. Likely to hit home hard for most Americans, and indeed anyone fond of the United States. Bryant doesn't provide an answer to the problems he uncovers, although he doesn't claim to have one, other than slowly starting a long journey of recovery...

[Alfie Grocott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, although I’m a bit biased because I love this subject. A concise overview of 40 years of American politics which provided a good explanation of the partisanship and divisions that we see today.

[Andrea InCoorparoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since 2016 I have been trying to understand how it could be that Donald Trump was elected US President. I find him appalling so have read countless news articles to understand his appeal.
This book actually helped me understand Trump's election and ongoing popularity, with a really interesting analysis of American political and social history since the 1980s. How did Trump become President? Widening inequality, trashing of institutions, loss of trust, polarisation, celebrity, lengthy wars, social media, all these things and more.
I am glad that I read this book.

[Katrien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeer interessant boek over de Amerikaanse presidenten sinds Reagan en hoe we tot Trump geraakt zijn.

[Alison Starnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essential reading for those seeking answers to the conundrum that is Donald J. Trump. It is balanced and rational and doesn't shy away from criticising those who have held the office of US President - including Trump's direct predecessor, Barack Obama - and the flawed campaign of Hillary Clinton, who '...clearly could not countenance the notion that the world’s most important job interview could possibly end with someone so manifestly unqualified being appointed.'

The fact that it did should not detract from Trump's achievement, nor should we seek to denigrate those who elected him. Democracy will have its way - even when the results shock us, there is always an underlying cause.

So many of us were confused, probably mystified, by Trump's election as American President in 2016. How could a man considered narcissistic, misogynistic, and racist by so many secure the political mandate of millions of his fellow Americans?

This book goes a long way to explaining why - and how - Donald Trump became President, by putting his presidency in the context of what went before. Nick Bryant's pin-sharp understanding of the American political system clearly delineates a timeline from Ronald Reagan forwards to the present day. Trump's rise was legitimised by what preceded him:

'Though Ronald Reagan took 16 years to achieve what Donald Trump managed in a little over 16 months, America’s first movie-star president laid the path for America’s first reality-TV-star president.'

The other thing to bear in mind is, as Bryant points out, ‘In all personality cults, followers can be blind to the flaws of their idols.’ And Trump had plenty, yet is still revered by his supporters, convinced to this day the 2020 election was fraudulent despite clear evidence to the contrary.

'Trump possessed the great skill of populists and demagogues down the ages: to articulate the fears and prejudices of voters better than they could themselves, and also to offer simplistic solutions…'. This was his mantra, and it worked because 'he grasped that the future in politics belonged to those who generated their own content.’

‘Often history only reveals itself in hindsight, but it should not have come as such a shock that an era of disruptive technology would produce such a disruptive president; that an anti-Obama party selected as its nominee the most virulently anti-Obama candidate; than an anti-Washington conservative movement would back an obstreperously anti-Washington outsider; that an older and whiter GOP would pick the oldest white man in the field; that a country where racial divisions had actually widened under its first black president would pick such a racially divisive demagogue; that a nation which had witnessed such a massive redistribution of the wealth upwards would end up being run by a billionaire; that a screen- and social-media-addicted populace afflicted by so much online narcissism would plump for a narcissist; that a polity fed up with politics would select such an avowed antipolitician; that a superpower whose influence had waned over the course of the twenty-first century would pick a strongman promising to make America great again.’

Politics in America has increasingly become polarised along party lines, but ‘…Trump instantly became the most polarising president of them all…For blue America he was a national embarrassment. Much of red America, though, still saw him as a national saviour.’

In the end, what undid the Trump presidency was a pandemic and his failure to handle it. Then, when he lost out to Joe Biden, he refused to accept the outcome, leading to the shocking scenes of insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington.

According to Bryant: 'Greatness will never be this country’s defining characteristic while so many of its compatriots are at loggerheads; when mistrust, dislike and hatred are the drivers of politics; when the spirit of joint endeavour is displaced by the venom and even nihilism that now pervades so many aspects of national life.’

Donald J. Trump's impact on his country and its political life will be felt for some time to come.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Bloomsbury Publishing, in return for an honest appraisal.