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This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future
The shocking, definitive account of the 2020 election and the first year of the Biden presidency by two New York Times reporters, exposing the deep fissures within both parties as the country approaches a political breaking point.
This is the authoritative account of an eighteen-month crisis in American democracy that will be seared into the country’s political memory for decades to come. With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.
From Donald Trump’s assault on the 2020 election and his ongoing campaign of vengeance against his fellow Republicans, to the behind-the-scenes story of Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate and his bitter struggles to unite the Democratic Party, this book exposes the degree to which the two-party system has been strained to the point of disintegration. More than at any time in recent history, the long-established traditions and institutions of American politics are under siege as a set of aging political leaders struggle to hold together a changing country.
Martin and Burns break news on most every page, drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before-seen documents and recordings from the highest levels of government. The book asks the vitally important (and disturbing) question: can American democracy, as we know it, ever work again?
This is the authoritative account of an eighteen-month crisis in American democracy that will be seared into the country’s political memory for decades to come. With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.
From Donald Trump’s assault on the 2020 election and his ongoing campaign of vengeance against his fellow Republicans, to the behind-the-scenes story of Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate and his bitter struggles to unite the Democratic Party, this book exposes the degree to which the two-party system has been strained to the point of disintegration. More than at any time in recent history, the long-established traditions and institutions of American politics are under siege as a set of aging political leaders struggle to hold together a changing country.
Martin and Burns break news on most every page, drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before-seen documents and recordings from the highest levels of government. The book asks the vitally important (and disturbing) question: can American democracy, as we know it, ever work again?
473 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 3, 2022
1556 people are currently reading
2594 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Martin
2 books28 followersJonathan Martin is a national political correspondent for The New York Times and a political analyst for CNN. He joined the Times in 2013 after working as a senior political writer for POLITICO. His work has been featured in The New Republic, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. A native of Arlington, Virginia, Martin is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
July 27, 2022
As with all books on the political situation in the United States -- as united as two very incompatible people in a horribly unhappy marriage -- it was much hyped and then new info and events have whooshed past it. I felt manipulated that the shocking tapes of Kevin McCarthy, including him discussing the 25th Amendment, were released ahead of the book because they're either excerpted or not in the book. This is true of too much of what was put out to publicize it.
If you're watching the hearings and/or MSNBC there's nothing of importance new in here (in some cases: new anymore).
If the idea of watching MSNBC and/or the hearings gives you convulsions, you're not going to care that the term you've been fed, "elites," was in fact concocted by far-right Republicans including Hawley and Cruz who are products of these same "elites" -- in Cruz's case Princeton and Harvard -- many of whom don't believe what they're saying. But if you read in here what they've said privately I suspect you wouldn't believe it.
Martin made what was for me an odd choice: he included things about the Dems. Some, again, anyone paying attention knows about, including what went on with the infrastructure deal but did he really have to tell us Joe Manchin is actually Italian and his family name (how many generations ago?) was Mancini?
He goes into detail about Biden's team and then Biden's vetting of a vice president. There were some surprises there but the biggest was that they're included in the book. They're true and legitimate but seem so out of place in contrast with the Big Lie and the Insurrection. But though out of place it's interesting.
Candidate Biden never promised to choose a black woman as Vice President, he promised to choose one for the Supreme Court and of course delivered. Elijah Cummings made it clear he should pick the VP he was most comfortable with. Stacey Abrams was never even on the long list since she has no governing experience. Elizabeth Warren (:weep:) was considered too old and progressive. Keesha Lance Bottoms would have been a top candidate had she not quit (just like Al Franken did: sometimes Democrats fall on their swords too hastily while some Republicans don't hesitate to deeply wound the country with theirs). Michelle Lujean resented the vetting process and to an extent so did Gretchen Whitmer, who was probably Biden's top choice but then Michigan became the epicenter of covid and she didn't feel it was right to leave the governership.
Tammy Duckworth became the leading candidate, and does she ever have bona fides and had a decent relationship with Joe Biden. But his veep-vetting team were concerned the other side would raise questions because she wasn't born in the U.S., she was born in Thailand to American parents. Duckworth's birth in Thailand made her every bit as American as anyone else, but though she gave her legs for this country in Iraq their hesitancy was mainly a result of what Barrack Obama, who after all was born on U.S. soil, was put through by Trump and some Republicans. Reluctantly, Duckworth was eliminated.
Here's what happened next, and though it's not at all what I got the book for it's interesting and though it reads like gossip it's legitimate historical information via sourced journalism, a phrase that should still mean something but doesn't always. Everything in the book is triple-sourced and most of it, as we heard with Minority Leader McCarthy, is on tape.
So Amy Klobuchar was removed from the list because of baggage she carries from her time as a prosecutor and county attorney in Minnesota, cases where she went easy on police and didn't prosecute their misconduct. Those times were still freshly tainted with the murder of George Floyd and I learned via Martin that among others Klobuchar declined to prosecute, among other cops who'd done bad things to people of color, was Derek Chauvin (George Floyd's killer, now serving life). It was her call. That was too much baggage for a VP candidate at that moment in time (and some of us might think: for anyone, ever).
There have been stories about her not-nice side, throwing binders and other anecdotes. But, and this happened before our eyes in real time but I never put it together, her next move proved beyond a doubt she has a vindictive side and an angry one. When she learned she was cut from the list she did a hella bitchy thing: she held a press conference "bowing out" and gave as her "reason" that Biden needed to choose a black woman. She boxed him in. I do admire a lot of her work in the Senate and it's because she plays the kind of hardball that made her bitterly force Biden's hand.
That left Kamala Harris and some others. Karen Bass became the leading candidate and stories surfaced, old but true stories, involving Cuba and some other things. One by one true stories surfaced publicly on every VP contender except one. Her "oppo research" was the source of these, which is how Kamala Harris eliminated the remaining competition and became VP. Again, interesting but not what I expected in this book, especially not after hearing Kevin McCarthy on tape, which is when I pre-ordered it.
As far as the Big Lie and the Insurrection and Seditious Conspiracy, why read this book when you can watch Josh Hawley's fist bump and slow-mo run? It's past time for me for books on the Trump administration and too soon for ones on the Biden. The VP stuff is valid but read like gossip and really stuck out sandwiched between pages of sedition, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, thieving, lying, soulless -- you get the point.
If you're a Democrat paying attention you don't need to read it. If you're a MAGA Republican actively trying to ignore the seditious conspiracy or unaware because Fox won't tell you at night, you won't want to read it. If you're an independent, a moderate Republican or truly neutral you don't want to read it because there are better choices -- and for now they're all in print journalism and on television. Kudos to Martin for his sourcing, but the book seems quaint given what's come out since. History is moving too fast at this time for the best sourced journalism on recent events.
If you're watching the hearings and/or MSNBC there's nothing of importance new in here (in some cases: new anymore).
If the idea of watching MSNBC and/or the hearings gives you convulsions, you're not going to care that the term you've been fed, "elites," was in fact concocted by far-right Republicans including Hawley and Cruz who are products of these same "elites" -- in Cruz's case Princeton and Harvard -- many of whom don't believe what they're saying. But if you read in here what they've said privately I suspect you wouldn't believe it.
Martin made what was for me an odd choice: he included things about the Dems. Some, again, anyone paying attention knows about, including what went on with the infrastructure deal but did he really have to tell us Joe Manchin is actually Italian and his family name (how many generations ago?) was Mancini?
He goes into detail about Biden's team and then Biden's vetting of a vice president. There were some surprises there but the biggest was that they're included in the book. They're true and legitimate but seem so out of place in contrast with the Big Lie and the Insurrection. But though out of place it's interesting.
Candidate Biden never promised to choose a black woman as Vice President, he promised to choose one for the Supreme Court and of course delivered. Elijah Cummings made it clear he should pick the VP he was most comfortable with. Stacey Abrams was never even on the long list since she has no governing experience. Elizabeth Warren (:weep:) was considered too old and progressive. Keesha Lance Bottoms would have been a top candidate had she not quit (just like Al Franken did: sometimes Democrats fall on their swords too hastily while some Republicans don't hesitate to deeply wound the country with theirs). Michelle Lujean resented the vetting process and to an extent so did Gretchen Whitmer, who was probably Biden's top choice but then Michigan became the epicenter of covid and she didn't feel it was right to leave the governership.
Tammy Duckworth became the leading candidate, and does she ever have bona fides and had a decent relationship with Joe Biden. But his veep-vetting team were concerned the other side would raise questions because she wasn't born in the U.S., she was born in Thailand to American parents. Duckworth's birth in Thailand made her every bit as American as anyone else, but though she gave her legs for this country in Iraq their hesitancy was mainly a result of what Barrack Obama, who after all was born on U.S. soil, was put through by Trump and some Republicans. Reluctantly, Duckworth was eliminated.
Here's what happened next, and though it's not at all what I got the book for it's interesting and though it reads like gossip it's legitimate historical information via sourced journalism, a phrase that should still mean something but doesn't always. Everything in the book is triple-sourced and most of it, as we heard with Minority Leader McCarthy, is on tape.
So Amy Klobuchar was removed from the list because of baggage she carries from her time as a prosecutor and county attorney in Minnesota, cases where she went easy on police and didn't prosecute their misconduct. Those times were still freshly tainted with the murder of George Floyd and I learned via Martin that among others Klobuchar declined to prosecute, among other cops who'd done bad things to people of color, was Derek Chauvin (George Floyd's killer, now serving life). It was her call. That was too much baggage for a VP candidate at that moment in time (and some of us might think: for anyone, ever).
There have been stories about her not-nice side, throwing binders and other anecdotes. But, and this happened before our eyes in real time but I never put it together, her next move proved beyond a doubt she has a vindictive side and an angry one. When she learned she was cut from the list she did a hella bitchy thing: she held a press conference "bowing out" and gave as her "reason" that Biden needed to choose a black woman. She boxed him in. I do admire a lot of her work in the Senate and it's because she plays the kind of hardball that made her bitterly force Biden's hand.
That left Kamala Harris and some others. Karen Bass became the leading candidate and stories surfaced, old but true stories, involving Cuba and some other things. One by one true stories surfaced publicly on every VP contender except one. Her "oppo research" was the source of these, which is how Kamala Harris eliminated the remaining competition and became VP. Again, interesting but not what I expected in this book, especially not after hearing Kevin McCarthy on tape, which is when I pre-ordered it.
As far as the Big Lie and the Insurrection and Seditious Conspiracy, why read this book when you can watch Josh Hawley's fist bump and slow-mo run? It's past time for me for books on the Trump administration and too soon for ones on the Biden. The VP stuff is valid but read like gossip and really stuck out sandwiched between pages of sedition, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, thieving, lying, soulless -- you get the point.
If you're a Democrat paying attention you don't need to read it. If you're a MAGA Republican actively trying to ignore the seditious conspiracy or unaware because Fox won't tell you at night, you won't want to read it. If you're an independent, a moderate Republican or truly neutral you don't want to read it because there are better choices -- and for now they're all in print journalism and on television. Kudos to Martin for his sourcing, but the book seems quaint given what's come out since. History is moving too fast at this time for the best sourced journalism on recent events.
May 10, 2022
Eh? There's only so much you can read about assholes being assholes.
April 26, 2022
The tapes have been interesting. It's satisfying to see hypocrites get caught out so neatly and completely. And regarding the pre-publication one star reviews - well, two can play that game. 🤷🏻♀️
October 14, 2022
While the 2024 US Presidential Election is still a while way, the mid-term congressional elections for 2022 are just around the corner. This makes it the perfect time to sink my teeth into this book by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns. Martin and Burns provide the reader with an insightful piece that explores the doomed final year of the Trump Administration—complete with scandals and riot—before turning to examine the first year or so of the Biden White House. With a number of first hand accounts and interviews, the authors provide the reader with a scintillating read, at least for those who enjoy the subject matter.
There is no doubt that the Trump Administration, and 45th president himself, transformed American politics into an embarrassing circus. The authors use the opening chapters of the book to explore the final year of that doomed Administration, riddled with lies, panic, and an inability to cope with the COVID outbreak. Crazy home remedies splashed across the headlines of major news outlets, with The Donald spouting his odd-ball comments at every turn. He used this to catapult him into the 2020 presidential election, where he was sure he would win, no matter his opponent. Democrats had another idea and, after much cat-fighting of their own, chose a viable candidate in Joe Biden, longtime politicians in DC and former vice-present. The gloves came off and, as many will know, things did not turn out well for the Republicans in the White House, or either congressional house.
While rhetoric flew and people spewed rigged elections, the Biden team had to prepare to take over the White House, looking to create a sold group that could take America out of the quagmire it found itself and return things to stable ground. Biden and his closest associates found the transition period tough, as they tried to appease many they met on the campaign trail, while ensuring that they did not lose their base. Clinging to the smallest of majorities in the House of Representatives and a virtual tie in the Senate, which could be broken by VP Kamala Harris, Biden had to walk carefully in who he chose for senior roles.
While the riots of January 6, 2021 rocked the Capitol, lawmakers began to see just how crazy things could get under Trump and how fresh ideas might be the answer. Biden’s early attempts at reunifying the country fell short, both because many of the electorate still fell for the lies of rigged elections and fake results, but also because of the razor-thin majorities both Houses gave him. With two senators who appeared ready to wear the Democrat hat only when it suited them, Biden had to ensure he compromised, but even that was not enough. While the Republicans were in a Trumpian Civil War, the Democrats were imploded just as much, having stretched themselves too thin and trying to be too inclusive.
As the authors recount the struggles for any sort of meaningful legislation, Biden was beginning to show cracks on his own. His memory gaffes could only accentuate his age and many wondered if he would be a place keeper for the next star within the Democratic Party. Who that could be was anyone’s guess, as VP Kamala Harris was not shining on her own, though some feel this was because she was not given anything with which she could do so. As the authors point to many weaknesses, they remind the reader that neither party appeared ready to effectively lead America further into the 21st century. Age, infighting, and an inability to see America’s needs over their own, politicians turned to protecting themselves and leaving America to the dogs.
Building on the issues that both parties possess, the authors depict an America that is ready for change and newness, though without a light to guide them. Can this solely be because of the Trump years? Certainly not, though many of his decisions resonate throughout the tome’s narrative. Could Biden have been the elder statesman on paper but really not a man able to lead the country out of peril and into a new Promised Land? It would not be a stretch to profess that. However, change is coming, immediately in the form of mid-term congressional elections, which are sure to reflect the electorate’s beliefs in how things have been run, as well as though who have yet to toss aside the yoke of falsehood and panic. One thing is for sure; it will be a hell of a ride up to the 2024 election, with primaries paving the way for what could be the fight of a lifetime. I’m ready for it and can only hope I have to stomach to handle the drama.
Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns do a fabulous job at laying out the groundwork for what is sure to be a raucous next few years, offering not only insight into the end of the Trump Era, but also how wobbly things appeared to be when Biden took the reins. Instability is the name of the game and, through a number of well-crafted chapters, the authors weave a tale of despair, worry, and outright nonsense as politicians sought to define themselves or hide in the shadow of a man whose only interest is in himself. The arguments were strong and portrayed both parties as troublesome, while pulling no punches about how Biden has not been the saviour many had hoped he would be. There are fissures in the Democratic Party, large enough that they ought not be able to withstand the onslaught in November 2022, but there is still hope that 2024 is not lost. Exploring things from many angles and discussion so many actors whose roles are pivotal to understanding the larger story, both authors shone and left me wanting more on the subject. As I read the news and see how troubling things are getting South of the Canadian border, I can only wonder how rocky a road it will be for the next while. As a lover of all things political, I am ready, popcorn in hand!
Kudos, Messrs. Martin and Burns, for a stellar piece of work, I cannot wait to read more by you and on this subject matter.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
There is no doubt that the Trump Administration, and 45th president himself, transformed American politics into an embarrassing circus. The authors use the opening chapters of the book to explore the final year of that doomed Administration, riddled with lies, panic, and an inability to cope with the COVID outbreak. Crazy home remedies splashed across the headlines of major news outlets, with The Donald spouting his odd-ball comments at every turn. He used this to catapult him into the 2020 presidential election, where he was sure he would win, no matter his opponent. Democrats had another idea and, after much cat-fighting of their own, chose a viable candidate in Joe Biden, longtime politicians in DC and former vice-present. The gloves came off and, as many will know, things did not turn out well for the Republicans in the White House, or either congressional house.
While rhetoric flew and people spewed rigged elections, the Biden team had to prepare to take over the White House, looking to create a sold group that could take America out of the quagmire it found itself and return things to stable ground. Biden and his closest associates found the transition period tough, as they tried to appease many they met on the campaign trail, while ensuring that they did not lose their base. Clinging to the smallest of majorities in the House of Representatives and a virtual tie in the Senate, which could be broken by VP Kamala Harris, Biden had to walk carefully in who he chose for senior roles.
While the riots of January 6, 2021 rocked the Capitol, lawmakers began to see just how crazy things could get under Trump and how fresh ideas might be the answer. Biden’s early attempts at reunifying the country fell short, both because many of the electorate still fell for the lies of rigged elections and fake results, but also because of the razor-thin majorities both Houses gave him. With two senators who appeared ready to wear the Democrat hat only when it suited them, Biden had to ensure he compromised, but even that was not enough. While the Republicans were in a Trumpian Civil War, the Democrats were imploded just as much, having stretched themselves too thin and trying to be too inclusive.
As the authors recount the struggles for any sort of meaningful legislation, Biden was beginning to show cracks on his own. His memory gaffes could only accentuate his age and many wondered if he would be a place keeper for the next star within the Democratic Party. Who that could be was anyone’s guess, as VP Kamala Harris was not shining on her own, though some feel this was because she was not given anything with which she could do so. As the authors point to many weaknesses, they remind the reader that neither party appeared ready to effectively lead America further into the 21st century. Age, infighting, and an inability to see America’s needs over their own, politicians turned to protecting themselves and leaving America to the dogs.
Building on the issues that both parties possess, the authors depict an America that is ready for change and newness, though without a light to guide them. Can this solely be because of the Trump years? Certainly not, though many of his decisions resonate throughout the tome’s narrative. Could Biden have been the elder statesman on paper but really not a man able to lead the country out of peril and into a new Promised Land? It would not be a stretch to profess that. However, change is coming, immediately in the form of mid-term congressional elections, which are sure to reflect the electorate’s beliefs in how things have been run, as well as though who have yet to toss aside the yoke of falsehood and panic. One thing is for sure; it will be a hell of a ride up to the 2024 election, with primaries paving the way for what could be the fight of a lifetime. I’m ready for it and can only hope I have to stomach to handle the drama.
Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns do a fabulous job at laying out the groundwork for what is sure to be a raucous next few years, offering not only insight into the end of the Trump Era, but also how wobbly things appeared to be when Biden took the reins. Instability is the name of the game and, through a number of well-crafted chapters, the authors weave a tale of despair, worry, and outright nonsense as politicians sought to define themselves or hide in the shadow of a man whose only interest is in himself. The arguments were strong and portrayed both parties as troublesome, while pulling no punches about how Biden has not been the saviour many had hoped he would be. There are fissures in the Democratic Party, large enough that they ought not be able to withstand the onslaught in November 2022, but there is still hope that 2024 is not lost. Exploring things from many angles and discussion so many actors whose roles are pivotal to understanding the larger story, both authors shone and left me wanting more on the subject. As I read the news and see how troubling things are getting South of the Canadian border, I can only wonder how rocky a road it will be for the next while. As a lover of all things political, I am ready, popcorn in hand!
Kudos, Messrs. Martin and Burns, for a stellar piece of work, I cannot wait to read more by you and on this subject matter.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
May 3, 2022
“This Will Not Pass”, by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, is the latest book trying to understand our country and our government in those turbulent times around the January 6, 2021. They do a good job.
With Donald Trump’s presidency, two kinds of tell-all books have popped up. One are memoirs written by people connected with Trump’s administration, the others are written by news people. The second group tend to be better written, by the professional writers, than the first. This is very true Martin and Burns’s - both writers at The New York Times - book. They know what questions to ask and in turn, write a cohesive narrative.
They write mostly about the end of the Trump Presidency, with a special interest on the events of January 6th. Names are named and the full measure of both the members of Congress and protesters are taken.
Burns and Martin have written a very good book that helps the reader make (as much) sense as possible. I can heartedly recommend “This Will No Pass”.
With Donald Trump’s presidency, two kinds of tell-all books have popped up. One are memoirs written by people connected with Trump’s administration, the others are written by news people. The second group tend to be better written, by the professional writers, than the first. This is very true Martin and Burns’s - both writers at The New York Times - book. They know what questions to ask and in turn, write a cohesive narrative.
They write mostly about the end of the Trump Presidency, with a special interest on the events of January 6th. Names are named and the full measure of both the members of Congress and protesters are taken.
Burns and Martin have written a very good book that helps the reader make (as much) sense as possible. I can heartedly recommend “This Will No Pass”.
May 3, 2022
Roll up your pants legs, the snark is flowing and it’s deep.
Martin and Burns are two highly lauded political reporters for the New York Times. From that aspect, this book is a success. There is a lot of reporting and according to their introduction, they employed every method available to them to collect data from the people involved with the election in 2020, all its surrounding events both pre and post, January 6th, Biden’s first year, Georgia’s run off election, George Floyd, and of course, every possible opportunity to bash, trash and thrash Donald Trump.
What’s different about this book from the myriad of other political books? These authors give us a detailed insight to the players behind the big guys. I did read things that were new to me, I’m just not sure how much to trust the presentation given the obviousness of the slant. More than a few times it felt like I was reading a script for an 8 part streaming video. Still, the introduction to individuals that none of the reporting agencies brought to light has value.
“This Will Not Pass” is worth reading. If you’re right of center, prepare to be annoyed but informed with potential new facts. If you’re open minded, this is a book that will suit you well and provide food for tho’t and hopefully, positive conversation. Folks to the left of center will cheer unless they are thoughtful and find that even the authors are concerned about the state of our democracy📚
Martin and Burns are two highly lauded political reporters for the New York Times. From that aspect, this book is a success. There is a lot of reporting and according to their introduction, they employed every method available to them to collect data from the people involved with the election in 2020, all its surrounding events both pre and post, January 6th, Biden’s first year, Georgia’s run off election, George Floyd, and of course, every possible opportunity to bash, trash and thrash Donald Trump.
What’s different about this book from the myriad of other political books? These authors give us a detailed insight to the players behind the big guys. I did read things that were new to me, I’m just not sure how much to trust the presentation given the obviousness of the slant. More than a few times it felt like I was reading a script for an 8 part streaming video. Still, the introduction to individuals that none of the reporting agencies brought to light has value.
“This Will Not Pass” is worth reading. If you’re right of center, prepare to be annoyed but informed with potential new facts. If you’re open minded, this is a book that will suit you well and provide food for tho’t and hopefully, positive conversation. Folks to the left of center will cheer unless they are thoughtful and find that even the authors are concerned about the state of our democracy📚
June 28, 2022
Detailing the inside thoughts and reactions of the country’s leaders in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, one is left with a feeling overall of despair, that despite seeming to be righteously angry at the former president’s role in the violence, all too soon they returned to business as usual, with all the distasteful partisanship they profess to decry. Ultimate takeaway: if you want to continue living in the democracy known as the United States of America, do NOT vote for any Republicans - even the “good” ones are either spineless or ineffective. Democrats, flawed as they are, at least appear to care about the people they are elected to lead.
May 15, 2022
In looking over the 325 books I’ve read since joining Goodreads in 2017, I have only awarded 17 of those books five stars. But as I add my 18th 5-star rating I find myself wishing I could assign this book more than five stars. It’s that good. Extremely well written, exceedingly thorough research, sources from both sides of the aisle (although overwhelmingly from the GOP), it’s a masterpiece. If you care about our country, I highly recommend you read this exceptional book.
May 10, 2022
Different from the rest of the current events books in that the scope is a little wider - there's much more information about the internal dealings of Congress than I'd previously read, which was fascinating. A good addition to the enormous collection of investigative reporting on America's slide into authoritarianism.
May 30, 2022
25 May 2022
I preface all the reviews I think I have ever written on here by stating that I am dreadful at formal reviews. Don't read this as a formal review, read this as a guy trying to piece together random thoughts into something coherent.
So how does one actually review a book like this?
This is a genuine question. I don't know how to do this.
Don't expect a nonpartisan lens here.
This Will Not Pass is impossible to read without a partisan lens. If you admire Trump, I have a hard time imagining you've touched this book, except to possibly deface it at a bookstore. (I haven't seen that happen to THIS book but I have seen it to other books.)
If you identify as a centrist, moderate, or progressive Democrat, you will find yourself frustrated to the hilt with any number of major and minor players in this book.
I identify with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and perpetually feel myself drawn ever leftward. I voted Sanders in the primary, though I gave money widely. (Not a lot of money, mind you, but I gave a little to several candidates.) Despite this orientation, I have quite a lot of admiration and respect for folks like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. The Clintons, in particular, I find endlessly fascinating as topics to read about.
So reading this book, for me, was a frustrating and occasionally heartbreaking endeavor.
Is there a moral here? Yes.
I think you have to get to the end of the book to get a "moral" of the story of sorts. There are two quotes that could be considered a moral. One is from former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about America's diminished reputation and influence on the international stage. The second is more blunt, from Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL):
"Someone is going to get shot."
A book like this has limited utility, if we are being honest.
It's hard to read a book like this as anything but an extended piece of journalism, outdated by the time it's been published. It's shelf-life is limited, and it's biggest bombshells were made public in strategic releases in the weeks leading up to its eventual publication day.
One imagines that a book like this will be useful to future scholars attempting to piece together the psyche of American politics during this period.
(Assuming, of course, we have some kind of future and we haven't all succumbed to the ravages of pandemics, nuclear annihilation, climate change, and whatever our robot overlords will inflict on us.)
I listened to this book as an audio book.
I say that for two reasons:
#1) The following review would likely be less haphazard if I had a copy of the book in front of me.
#2) This book listens like an old-time radio soap opera. Were this not real life, this might be a good thing, an entertaining romp. But it is real life. as a result, it is exhausting.
Is it Veep? Is it The West Wing? Or is it the hellhole that swallowed CNN Plus after four weeks?
Eh, I tried.
Okay, so the book itself: I have tried to pull out some themes of sorts. The following are not exhaustive.
Theme #1: Trump looms large.
It's hard to read a book like this and not see villains everywhere.
But we have to start with the monstrosity that is Donald Trump. A failed president, a clear and present danger to America here and now. Trump looms over this whole book, much like he looms large in the modern political era.
The modern Republican party is absolutely disgusting in obsequiousness to Trump, and this book is chock full of examples of that.
Theme #2: Wild as though this might be, Kevin McCarthy might be worse.
I'm watching last night's episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC on Peacock as I type this, and one of his guests is Tara Setmayer. Tara Setmayer is a conservative ex-Republican who spent years working on Capitol Hill in communications. She is now heavily involved with the Lincoln Project, the polarizing outfit of ex-Republicans doing what they can to demolish their old party. (I know they're held with skepticism by political purists, and for good reason, but their campaign ads hold no punches.)
I disagree with Tara Setmayer on plenty of policy aspects, but as a pundit with incisive commentary on her former party, she's one of a my favorites. I doubt it will happen, but she's the one I'm pulling for to be Meghan McCain's replacement on The View. (Seems like the show is leaning toward Alyssa Farah Griffin, depressingly enough.)
Anyway, Setmayer is in a segment talking about the cravenness of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). Setmayer talks about how, once upon a time, Stefanik was seen as indicative of a new generation of women in Republican politics: she wanted bipartisanship, she thought climate change was a crisis, etc.
Mehdi Hasan mentions that he believes that Stefanik's 180 on Trump is more worthy of condemnation of even the most ridiculous of the right-wing elements of the Republican party, because she know better.
I think the exact same thing can be said of McCarthy. We see McCarthy do whatever he can to get into power. He has no governing philosophy. He has no principles. He has a single objective: get power. He is desperate to Speaker of the House. Setmayer has said on TV for MONTHS that that will never happen and there is some intriguing corroboration of her point in this book.
Anyway, if Trump is the most toxic element of politics in 2022, McCarthy might be #2. And this book is full of evidence to support that.
Theme #3: The Altar of Bipartisanship
In the summer of 2021, my hometown was in the midst of a heated contest to fill a congressional seat vacated by former Rep. current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge. The hot candidate of the moment was Nina Turner, a Bernie Sanders campaign chair who had served on the Cleveland, Ohio City Council and in the State Senate. Turner picked up the endorsement of the Plain Dealer, the city's major newspaper.
I am having a heck of a time trying to find the article which discussed their interviews with the dozen candidates for the seat, but in the clips of their editorial board interviews as published, Turner made comments about bipartisanship that are incisive. She described bipartisanship as honorable and a noble goal, but one that requires a willingness to give and take. She stated that the modern Republican Party doesn't have enough spine to engage in good faith discussions when it comes to major policy, but that she would seek to find as much bipartisan cooperation wherever she could. This stood in stark contrast to the other candidates, including eventual winner Shontel Brown, who spoke about how bipartisanship was a major priority for them.
It's hard not to pay attention to politics in 2022 and not be aware of the outsized significance of two Democratic senators who have successfully held up large swaths of the Biden administration agenda: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).
This book talks about multiple efforts to woo the pair to the GOP, about how they've rebuffed those efforts.
The image conjured of the two is, frankly, not flattering. Manchin is portrayed as someone who views bipartisanship as an end goal, not as a means to a policy end. Sinema is portrayed as a nightmare to work with, someone who bonds more easily with GOP Senators and Representatives and both holds and is held at a distance by her Democratic colleagues.
Sinema in particular is already facing serious headwinds going into a 2024 reelection bid. This book demonstrates why, over and over again.
Manchin taking umbrage at the fact that Neera Tanden tweeted negative things about Republicans is fantastically dumb.
Both seem to worship at the altar of bipartisanship. Bipartisanship itself is the goal, not actually accomplishing something for the country.
Oh and Manchin is quoted MULTIPLE TIMES dismissively saying that people in his home state shouldn't get any money because they'll all just go use it to buy drugs. I am not kidding.
Theme #4: The old party leaders are still there, in the peanut gallery.
One unsurprising "revelation" in this book is the fact that the Obama/Biden bromance is far less real than it has been portrayed.
This 100% did not surprise me. The more I read about Obama as a human, the more I think I wouldn't like him very much at all. Biden, for all his faults and tendency to gaffe, is a genuine human, complete with the quirks that endear and frustrate. At one point, Biden is reported to think that Obama is jealous because Biden seems willing to go bigger than Obama. Obama seems to scoff at his former VP and the folks of Obamaworld are even more incredulous. Honestly, I have a lot of admiration for Obama and what he accomplished during his presidency, but I have a feeling I wouldn't get along with much of Obamaworld, Obama included.
Hillary Clinton gets a single mention, as someone frustrated she isn't consulted enough. I like Hillary a lot, but I can't say I blame Biden for not consulting her regularly. They were once close, but that largely seems to be a closeness of the past. Also, Biden won. Hillary lost. Her place is set in history, to be sure, but...
Theme #5: The need for generational change is wildly apparent.
Again, I have plenty of respect for Nancy Pelosi in particular, and Chuck Schumer as well, but there definitely seems to a sense of frustrated tiredness in every single description and conversation this book reports regarding these two. Schumer in particular seems to have met his match in the relentless stubbornness of Manchin and Sinema, and doesn't seem to have anywhere to go with them.
I reacted skeptically a few years ago when Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) talked about the need for "young people" in politics in his own writings. While I recognized the truthfulness of that fact...Swalwell is in his 40s. Only in American politics are the middle-aged deemed "young." And while I don't doubt that Nancy Pelosi probably has more energy than I do despite being more than 50 years older than me.... well, again. Generational change.
Theme #5: The expectations for the incoming Biden administration were sky-high.
And this encompasses so many things, from the pandemic to diversity represented in his Cabinet, to the nature of the bills he wanted passed.
That second one sticks out a great deal in my mind. Biden's closest intimates in politics tended to be older white men, and they are undoubtedly overrepresented in his Cabinet. Yet his administration is undoubtedly the most diverse in American history. Of course, he cannot and should not have tried to rest on those laurels, and the frustration described in the book seems misplaced. The Democratic Party undoubtedly wanted, needed, Biden to succeed in office, so those criticisms came from a place of support. As a white man, I wish my fellow white men would react to challenges with grace and humility, not frustration.
Theme #6: Kamala Harris.
We get a good look at the VP selection process, and the perpetual frustration that seems to have been Harris' tenure as the VP.
I hope and pray, genuinely, that Harris succeeds as VP. But this book is bleak in its outlook of her prospects.
Theme #7: Afghanistan.
Not good.
Theme #8: All told, though... Biden might actually have a quite a lot of substantive accomplishment to show for a chaotic first year in the presidency?
I mean, by the end of year 1 of the Trump presidency, he had already expressed sympathies with white supremacists and tried to ban a whole religion. Biden got decent legislation passed?
The final, ultimate question: Is Biden transformational or custodial?
This seems to be the great unanswered question of the Biden presidency. I was one, and frankly I am still one, who thinks Biden is uniquely poised to be a transformational president in the way a Franklin D. Roosevelt was, or a Lyndon B. Johnson was. Frankly, the myriad problems the US and the world are facing demand he be one. Hopefully he will be.
Okay that's all I got.
And it's not much.
Anyway, I gave this book four stars. Do with that what you will.
I preface all the reviews I think I have ever written on here by stating that I am dreadful at formal reviews. Don't read this as a formal review, read this as a guy trying to piece together random thoughts into something coherent.
So how does one actually review a book like this?
This is a genuine question. I don't know how to do this.
Don't expect a nonpartisan lens here.
This Will Not Pass is impossible to read without a partisan lens. If you admire Trump, I have a hard time imagining you've touched this book, except to possibly deface it at a bookstore. (I haven't seen that happen to THIS book but I have seen it to other books.)
If you identify as a centrist, moderate, or progressive Democrat, you will find yourself frustrated to the hilt with any number of major and minor players in this book.
I identify with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and perpetually feel myself drawn ever leftward. I voted Sanders in the primary, though I gave money widely. (Not a lot of money, mind you, but I gave a little to several candidates.) Despite this orientation, I have quite a lot of admiration and respect for folks like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. The Clintons, in particular, I find endlessly fascinating as topics to read about.
So reading this book, for me, was a frustrating and occasionally heartbreaking endeavor.
Is there a moral here? Yes.
I think you have to get to the end of the book to get a "moral" of the story of sorts. There are two quotes that could be considered a moral. One is from former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about America's diminished reputation and influence on the international stage. The second is more blunt, from Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL):
"Someone is going to get shot."
A book like this has limited utility, if we are being honest.
It's hard to read a book like this as anything but an extended piece of journalism, outdated by the time it's been published. It's shelf-life is limited, and it's biggest bombshells were made public in strategic releases in the weeks leading up to its eventual publication day.
One imagines that a book like this will be useful to future scholars attempting to piece together the psyche of American politics during this period.
(Assuming, of course, we have some kind of future and we haven't all succumbed to the ravages of pandemics, nuclear annihilation, climate change, and whatever our robot overlords will inflict on us.)
I listened to this book as an audio book.
I say that for two reasons:
#1) The following review would likely be less haphazard if I had a copy of the book in front of me.
#2) This book listens like an old-time radio soap opera. Were this not real life, this might be a good thing, an entertaining romp. But it is real life. as a result, it is exhausting.
Is it Veep? Is it The West Wing? Or is it the hellhole that swallowed CNN Plus after four weeks?
Eh, I tried.
Okay, so the book itself: I have tried to pull out some themes of sorts. The following are not exhaustive.
Theme #1: Trump looms large.
It's hard to read a book like this and not see villains everywhere.
But we have to start with the monstrosity that is Donald Trump. A failed president, a clear and present danger to America here and now. Trump looms over this whole book, much like he looms large in the modern political era.
The modern Republican party is absolutely disgusting in obsequiousness to Trump, and this book is chock full of examples of that.
Theme #2: Wild as though this might be, Kevin McCarthy might be worse.
I'm watching last night's episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC on Peacock as I type this, and one of his guests is Tara Setmayer. Tara Setmayer is a conservative ex-Republican who spent years working on Capitol Hill in communications. She is now heavily involved with the Lincoln Project, the polarizing outfit of ex-Republicans doing what they can to demolish their old party. (I know they're held with skepticism by political purists, and for good reason, but their campaign ads hold no punches.)
I disagree with Tara Setmayer on plenty of policy aspects, but as a pundit with incisive commentary on her former party, she's one of a my favorites. I doubt it will happen, but she's the one I'm pulling for to be Meghan McCain's replacement on The View. (Seems like the show is leaning toward Alyssa Farah Griffin, depressingly enough.)
Anyway, Setmayer is in a segment talking about the cravenness of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). Setmayer talks about how, once upon a time, Stefanik was seen as indicative of a new generation of women in Republican politics: she wanted bipartisanship, she thought climate change was a crisis, etc.
Mehdi Hasan mentions that he believes that Stefanik's 180 on Trump is more worthy of condemnation of even the most ridiculous of the right-wing elements of the Republican party, because she know better.
I think the exact same thing can be said of McCarthy. We see McCarthy do whatever he can to get into power. He has no governing philosophy. He has no principles. He has a single objective: get power. He is desperate to Speaker of the House. Setmayer has said on TV for MONTHS that that will never happen and there is some intriguing corroboration of her point in this book.
Anyway, if Trump is the most toxic element of politics in 2022, McCarthy might be #2. And this book is full of evidence to support that.
Theme #3: The Altar of Bipartisanship
In the summer of 2021, my hometown was in the midst of a heated contest to fill a congressional seat vacated by former Rep. current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge. The hot candidate of the moment was Nina Turner, a Bernie Sanders campaign chair who had served on the Cleveland, Ohio City Council and in the State Senate. Turner picked up the endorsement of the Plain Dealer, the city's major newspaper.
I am having a heck of a time trying to find the article which discussed their interviews with the dozen candidates for the seat, but in the clips of their editorial board interviews as published, Turner made comments about bipartisanship that are incisive. She described bipartisanship as honorable and a noble goal, but one that requires a willingness to give and take. She stated that the modern Republican Party doesn't have enough spine to engage in good faith discussions when it comes to major policy, but that she would seek to find as much bipartisan cooperation wherever she could. This stood in stark contrast to the other candidates, including eventual winner Shontel Brown, who spoke about how bipartisanship was a major priority for them.
It's hard not to pay attention to politics in 2022 and not be aware of the outsized significance of two Democratic senators who have successfully held up large swaths of the Biden administration agenda: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).
This book talks about multiple efforts to woo the pair to the GOP, about how they've rebuffed those efforts.
The image conjured of the two is, frankly, not flattering. Manchin is portrayed as someone who views bipartisanship as an end goal, not as a means to a policy end. Sinema is portrayed as a nightmare to work with, someone who bonds more easily with GOP Senators and Representatives and both holds and is held at a distance by her Democratic colleagues.
Sinema in particular is already facing serious headwinds going into a 2024 reelection bid. This book demonstrates why, over and over again.
Manchin taking umbrage at the fact that Neera Tanden tweeted negative things about Republicans is fantastically dumb.
Both seem to worship at the altar of bipartisanship. Bipartisanship itself is the goal, not actually accomplishing something for the country.
Oh and Manchin is quoted MULTIPLE TIMES dismissively saying that people in his home state shouldn't get any money because they'll all just go use it to buy drugs. I am not kidding.
Theme #4: The old party leaders are still there, in the peanut gallery.
One unsurprising "revelation" in this book is the fact that the Obama/Biden bromance is far less real than it has been portrayed.
This 100% did not surprise me. The more I read about Obama as a human, the more I think I wouldn't like him very much at all. Biden, for all his faults and tendency to gaffe, is a genuine human, complete with the quirks that endear and frustrate. At one point, Biden is reported to think that Obama is jealous because Biden seems willing to go bigger than Obama. Obama seems to scoff at his former VP and the folks of Obamaworld are even more incredulous. Honestly, I have a lot of admiration for Obama and what he accomplished during his presidency, but I have a feeling I wouldn't get along with much of Obamaworld, Obama included.
Hillary Clinton gets a single mention, as someone frustrated she isn't consulted enough. I like Hillary a lot, but I can't say I blame Biden for not consulting her regularly. They were once close, but that largely seems to be a closeness of the past. Also, Biden won. Hillary lost. Her place is set in history, to be sure, but...
Theme #5: The need for generational change is wildly apparent.
Again, I have plenty of respect for Nancy Pelosi in particular, and Chuck Schumer as well, but there definitely seems to a sense of frustrated tiredness in every single description and conversation this book reports regarding these two. Schumer in particular seems to have met his match in the relentless stubbornness of Manchin and Sinema, and doesn't seem to have anywhere to go with them.
I reacted skeptically a few years ago when Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) talked about the need for "young people" in politics in his own writings. While I recognized the truthfulness of that fact...Swalwell is in his 40s. Only in American politics are the middle-aged deemed "young." And while I don't doubt that Nancy Pelosi probably has more energy than I do despite being more than 50 years older than me.... well, again. Generational change.
Theme #5: The expectations for the incoming Biden administration were sky-high.
And this encompasses so many things, from the pandemic to diversity represented in his Cabinet, to the nature of the bills he wanted passed.
That second one sticks out a great deal in my mind. Biden's closest intimates in politics tended to be older white men, and they are undoubtedly overrepresented in his Cabinet. Yet his administration is undoubtedly the most diverse in American history. Of course, he cannot and should not have tried to rest on those laurels, and the frustration described in the book seems misplaced. The Democratic Party undoubtedly wanted, needed, Biden to succeed in office, so those criticisms came from a place of support. As a white man, I wish my fellow white men would react to challenges with grace and humility, not frustration.
Theme #6: Kamala Harris.
We get a good look at the VP selection process, and the perpetual frustration that seems to have been Harris' tenure as the VP.
I hope and pray, genuinely, that Harris succeeds as VP. But this book is bleak in its outlook of her prospects.
Theme #7: Afghanistan.
Not good.
Theme #8: All told, though... Biden might actually have a quite a lot of substantive accomplishment to show for a chaotic first year in the presidency?
I mean, by the end of year 1 of the Trump presidency, he had already expressed sympathies with white supremacists and tried to ban a whole religion. Biden got decent legislation passed?
The final, ultimate question: Is Biden transformational or custodial?
This seems to be the great unanswered question of the Biden presidency. I was one, and frankly I am still one, who thinks Biden is uniquely poised to be a transformational president in the way a Franklin D. Roosevelt was, or a Lyndon B. Johnson was. Frankly, the myriad problems the US and the world are facing demand he be one. Hopefully he will be.
Okay that's all I got.
And it's not much.
Anyway, I gave this book four stars. Do with that what you will.
July 25, 2022
Yet another book concerning the cataclysmic effects on our democracy of the 2020 election and attack on the Capitol. Written by two New York Times political reporters, this one is a fire hose of new insider details that I have not seen reported before.
The book follows the leadup to the 2020 election, the election itself and lies that followed, and the plot to overthrow the election. But in addition, the book details the first year of the Biden administration and the successes, but also the enormous challenges and in-fighting among the party that they were faced with. There are great bits about the Republican cast of characters, like Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy, and also on the Democratic side with President Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, among others. The authors will give praise where they feel it is due but are also brutal in their criticisms of most of those involved. They are especially hard on Trump of course, but also McCarthy (seems like they just have zero respect for him).
These guys are really gifted writers. The structure and composition of their passages is top-notch, and the chapters flow very easily. This book is summed up just perfectly to me by a passage on the book jacket liner notes - I can't find a way to say it any better:
"Above all, this book exposes the degree to which American politics has become an existential struggle for control of a changing country. On one side is a Republican Party that has grown increasingly extreme, even violent, and captive to a disgraced demagogue. On the other side is a fragile Democratic Party riven by ideological and cultural divisions and led by a set of aging leaders who seem adrift from the younger, more progressive elements seeking to remake America."
The book follows the leadup to the 2020 election, the election itself and lies that followed, and the plot to overthrow the election. But in addition, the book details the first year of the Biden administration and the successes, but also the enormous challenges and in-fighting among the party that they were faced with. There are great bits about the Republican cast of characters, like Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy, and also on the Democratic side with President Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, among others. The authors will give praise where they feel it is due but are also brutal in their criticisms of most of those involved. They are especially hard on Trump of course, but also McCarthy (seems like they just have zero respect for him).
These guys are really gifted writers. The structure and composition of their passages is top-notch, and the chapters flow very easily. This book is summed up just perfectly to me by a passage on the book jacket liner notes - I can't find a way to say it any better:
"Above all, this book exposes the degree to which American politics has become an existential struggle for control of a changing country. On one side is a Republican Party that has grown increasingly extreme, even violent, and captive to a disgraced demagogue. On the other side is a fragile Democratic Party riven by ideological and cultural divisions and led by a set of aging leaders who seem adrift from the younger, more progressive elements seeking to remake America."
May 24, 2022
This Will Not Pass is a page-turner that paints a stunningly frustrating picture of American democracy.
While qualitative and indirect getting there, add this to the pile of books that make compelling cases for why we MUST have election reform in America.
While qualitative and indirect getting there, add this to the pile of books that make compelling cases for why we MUST have election reform in America.
June 16, 2022
After reading many books about the 2020 election, I was pleased that this one not only covers events going up until January 6th, but dives deeply into the Biden administration. It's the story of deeply human figures, who made flawed and personal decisions at times. If you're looking for a window into Washington, this is a good text to choose.
Beginning at Biden's vice presidential search, the choice of Kamala Harris — and the results of this choice while in office — are covered in great detail. This book is a reminder that the historic election of the Biden/Harris ticket, like the Democratic Senate victories in Georgia, were not at all preordained. Pessimism was hard to fight off sometimes in the Democratic camp, and people were preparing for the worst. But once they were victorious, new challenges lay ahead: to quote the musical Hamilton, "governing is harder".
This is not a perfect book, and it is flawed. The authors occasionally seem to have biases, being more sympathetic to legislators like Joe Manchin and less to ones like Kyrsten Sinema. They over-simplify events in states like California, such as the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom and his Senate appointment to replace Vice President Harris. Still, this is to be expected of a current events piece, and most events in the administration of an aging president are covered well.
Trump's legacy was stained by January 6th, just before the start of Biden's presidency, and Republicans like Mitch McConnell celebrated. Soon, however, the anger started to fade. This book covers the riot, the formation of the committee to hold people accountable, and the consequences for those in its orbit. And in the end, perhaps the book's most pressing conclusion is the idea that the threat of Donald Trump is not gone. For a peek behind-the-scenes of history in the making, few cover as many angles as these authors.
Beginning at Biden's vice presidential search, the choice of Kamala Harris — and the results of this choice while in office — are covered in great detail. This book is a reminder that the historic election of the Biden/Harris ticket, like the Democratic Senate victories in Georgia, were not at all preordained. Pessimism was hard to fight off sometimes in the Democratic camp, and people were preparing for the worst. But once they were victorious, new challenges lay ahead: to quote the musical Hamilton, "governing is harder".
This is not a perfect book, and it is flawed. The authors occasionally seem to have biases, being more sympathetic to legislators like Joe Manchin and less to ones like Kyrsten Sinema. They over-simplify events in states like California, such as the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom and his Senate appointment to replace Vice President Harris. Still, this is to be expected of a current events piece, and most events in the administration of an aging president are covered well.
Trump's legacy was stained by January 6th, just before the start of Biden's presidency, and Republicans like Mitch McConnell celebrated. Soon, however, the anger started to fade. This book covers the riot, the formation of the committee to hold people accountable, and the consequences for those in its orbit. And in the end, perhaps the book's most pressing conclusion is the idea that the threat of Donald Trump is not gone. For a peek behind-the-scenes of history in the making, few cover as many angles as these authors.
June 2, 2022
Finished This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy by Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns, the #15 best selling book on Amazon charts by the noted national political correspondents for The New York Times. This book is a biting indictment of the political. Incompetence in 2020-2021 of both political parties and the fractious nature of both caucuses. I knew most of the Conservative dirty laundry because of Trump but was dispirited by the wasted good will and the assorted dirty laundry at the start of the Biden Administration. I was never a big Biden fan and this book doesn’t change that. I still stand by supporting Biden in the 2020 election as a vote for our democratic institutions. I long for an presidential election between the best of political rivals, not the last two candidates standing.
May 23, 2022
This is a well written review of what has happened since Trump lost the election. It is sad to review the damage he has tried to cause in the United States. Both parties are reeling from the damage he continues to try and inflict on the citizens of our country.
June 14, 2022
This too shall pass was a good book. At first I thought it was a good idea for a book but then as I got into the book. It dawned on me that it was the same stuff I knew about already. Thank you for allowing me to read this book.
May 9, 2022
Washington-insider books are infinite in number. This book, however, is truly set apart. The sourcing is simply unmatched with so much incredible specificity and detail. The stories also go far beyond some of the more sensational teasers about 1/6 with incredibly frank inside analysis. I highly, highly recommend.
May 7, 2022
Worth reading/skimming....
No real 'bombshells' other than the tapes
we all have heard reported on in the news.
Good quick scan of events March 2020 - Dec 2021
...but if you read the news, nothing much new in this book!
No real 'bombshells' other than the tapes
we all have heard reported on in the news.
Good quick scan of events March 2020 - Dec 2021
...but if you read the news, nothing much new in this book!
May 15, 2022
Martin and Burns are indebted to Bob Woodruff as their brand of journalism is very much in the same family tree as his: meticulous, careful research with verified sources, spun together in an engaging and fast-moving narrative style that is easy to run along with.
This book paints a vivid and devastating picture of a crumbling, chaotic, and increasingly ineffectual political system—at the crossroads of where old-school bipartisan politicians try to play the game by the old rules while the newcomers are playing a completely different game. This book does not paint a hopeful picture for… much of anything.
Whereas Woodruff’s books are more clearly focused around a few key players and a few key points in time, Martin and Burns reach much farther afield for a far-reaching exploration of all the players (too many for all but the most politically savvy to keep straight) and negotiations that are involved in what feels like a system of Democracy Jenga. (Spoiler alert: the tower is really close to toppling.) My one real complaint is that this book, while fascinating and engrossing, does not really have a clear stop and start, which is most likely a function of the fact that the authors are writing about this sociopolitical disaster while it still unfolds.
We’re a long way from any type of closure but still need to bear witness to the ways the pillars of our society are falling rapidly into ruin, and I think that’s the point of publishing a book like this, while the maelstrom rages around us.
This book paints a vivid and devastating picture of a crumbling, chaotic, and increasingly ineffectual political system—at the crossroads of where old-school bipartisan politicians try to play the game by the old rules while the newcomers are playing a completely different game. This book does not paint a hopeful picture for… much of anything.
Whereas Woodruff’s books are more clearly focused around a few key players and a few key points in time, Martin and Burns reach much farther afield for a far-reaching exploration of all the players (too many for all but the most politically savvy to keep straight) and negotiations that are involved in what feels like a system of Democracy Jenga. (Spoiler alert: the tower is really close to toppling.) My one real complaint is that this book, while fascinating and engrossing, does not really have a clear stop and start, which is most likely a function of the fact that the authors are writing about this sociopolitical disaster while it still unfolds.
We’re a long way from any type of closure but still need to bear witness to the ways the pillars of our society are falling rapidly into ruin, and I think that’s the point of publishing a book like this, while the maelstrom rages around us.
August 6, 2022
These two veteran journalists have done a magnificent job writing this book. I found it fascinating. However, I’ve been following the Trump Administration and its associated insurrection closely over the past several years, and there’s hardly anything new in this book that hasn’t already been reported.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with all the details of the horrendous news we’ve been suffering through over the past five or six years, this would be a great place to start.
If you have been following reliable sources, this will serve as an interesting and often maddening rehash of the worst president and political party that has ever inflicted itself upon the United States.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with all the details of the horrendous news we’ve been suffering through over the past five or six years, this would be a great place to start.
If you have been following reliable sources, this will serve as an interesting and often maddening rehash of the worst president and political party that has ever inflicted itself upon the United States.
May 6, 2022
Partisan trash full of BS. Highly do not recommend.
May 7, 2022
Reporters who write books tend to empty their notebooks into their work and add some personal judgments, and their books, as a result, tend to recapitulate what they have been reporting all along. That's this book, very well written and detailed, rehashing a story those of us who follow the news closely already know, minus a few revelations like Kevin McCarthy wobbling and lying his way through saying he would advise Trump to resign after January 6 and perhaps doing so but perhaps not, never sure he would get away with it, so taking refuge in ambiguity and deceit and spineless posturing. The guy, we learn in greater detail than the newspapers already have reported, is a supercharged mediocrity with a dream of becoming Speaker of the House and no fixed purposes beyond that.
Since McCarthy may become Speaker, this is useful to know in all the depth that his superficiality will permit. His Republican colleagues here are pilloried for their subservience to him more or less as he is pilloried for his bootlicking subservience to Trump. There are exceptions, but other than Liz Cheney and perhaps Adam Kinzinger, can you name one? I can't either and I just finished reading the book.
Trump herein is the odious Trump, self-interested down to his nuclei.
Certain scenes, like Trump's unbelievable behavior during the first debate, deserve much more analysis than we find here, but reporters do have a tendency to move on, perhaps assuming that we all saw it unfold, perhaps having nothing Shakespearian to add to the antics of Bozo the Clown.
Biden herein is the Biden we all saw and read about. The authors could have (but didn't) spent a little time on how his rhetoric has changed from his early sincerity about saving America's soul to his ultimate hard-edged critique of Republicans who, as he has said, don't stand for anything.
There's nothing new about Manchin and Sinema.
The premise that the exodus from Afghanistan blew up the Biden presidency remains firmly fixed despite the fact that less than a year later Biden and company have performed magnificently in building the pro-Ukraine coalition that historians may judge to be much more important than anything else his Administration has accomplished.
I would say that the Biden administration's inept handing of the Build Back Better plan actually has been its most damaging failure, overshadowing the huge accomplishments of the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure and Jobs plan. This account pins that failure on the usual suspects: Manchin and Sinema on the one hand and the progressives on the other. Actually, the failure occurred because far, far too much was jammed into a single proposal. Had the Administration tried to advance bills that focused on climate, elder care, kids, etc., much more could have been achieved. A single omnibus bill was exactly what ensured opposition from many different angles. Again, we'll see what history has to say, but the fact is that we're all the losers. At different points the author do spotlight Biden's loss of realism on this matter, and that's to their credit. The trouble is that reporting on the recent past isn't terribly useful if it lacks analytic insight.
The recent past doesn't even have to be very recent for reporters to succumb to their journalistic tradecraft. The book about Jim Baker, The Man Who Ran Washington, is well-written and interesting (to those of who are interested) but another exercise in notebook-mining. The next step down is the category of political memoirs. Presidents don't reflect on their time in office; they blow up their time in office like balloons, huffing and puffing and cheering their ghostwriters on.
Well, political junkies (and I'm one) still read these things. Their manufacture takes us back to what was important yesterday even they shed little light on what will be important tomorrow.
Since McCarthy may become Speaker, this is useful to know in all the depth that his superficiality will permit. His Republican colleagues here are pilloried for their subservience to him more or less as he is pilloried for his bootlicking subservience to Trump. There are exceptions, but other than Liz Cheney and perhaps Adam Kinzinger, can you name one? I can't either and I just finished reading the book.
Trump herein is the odious Trump, self-interested down to his nuclei.
Certain scenes, like Trump's unbelievable behavior during the first debate, deserve much more analysis than we find here, but reporters do have a tendency to move on, perhaps assuming that we all saw it unfold, perhaps having nothing Shakespearian to add to the antics of Bozo the Clown.
Biden herein is the Biden we all saw and read about. The authors could have (but didn't) spent a little time on how his rhetoric has changed from his early sincerity about saving America's soul to his ultimate hard-edged critique of Republicans who, as he has said, don't stand for anything.
There's nothing new about Manchin and Sinema.
The premise that the exodus from Afghanistan blew up the Biden presidency remains firmly fixed despite the fact that less than a year later Biden and company have performed magnificently in building the pro-Ukraine coalition that historians may judge to be much more important than anything else his Administration has accomplished.
I would say that the Biden administration's inept handing of the Build Back Better plan actually has been its most damaging failure, overshadowing the huge accomplishments of the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure and Jobs plan. This account pins that failure on the usual suspects: Manchin and Sinema on the one hand and the progressives on the other. Actually, the failure occurred because far, far too much was jammed into a single proposal. Had the Administration tried to advance bills that focused on climate, elder care, kids, etc., much more could have been achieved. A single omnibus bill was exactly what ensured opposition from many different angles. Again, we'll see what history has to say, but the fact is that we're all the losers. At different points the author do spotlight Biden's loss of realism on this matter, and that's to their credit. The trouble is that reporting on the recent past isn't terribly useful if it lacks analytic insight.
The recent past doesn't even have to be very recent for reporters to succumb to their journalistic tradecraft. The book about Jim Baker, The Man Who Ran Washington, is well-written and interesting (to those of who are interested) but another exercise in notebook-mining. The next step down is the category of political memoirs. Presidents don't reflect on their time in office; they blow up their time in office like balloons, huffing and puffing and cheering their ghostwriters on.
Well, political junkies (and I'm one) still read these things. Their manufacture takes us back to what was important yesterday even they shed little light on what will be important tomorrow.
May 22, 2022
I listened to the unabridged 15-hour audio version of this title (read by Dennis Boutsikaris, Simon & Schuster Audio, 2022).
By now, the routine is familiar: A reporter or a team of reporters has some juicy bits of information about Trump and his cronies. They hold on to the info, until they have packaged it with hundreds of pages of material that we already know, to turn it into a hot-selling book. This is a highly inefficient way of disseminating information, and it is also immoral. Reporters have a duty to share important information with the public right away, the only exceptions being when someone's life or national security would be endangered by disclosing the information. Authors of nearly all recent books about Trump are guilty of monetizing sensitive bits of information by hiding them, until their books are announced.
As a long-time member of the academia, I recognize the process described above as resembling something we have come to call "the least publishable unit." Here is an over-simplified description of the trend. Upon the completion of a research project, the findings are chopped up into small pieces, with each piece packaged with known results and filler material to produce a research paper. Thus, results that could have been presented in one publication appear in a dozen or more, contributing to a mind-numbing information explosion. Researchers aren't the only ones to blame; the academic rewards system is also at fault.
Martin & Burns present an account of an 18-month crisis in American democracy, beginning with Trump's election-hoaxes in the second half of 2020 and ending with the first year of Biden's presidency, during which Trump continued pushing lies about the 2020 election and kept undermining his successor in the White House. A big part of the story is, of course, the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and those who aided and abetted the rioters. Trump continues to claim that the patriot rioters are being treated unfairly, promising to consider pardoning them if he returns to the White House.
A second big chunk of the story is the behind-the-scenes struggles of Biden and his team in the choice of a running-mate, keeping the left wing of the party in check, and efforts, largely unsuccessful, to bring back bipartisanship, which has been dying a slow death in recent years. Just as "mainstream" Republicans despise and are fearful of Trumpism, establishment Democrats feel sabotaged by the two extremes within their party: The progressive wing, flanked by "The Squad," and the "moderates" like Joe Manchin (who has entertained the idea of leaving the Democratic party to caucus with the Republicans) and Krysten Sinema (another Republican in Democrat clothing, who is very proud of her cleavage and its effect on uptight GOP men). And, to be sure, there is always Senator Lindsey Graham to ridicule, with ample justification.
The most-shocking revelations in the book come from recorded private conversations of top Republicans, including sound bytes in which Kevin McCarthy says, on January 10, 2021, that he had considered asking Trump to resign, because his second impeachment resolution was likely to pass. While McCarthy continues to stand by Trump in public statements and appearances, privately he has admonished the former president and indicated that he is responsible for violence on January 6.
I, like many other Americans, am addicted to reading books about Trump. The fact that each additional book offers only a minimal amount of new information does not deter me, given the importance of understanding and foiling Trumpism. After so many books on Trump, an overall understanding of what went wrong is still lacking. Perhaps the forthcoming report of the January 6 Select Committee will shed more light on what is ailing our increasing-divided country.
By now, the routine is familiar: A reporter or a team of reporters has some juicy bits of information about Trump and his cronies. They hold on to the info, until they have packaged it with hundreds of pages of material that we already know, to turn it into a hot-selling book. This is a highly inefficient way of disseminating information, and it is also immoral. Reporters have a duty to share important information with the public right away, the only exceptions being when someone's life or national security would be endangered by disclosing the information. Authors of nearly all recent books about Trump are guilty of monetizing sensitive bits of information by hiding them, until their books are announced.
As a long-time member of the academia, I recognize the process described above as resembling something we have come to call "the least publishable unit." Here is an over-simplified description of the trend. Upon the completion of a research project, the findings are chopped up into small pieces, with each piece packaged with known results and filler material to produce a research paper. Thus, results that could have been presented in one publication appear in a dozen or more, contributing to a mind-numbing information explosion. Researchers aren't the only ones to blame; the academic rewards system is also at fault.
Martin & Burns present an account of an 18-month crisis in American democracy, beginning with Trump's election-hoaxes in the second half of 2020 and ending with the first year of Biden's presidency, during which Trump continued pushing lies about the 2020 election and kept undermining his successor in the White House. A big part of the story is, of course, the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and those who aided and abetted the rioters. Trump continues to claim that the patriot rioters are being treated unfairly, promising to consider pardoning them if he returns to the White House.
A second big chunk of the story is the behind-the-scenes struggles of Biden and his team in the choice of a running-mate, keeping the left wing of the party in check, and efforts, largely unsuccessful, to bring back bipartisanship, which has been dying a slow death in recent years. Just as "mainstream" Republicans despise and are fearful of Trumpism, establishment Democrats feel sabotaged by the two extremes within their party: The progressive wing, flanked by "The Squad," and the "moderates" like Joe Manchin (who has entertained the idea of leaving the Democratic party to caucus with the Republicans) and Krysten Sinema (another Republican in Democrat clothing, who is very proud of her cleavage and its effect on uptight GOP men). And, to be sure, there is always Senator Lindsey Graham to ridicule, with ample justification.
The most-shocking revelations in the book come from recorded private conversations of top Republicans, including sound bytes in which Kevin McCarthy says, on January 10, 2021, that he had considered asking Trump to resign, because his second impeachment resolution was likely to pass. While McCarthy continues to stand by Trump in public statements and appearances, privately he has admonished the former president and indicated that he is responsible for violence on January 6.
I, like many other Americans, am addicted to reading books about Trump. The fact that each additional book offers only a minimal amount of new information does not deter me, given the importance of understanding and foiling Trumpism. After so many books on Trump, an overall understanding of what went wrong is still lacking. Perhaps the forthcoming report of the January 6 Select Committee will shed more light on what is ailing our increasing-divided country.
July 2, 2022
The two hours of taped phone calls of Republican caucus meetings before and right after January 6 is worth the price of this book, just for the purpose of understanding the despicable hypocrisy that took over the Republican party--with the notable exceptions of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger--after they realized that their base was not going to abandon Donald Trump. On the January 5th call, many of the members, probably the lawyers, made reasoned Constitutional arguments as to why they could not refuse to accept the electoral college votes from any State, and several of them made the most logical argument that you don't see anymore, i. e., if they were going to declare that the voting systems in the states that Trump lost were systemically flawed, how could they justify the fact that they had just confirmed their own elections? Every single one of them was on the same ballot as Donald Trump. How to explain that Republicans had gained 20 seats in the House on the same ballots as Donald Trump? How to explain victories in the Senate? In addition, why was it that only the States that Trump lost had these systemic problems? Hypocrisy and logic clearly could not live in the same message, so all but two chose hypocrisy. It is truly despicable, listening to them then and now.
July 11, 2022
I'm not sure that there was anything particularly shocking in this book as touted in the description. I found it to be a very straight forward account, which I appreciate. There wasn't a ton of opinion here as much as a laying out of events and reporting of the pov's of the people involved. I honestly expected more about Trump and leading up to the election than there was- but I found this book more fair due to the amount of information given. The second half was heavy on the disagreements and strife within the democratic party which I hadn't been expecting, but found interesting, nonetheless. I really appreciated the inclusion of the GOP conference meetings on 1/5/21 and 1/11/21... it was nice to hear from the republicans who spoke in their own words and the difference in rhetoric before and after 1/6. Since I listened to this I really hope the hard copy has transcripts of what I listened to and that it wasn't just a bonus for the audio.
This book is a nice lead in to watching the Jan 6 Hearings, even though I'd already watched 5 hearings before reading this. It offered clarification for me on a few things and gave background on some of the players I hadn't had before.
This book is a nice lead in to watching the Jan 6 Hearings, even though I'd already watched 5 hearings before reading this. It offered clarification for me on a few things and gave background on some of the players I hadn't had before.
July 2, 2022
When I was young I admired the United States: its order, its success and above all its democracy.
But many times democracies are destroyed from within.
This could have happened when, somehow, a psychopath won the presidency. And when for his second term, the citizens told him "no" because of his childish and foolish way of governing, he did not want to accept it.
Like a mad rage he incited a rebellion, which could have culminated in many deaths and his remaining in power.
Thank god he's not very smart and he didn't make it.
The bad thing is that if the opposition isn't either, and he could return to power democratically, and then put an end to democracy.
Will US citizens allow it? I didn't think I would have to see the death of the USSR, will I have to see the fall of this great country?
But many times democracies are destroyed from within.
This could have happened when, somehow, a psychopath won the presidency. And when for his second term, the citizens told him "no" because of his childish and foolish way of governing, he did not want to accept it.
Like a mad rage he incited a rebellion, which could have culminated in many deaths and his remaining in power.
Thank god he's not very smart and he didn't make it.
The bad thing is that if the opposition isn't either, and he could return to power democratically, and then put an end to democracy.
Will US citizens allow it? I didn't think I would have to see the death of the USSR, will I have to see the fall of this great country?
May 23, 2022
If there is one book on the Trump administration and how it ended that needs to be made into a documentary it is Martin and Burns's This Will Not Pass -- and be narrated by Morgan Freeman. It tells the story of not only the lead up to January 6, 2020 but it's aftermath including the start of the Biden administration. Of course one expects journalists to write well. Martin and Burns write in an engaging style that takes the reader behind the scenes. You have the feeling of having been there and witnesses the horror of the insurrection first hand. Fact based and credit given where it is due they document a sad and horrific event in our history. As we move into the 2022 mid-terms I for one hope they have returned to their sources and a book on how they unfold soon follows.
May 10, 2022
After hearing an interview of these two authors, I was intrigued to read their book. While this post indicates the audio version, I got the printed copy from the library. Realizing how quickly a news cycle changes, it is easy to forget recent events or, at least, any details about them. This was mostly a rehash of 2020 and 2021 national politics. There were some new items for me but it was mostly stuff I already knew although forgotten. It was good to remind myself of this tumultuous time so that it does not become old news. The authors did not make a good conclusion to their book; maybe they didn't have one??
May 23, 2022
A Sobering Read
While a bit of a slow start, this book guides the reader through what US politicians were really thinking about in the last few years. It lays bare US politics and politicians in a way that readers can understand and relate to. The slow start lays the ground work for the remainder of the book and it’s conclusions. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an open and intelligent mind.
While a bit of a slow start, this book guides the reader through what US politicians were really thinking about in the last few years. It lays bare US politics and politicians in a way that readers can understand and relate to. The slow start lays the ground work for the remainder of the book and it’s conclusions. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an open and intelligent mind.
May 31, 2022
Boy, oh, boy! Want to get (more) upset about how our government doesn't work? Read this book. I have relatively lately come to the realization that politicians don't do what is right (as a rule), but rather what is expedient for them and for their ability to be re-elected. This book just gives me proof. And, it happens on both sides.
It truly seems that there can be no working across the aisle because they can't even work within their side!
It truly seems that there can be no working across the aisle because they can't even work within their side!
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