Why We Did It
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $34.99
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- $34.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Former Republican political operative Tim Miller answers the question no one else has fully grappled with: Why did normal people go along with the worst of Trumpism?
As one of the strategists behind the famous 2012 RNC “autopsy,” Miller conducts his own forensic study on the pungent carcass of the party he used to love, cutting into all the hubris, ambition, idiocy, desperation, and self-deception for everyone to see. In a bracingly honest reflection on both his own past work for the Republican Party and the contortions of his former peers in the GOP establishment, Miller draws a straight line between the actions of the 2000s GOP to the Republican political class's Trumpian takeover, including the horrors of January 6th.
From ruminations on the mental jujitsu that allowed him as a gay man to justify becoming a hitman for homophobes, to astonishingly raw interviews with former colleagues who jumped on the Trump Train, Miller diagrams the flattering and delusional stories GOP operatives tell themselves so they can sleep at night. With a humorous touch he reveals Reince Priebus' neediness, Sean Spicer's desperation, Elise Stefanik and Chris Christie’s raw ambition, and his close friends’ submission to a MAGA psychosis.
Why We Did It is a vital, darkly satirical warning that all the narcissistic justifications that got us to this place still thrive within the Republican party, which means they will continue to make the same mistakes and political calculations that got us here, with disastrous consequences for the nation.
Customer Reviews
Why We Did It
A New Zealand fan. I have listened to Tim on The Bulwark, and as a commentator elsewhere. Am enthralled/appalled by your country’s political whodunnit, and hoping for a damn good comeuppance for the villain.
Tim, I love your voice, your intonation, your timing, and your shaping of the phrase. I so wish I was listening to you yourself read your book, as it’s difficult to listen to this other person’s robotic-not-Tim voice.
Nonetheless, I’m listening. I couldn’t miss it. You are one of the heroes.
NZ is a place where your political progressives would be considered mainstream. Weirdly we too are experiencing alt-right christian-nationalist threats, born of the conspiracy-grift mindset. I’m heartened by your work, Tim. I have my fingers crossed.
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