Tim Miller (10) (1981–)

"America never would have gotten into this mess if it weren't for me and my friends. Tim Miller's book starts with this great first line. As a key Republican operator for multiple political campaigns and a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Miller knows many of the key players in Trump World and has heard them express their honest, private opinions about Trump. This allows him to say "When the Trump Troubles began there wasn't a single one in our ranks who would have said that they were in his corner. To a person, we found him gauche, repellant, and beneath the dignity of public service we bestowed with bumptious regard....But, at first, gradually and then suddenly, nearly all of us decided to go along."

The purpose of this book is to explain why these people were willing to support Trump despite their initial disparagement of him. To try to understand what happened with these people, he tells the stories of many of the well-known names that worked in Trump World including Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Elsie Stefanik and many others. However, he begins his story being telling how he himself was willing to work for politicians that were espousing policies he was personally opposed to. For example, Miller reveals that he is a homosexual but worked for and developed attack lines for politicians that were very homophobic. He eventually left the Republican fold and became a Never Trumper. As such, he reports that he then frequently became a confessor to people in Trump World who wanted to explain that they really did not believe in Trump World.

He classifies the reasons they went along into 11 categories. Categories include Demonizers and Tribalist Trolls who demonized anything coming from the Democratic Party, LOL Nothing Matters Republicans who were essentially nihilists, Strivers who went along in order to get ahead, and a number of people who just went along as a way to make money.

The book will definitely not appeal to fans of Donald Trump. Although it does deliver plenty of inside gossip about players in Trump World, the detailed portraits of how some of the key players abandoned their principles in order to jump on the Trump train, are actually full of pathos. These stories should appeal to people interested in moral philosophy and fans of Hannah Arendt.

The writing in the book is, however, annoying. It is filled with overly "hip" phrasing that might e entertaining in a podcast but becomes tiresome when repeated constantly in a book.… (more)

Miller writes intelligently about the political gamesmanship and cynicism that have so divided America. He’s authoritative; he was there, and did some of the work.

The book is honest and thought-provoking. He ends by speculating that he and an old friend may never heal the rift between them, precisely because all that cynicism worked so well.

That’s a cop-out. All of us need to find a way to reverse the damage. Miller, as one of its architect, has that responsibility especially. Remorse is justified, honesty is admirable, but if you break that much glass, you really need to help clean it up.

I very much hope there’s a sequel that charts a path forward from here. A bright and committed guy like Miller is likely to have some good ideas.… (more)