The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America

by Adam Serwer

From an award-winning journalist at The Atlantic, these searing essays make a damning case that cruelty is not merely an unfortunate byproduct of the Trump administration but its main objective and the central theme of the American project.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Essays, Audiobook, American History, Race

433 pages, ebook

First published June 29, 2021

Reviews

[Amethyst · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not looking to read a book about Trump. The wounds that resulted from his presidency still feel too raw, and that is because the cruelty didn’t end because he lost the 2020 election. Our democracy is still being threatened, as evidenced by the most recent use of the filibuster by Republicans to block voting rights. Adam Serwer wrote for The Atlantic (June 2021), “The most immediate threat to American democracy was removed once Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election failed. But with Trump gone, the Republican Party has focused on the long-term project of engineering the electorate to preserve its hold on power.”

I picked this up based on the high praise of writers I trust and appreciate, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Kiese Laymon. Glad I did. This is a book that is unafraid of telling the truth and filing in “the gaps in American public memory” about the connections between the present and past. It is an unflinching meditation on the Trump presidency and of our brutal history that paved the way for the Trump era, from the cruelty of separating enslaved families to the apparent expendability of the poor during our current pandemic. It also talks about related topics (and how they relate) including immigration, internal Jewish community divisions, and police unions. While many people including myself may have Trump-fatigue, we must reckon with what led to his rise; recognize the interconnectedness of politics, race, and economics; and make strides toward a more perfect union.

Thank you to Adam Serwer, One World (an imprint of Random House), and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title before its release next week. May we never forget the cruelty of Trump’s America.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America
by Adam Serwer
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book.
This book has wonderful content but I was not thrilled with how the content was presented. It is essays and the essays have intros. But the content itself has everything we all have seen over the years. I am so Trump fatigued and I almost hated to read more about this hateful person.
The essays cover just about everything that Trump and the GOP like to abuse such as anything they consider less to them. That would be the poor, minorities, women, immigrants, LGBT, Democrats, and anyone they are against at the time.
They made policies that helped themselves and them only and cruel policies to hurt others. One of the worst was taking children from the parents of immigrants knowing they wouldn't likely be able to get the children back to the parents.
Policies to reduce school lunch free meals, A wink and a nod to police to rough up black protesters, and boosting the white power racists groups. Lies became the normal and corruption a means to their goal.
If you don't have Trump fatigue, A great book!

[Traci Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history connected to the present is top notch. Loved Serwers reflections on his own work. So really incredible and well formed arguments about this current political moment. The writing was sometimes hard to follow a little over written.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Serwer pens a book in a very similar format to Ta-Nehisi Coates book We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. Essentially these are a collection of articles previously published with an introduction to each article that helps to keep the focus of the book in place with this wide variety of articles. Published in June 2021, so much culture has moved aggressively since Trump that the tagline for the book changed from "The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America" to "Why Trump's America Endures". That's kind of profound occurrence given the magnitude of what has transpired. Presumably this book was written and in the publishing pipeline before January 6th. In other words so much transpired in 2021 that it necessitated a new subtitle as well as a rewrite to some of the chapters for more current context.

The book is well crafted making the point that Trump basically brings out what was once a moderately stealthy undercurrent of the American psyche. It's not a great leap at all to see what Serwer is doing with this book, he merely puts it into both a historical and current context.

"Many people woke up on November 9, 2016, feeling like their country hated them."

A both succinct and broad statement. Some of us have felt this way prior to November 9th. My guess is that's the day it became apparent to a much larger group of people still grappling with the notion of systemic social justice issues had implications that finally creeped into their own lives. Knowledge of the "cruel" aspects finally reached their middle class suburban existence. Serwer lays his case out methodically with chapters on the backlash from electing Obama, civil war never ended (lost cause), national delusion (we are not nor have we ever been what we say we are), lack of civility (the resentment of righting wrongs), mob mentality (everyone I know feels this way), white nationalism, conspiracy theories, exclusion (who is and isn't American), Supreme Court, COVID, police accountability (lack thereof), and of course the character of Trump himself as an avatar of grievance for the nation. Serwer is a historian and he has catalogued a rather niche subject that in my view captures much of what is America right now. It's a great book. Serwer is young and very smart. Personal opinion, he is compelling but I wasn't totally convinced. It could be a matter of mood for me when I read it. But right off in the first chapter he said

"The reality, however, is that political violence is less common in the present than it has been at many points in American history"

My first thought was "Yeah, as long as you are not counting the mass shootings all over the nation". The sentence just didn't age well and frankly I don't think it was true when he wrote it much less after the attack on Nancy Pelosi's home or Kavanaugh or Scalise getting shot or the Biden campaign bus being run off the road or Gov Whitmer's attempted kidnapping, or poll workers lives being threatened etc. It seemed like a casual observation tossed out because it seemed both counter intuitive and obvious. But without context, it seems like a youthful indulgence. It did affect the way I read the rest of the book. Also, appropriately this book was less about Trump than the Trump era because the author rightly suggests, Trump is a catalyst not the origin of "Trumpism". Serwer is a good writer. It was an interesting read and in my view he's spot on about almost all of it.

4+ Stars

Read on kindle

[Chad Alexander Guarino da Verona · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cruelty Is the Point is another entry in the long line of material written about the endlessly problematic Donald Trump presidency and the cult of personality surrounding him. It's a compilation of Adam Serwer's greatest hits essays from his time covering Trump's four years in office for the Atlantic, from his surprise election all the way up to the infamous Capitol riot of January 2021. Books such as this seemed to be a dime a dozen throughout the entire Trump presidency, basically writing themselves from the continual stream of inanity from the Oval Office, so the general reader can be forgiven for a bit of fatigue approaching this one. However, Serwer's analytical and historical takes on Trump's rise and consolidation in the modern Republican party are both informative and terrifying enough to offer enough nuance to justify the read. Serwer's chapters on race are particularly essential as he compares some of the current tactics and rhetoric being used now to eras of the past such as Jim Crow. This isn't uplifting reading, but as Serwer states in the title, that's exactly the point.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to
Random House Publishing Group - Random House**

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of a selection of thirteen essays written by Adam Serwer who is a staff writer for The Atlantic. Most of the articles were written during the presidency of Donald Trump and are about the historical and ideological forces behind his rise to power. (The last chapter is about the backlash to him.) There is a concluding essay on the past and present of American authoritarianism.

The author has paired each of the articles with an introduction to contextualize them. The selection of articles is a good reminder of what we lived through and of the fact that Trumpism is still very much alive. It's good to have our memory sharpened because the past is always with us, it’s not even past. The subjects covered include white supremacy’s influence throughout our history and including today’s politics, the negative influence of police unions, the mythology of migration, and the multiple forms of anti-Semitism.

I've included below excerpts from four different chapters.

The following excerpt from Chaper 1, titled, The Cruelty of Backlash which is the introductory remarks for the original essay titled Is This the Second Redemption? (Written Nov. 10, 2016). Keep in mind that the First Redemption occurred during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era which resulted in redemption of the power to the white population.

So America stands at the precipice of a Second Redemption. Unlike the first, it was not achieved by violence and has not ended in the total disenfranchisement of people of color. Its immediate consequences may not be as total or as dire. Yet it has a democratic legitimacy that extends far beyond the American South. The erasure of the legacy of the first black president of the United States will be executed by a man who rose to power on the basis of his embrace of the slander that Obama was not born in America.

The following excerpt from Chapter 4, titled “The Cruelty of Reconciliation” which is the introductory remarks for the original article titled “Civility is Overrated” (written December 2019) The following quote is taken from the introduction part which was written after January 6, 2021.

“Hate, fear, and intimidation” are a concise summary of the politics of a candidate who not only ran on promises of mass deportations, Muslim bans, and birtherism but those of a president who used his authority to coerce others to intervene in elections on his behalf. While Biden was appealing to civility, Trump was attempting to coerce the leader of Ukraine to implicate Biden in a nonexistent crime. As Biden was promising to govern on behalf of all Americans regardless of party affiliation, Trump was attempting to intimidate Republican state legislatures into overturning their election results. When Biden and his transition team were leading with the Trump administration for cooperation, the president was sending a mob to sack the Capitol building in an effort to keep him in power.

The book's title is taken from Chapter 5, its introduction is titled The Cruelty of the Mob and the title of the original essay is The Cruelty Is the Point (written October 3, 2018). The following excerpt from that essay provides a summary explanation of why cruelty is an essential component of Trump's appeal.

Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united.

Chapter 12 has an introductory essay titled The Cruelty of the Code of Silence and the original essay (written in Spring of 2021) is titled Abolish Police Unions. The following excerpts explain why Police Unions are different from other public employee unions in that they invariability want to bargain for a license to kill.

This is not a system ruined by a few bad apples. This is a system that creates and protects bad apples by design.
… … …
The question is why there should be police unions at all. Because the defining labor of police is violence, any police union is bound to eventually want to negotiate leniency for the misuse of violence by its members and to advocate not only for policies that guarantee that leniency but for politicians who will secure it. That guarantee is rooted in part in the racial disparities of police misconduct, which also insulate police from political backlash. That makes the preservation of such disparities a political interest for police unions, which can easily override the preferences of black officers, who tend to have more sympathy for the targets of police misconduct.

Link to article titled, "Cruelty is the Point," by Adam Kotsko (not author of this book)
https://itself.blog/2022/09/17/the-cr...

[Mabinty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Serwer is one of the most incisive writers of the 21st century. 'The Cruelty is the Point' is a detailed book that shows readers how the American public went from electing the first African American president to electing Donald Trump.

It is easy for people to think that Trump's election is an aberration, but 'The Cruelty is the Point' shows that Trump is part of an American history that far too often been ignored or excised from the American public sphere. Serwer is literally correcting the record and undoing the whitewashing of history with this collection of essays.

Serwer reminds us that: racism, white nationalism or antisemitism are not limited to any one party; Justice is not inevitable, but it most be fought for over and over throughout history. Liberals and conservatives have both at times enacted cruel policies that have devastated vulnerable communities.

Towards the end of 'The Cruelty is the Point' Sewer traces a line from the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter Movement through the history of police unions. At the same time he reminds us that the U.S. has often been at the brink of massive change and then stepped away from truly creating a multiracial democracy. The question that runs through this book is whether the U.S. will continue to move forward towards progress or once again fail to live up the creed 'all men are created equal'?

*** This was my review after winning the give away for this book.

[Susan Tunis · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This excellent essay collection by The Atlantic writer Adam Serwer put me very much in mind of Ta-nehisi Coates We Were Eight Years in Power, which looked back at essays he'd written throughout the Obama years, with updated introductions for context. These are mostly previously published pieces Serwer wrote during the Trump years. He, too, adds generous introductions giving context to the time and events that inspired his insightful essays. Oh, and the book even got a generous blurb from his former colleague, Mr. Coates.

I know several Atlantic writers by name, but Mr. Serwer is not one I could have placed. In the pages of the book, it becomes clear that he is a member of two marginalized communities--half black, half Jewish. This is a man who knows a thing or two about cruelty. And during this painful and shameful period of our history, he was a careful observer and chronicler. His essays are both convincing and compelling. The Trump administration and the American people gave him plenty of material to work with in proving his premise that the cruelty is the point. Alas. This is another smart read towards my quest to understand the inexplicable times I'm living through.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a glorious read! The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer provides comparison after historical comparison relating to the years since 2016. In instance after instance, White indifference has been challenged by first-hand reports then photographs then television and now cellphone videos. Each time, there’s been progress and then retrenchment. Will now finally be different?

One of the most powerful political books I’ve ever read, right up there with Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, where Hunter S. Thompson predicted the rise of Ronald Reagan when that seemed impossible. I’ll read whatever Serwer writes. Now let me go subscribe to The Atlantic.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Random House and One World in exchange, for an honest review.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a big reader of The Atlantic so I wasn’t familiar with this journalist. This is an excellent selection of previously published articles, each with a forward explaining what was happening and what he was thinking when he wrote it. He explores the historical context of today’s events. I haven’t read this much about Reconstruction since high school and I clearly didn’t understand too much about it at the time. Many (worse) things have happened since this book was published and I will be looking for the author’s thoughts.

[Agla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting analysis on the way history is rhyming at the moment. The parallel with the Reconstruction period was convincing. I learned a few things. And as I always tell students, in the us, everything is about race, always. The question is not whether race was part of a decision, but the way/degree to which it was.

My criticism would be that it was a collection of articles written at the time. As a result, it would have benefitted from being even out. There were some repetitions.

[Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some fairly good essays in here, and others that get a bit too caught up in the culture war du jour. Also, it’s a bit of a let down to see publication of what are a string of older magazine articles with some contemporaneous introductions added – feels like a bit of recycled effort in that respect.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant essay collection on the rise of Trump and what it means for America. The essays were written over the last six years and each has a new introduction from the author.

Serwer is so good at concisely situating the reader in the historical context of the issues he writes about. Not an easy book for obvious reasons, but an important one.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot to digest, and offers a negative view of the Trump presidency with history to how we got to the point of electing him. History, political rhetoric, and even how the voting population looks at him.

How I got this book: I'm not really sure. I got it through Overdrive an app through my local library. I really haven't been trying to read books on Trump since he left office.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books that I've had the chance to read in 2021. Adam Serwer does an amazing job connecting the political and historical developments in our country under the Trump Administration with the longer durée of US history, specifically Reconstruction and the development of Jim Crow.

Serwer's discussion of Robert E. Lee and the mythology that his developed around him was a great education for me. I also found the discussion of current police unions and their history to be enlightening. I strongly recommend this book to everyone!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Societies are constantly renegotiating the boundaries of respect and decency. This process can be disorienting to the once-dominant group, it can even feel like oppression. (It is not.) Many of the same people who extol the sanctity of civility when their prerogatives are questioned are prone to convulsions over the possibility of respecting those they consider beneath them, a form of civility they deride as 'political correctness.'"

"Trump is a tremendously dishonest person, but he's forced an exceptional number of people to reveal their true selves."

"Believing in racial equality in the abstract and supporting policies that would make it a reality are two different things. Most white Americans have long professed the former and pointedly declined to do the latter. This paradox has shown up so many times in American history that social scientists have a name for it: the principle-implementation gap."

"The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump's America" wasn't quiet the book I was expecting but was a delight just the same. It was primarily made up of articles Serwer wrote during the course of Trump's presidency and just after. It dealt with many issues I expected: his cruelty, racism, Totalitarian tendencies, but also covered race, policing, and class in ways I wasn't expecting that greatly broadened my horizons.

Growth like this can be uncomfortable and I'm sure I frequently avoid it (at least subconsciously). But Serwer isn't here to lecture. He's calling it like he sees it and more importantly, with illustrative historical context.

A must read for the modern citizen.

[Katherine Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cogent, if sobering, analyses of the racism of the Trump White House, and how it reflects the historical racism still with us.

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trumps followers love the cruelty. I already know that.

Republicans and their enablers have created Trump in their own image. Fox News didn’t shape them as the author said. They shape Fox News and Trump. The demon has an orange face and the mob is its heart.

Sometimes, just before you’re going to take your shower read the comment section on any WSJ comment board. Those people are nuts. Reason, logic and facts mean nothing to them. Feelings are what drive them.

Politics is not about policy or reasonable debate for them. It’s about feelings. They feel that Democrats stole the election because they believe that’s how Democrats behave. They have theories without facts and the facts they have are irrelevant to the conclusion and are innuendo laden.

These essays are already out of date. Trump enabled by his mob wants to destroy democracy by disenfranchising Democratic votes and no longer cares about the rule of law. They are fascist to the core. They are an existential threat to every value I hold dear and books that dance around that reality are helping us dig our own grave.

Yes, I did like the titled essay. It was very good and is five-star worthy by itself. The rest of the essays seem to implicitly think that the fascist Republicans (and that term is becoming redundant) can be reasoned with. Those who enter their beliefs without reason as every single follower of Donald Trump and the members of the Republican party cannot be dissuaded with reason. The threat is real and the title essay at least got that message. Republicans under Trump wanted to overthrow a fair and free election. Democracy means nothing to them; the rule of law is only a slogan for them when it allows them to hate others legally or disenfranchise votes they don’t like.

[Jonathon McKenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positives— some really good essays. The Robert E Lee one was a highlight, the police unions one was 5 stars. Other standard, others fell flat, but in a collection of essays, that’s natural. The titular essay surprisingly was quite forgettable. I learnt a LOT about Reconstruction, which I know little about, so that was quite fun.

Negatives: I got this in a bargain bin, and I’m glad for that because I don’t think I would ever read something so dated full price. Obviously that is not Serwers fault in the slightest, but it was hard to read things when the world outside is worse than what he wrote about for Trump 1. At times the book made it hard to keep being hopeful, with his reflections on 2016-2020. Beyond my own baggage, I think the essays got blurred together and produced a slog sometime. And the fact that the bulk of the book was compiling his old essays…. Respect the grift!

Overall, some good stuff, some bad stuff, but perfectly fine, if dated.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tore through it in a day. It’s a collection of essays looking at the cruelties of the Trump administration but also situating them in greater historical context. I especially liked the new essays in the book, which often ran a bit longer. As a Jewish person I thought his piece in particular on why American Jews do not support Trump despite the relationship with Israel was fascinating.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So well written and I loved the format. This was so hard to read because I hate Tramp but it was absolutely necessary and so informative. Will be recommending this to everyone.

[Ben Sicnolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very good book.

This is a collection of articles written by Adam Serwer in the months leading up to, during and just after the Trump presidency, as well as some written reflections on each.

In that sense, I understand why Trump’s name is evoked in the subtitle and why it seems like a book about him or indicting him and his rhetoric. And while it does do that, it looks at much more than that. It’s definitely a “hold up the mirror” to America situation. From its founding to its current status and standing.

It goes after Trump and his clear as day racist agenda snd beliefs. But also goes after: police unions, Pelosi and Democrats who did so little to stop Trump, conservative voters and congresspeople who sold their souls in getting Trump elected and their support of the Republican party since Trumpism took over, “moderates” (puke) in the 1870s, 1960s, through to today, the myth that there has ever been your “friendly neighborhood cop”, the absurdity of people who are anti-immigrant. Many more. And it does all of those things while attempting to show that Trump is not the CAUSE of those things, but rather a symptom of all of that existing in America since its inception. American politics are built on cruelty.

I think I especially enjoyed it because reading a series of articles allows you to be immersed and gripped by the topic of each individual article and makes each new chapter feel fresh, even if there is some overlap. There was one article that made it sound like Trump Republicans could be “reasoned with” or persuaded and that is definitely inaccurate, but otherwise, this was great, particularly the article that became the title of the book.

Highly recommend this. I read kind of a lot of books on race and politics and this is definitely one of my favorites. Hard 5 stars.

[Owen Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of essays brings together Serwer's work from the Trump era. A few additional essays fill the book out. I'd put this with Ta-Nehisi Coates's We Were Eight Years in Power as a useful "first draft of history" of a political tumultuous time in American life.

[Mansoor · Rating 1 out of 5]

دنیای ژورنالیسم امروز پر است از ژورنالیست‌هایی که بی هیچ عذاب وجدانی حاضرند حقیقت را، در خدمت سنگر ایدئولوژیک‌شان از راست و چپ، تحریف کنند. ولی ادم سرور از همه‌شان فاسدتر است

[Sandra Armor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is dense. I listened to the author read his book and had to slow it down to 0.9 speed. And I still feel like I only digested a small percentage of the ideas in this book. I’m going to get a physical copy so I can take it in more slowly. His words in these essays are that important.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any reckoning with the Trump years starts here.

[Matt Goldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading these essays in The Atlantic, and now I love reading them again with introductions and reflections from Serwer. It’s a vital chronicle not only of the Trump era, but of American history. What makes Serwer better than many of his contemporaries is that he doesn’t try to look at the personage of Trump as a singular anomaly, but rather how Trumpism is a recurring aspect of America’s white supremacy, a barrier to our democratic ideals. It’s not an easy read (although Serwer’s writing is excellent), but it is an essential one for understanding the racial conflicts that undergird the American experiment.

[CJ]

Serwer is a great writer so a lot of these essays were excellent, but I didn't really feel like they provided a cohesive explanation for Trumpism (as the subtitle implied) as much as they were just a collection of his writing's during the Trump presidency and immediate aftermath. However, it was interesting to revisit some of these with the benefit of hindsight.

[Tony Heyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The cruelty was the point, but it was always a part of us." So ends this stellar collection of essays by Adam Serwer who coined the phrase "The cruelty is the point" in an essay in 2018 following a rally where Donald Trump mocked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for her testimony against now Justice Kavanaugh.

In this book, Serwer highlights the cruelty that animated Donald Trump's rhetoric and policies and how millions of Americans gravitated to it. Whereas some reporters seemed bewildered by the rabid support for Trump in the face of this grotesque behavior, Serwer smartly demonstrates that these attitudes aren't new in any way. In fact, this attraction to cruelty, especially tied into treatment of minority populations, has always been part of our country.

What makes this book stand out is not just the accessible writing style, but Serwer's ability to show the humanity of all people without making apologies for it. There is an empathy here that does not excuse actions or hate. From immigration to police brutality to anti-Semitism to racism, people have been more than willing to side with cruelty, to cheer it on, or to quietly give it the OK because they are on the side of those inflicting harm, not on the side of those who are victimized.

This book shows that these attitudes have seeds in all pockets of the country and can fester and grow in any of us. Cruelty has never been just a fringe outlook. There has always been a welcoming home to views that ostracize and dehumanize people for their race, religion, sexuality, nationality, or station in life.

I want everyone to read this, to understand that there was never a perfect era to harken back to where there was peace and harmony. There was no distinct moment where things just "went bad." And, especially for white moderates and liberals, we should recognize that improving justice for all means more than just nice language. It takes ongoing action.

I also want people who I know who supported Trump, whether actively or passively with a quiet vote in 2016 or 2020 or both, so that they can see why I and others like me can't just brush that aside as a mere difference of opinion. His persona and actions are not just about saying some uncouth things. Supporting him is supporting a legacy of cruelty to those who can least afford the consequences. We need to reckon with that and work to make sure that people who empower that ideology do not achieve victories at the ballot or in policy.

These attitudes are not new. They are pervasive. But we have overcome them before and slid backwards at times. The path to a country that truly welcomes all and works together to lift people up is still ahead of us, but we have to actively do the work to make that reality possible.