The Economist: “Pundits often say that Trump World resembles Game of Thrones because it is a place where horrid people do horrid things in pursuit of power. Fiddlesticks. The main reason why Trump World is like a dragons-and-zombies saga is that its protagonists live in a land of make-believe.”

“Especially President Donald Trump, whose understanding of reality seems to be based on snippets he once heard and wishes were true. Regime Change, an account of his second term by two New York Times journalists, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, brims with examples.”

Just published: Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed by Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff.

“Everyone’s got an Elon take. He’s a messiah. A menace; a genius; a clown. The verdicts differ, but they share one theme: they treat him as an individual.”

“Muskism argues otherwise. Elon Musk isn’t a glitch in the system—he is the system. His worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.”

Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed

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Out next month: This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy by Ben Wikler.

“Wikler distills lessons from the front lines in America’s most closely divided state to map out a comprehensive plan to dictator-proof American government, defeat MAGA at every level of the ballot, and build a future of democracy, opportunity, and freedom for all.”

This Is The Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy

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Coming this summer: Democracy on the Edge: The Trump Elections and the Future of American Politics by John Kenneth White and Matthew Kerbel.

How the American political parties have brought us to a crossroads for democracy.

Democracy on the Edge: The Trump Elections and the Future of American Politics

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“The summer nonfiction blockbuster Regime Change, which is already rattling the White House ahead of its release Tuesday, offers a flood of new detail under a classical theme: hubris,” Semafor reports.

“Journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan tell the story of a president who fought his way back from 2021 political exile to the White House — and then allowed overconfidence, improvisation, and impulse to hobble his second presidency.”

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Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump

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A must-read: American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump by Kai Bird.

A biography of super-lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn, whose shocking exploits over four decades have shaped the modern political era, most prominently the ascent of Donald Trump.

American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump

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The New York Times reviews Glory, Grief, and the Gavel: An Inside Guide to Running for Speaker of the House by John Leganski.

“It is unusual for a top congressional aide to write a tell-all book, and much of Mr. Leganski’s is filled with the kind of wonky detail that only a political junkie would crave. But his real-time account of the arm-twisting sessions that Mr. Trump has employed for years to keep Republican lawmakers in line provides fresh insight into a familiar phenomenon that is seldom recounted on the record by someone who witnessed it firsthand.”

Just published: The Department of Revenge: How Trump Took Control of American Justice by Devlin Barrett.

“No part of life in the United States has been untouched by Donald Trump’s relentless weaponization of the Justice Department. This is a cautionary tale about how, once a president amasses such power, future presidents may never relinquish it.”

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The Department of Revenge: How Trump Took Control of American Justice

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Coming soon: No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA).

Sinclair Lewis is said to have warned: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” On January 6, 2021, Rep. Jared Huffman saw something chillingly close to that vision. 

No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism

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Just out: Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth―and What to Do About It by Samuel Moyn.

“As Americans debate President Biden’s infirmities and President Trump’s erratic behavior, we’ve neglected the bigger problem before us: a massive transfer of power and wealth to the oldest among us, and the curtailment of the prospects of the young.”

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Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth―and What to Do About It

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CNN: “Vance’s book makes clear few people are more central to his story, or his political future, than his wife Usha.”

“In the acknowledgements of Communion, Vance credits Usha, who is Hindu, for encouraging him to reconnect with Christianity after spending a period as an atheist.”

During the 2024 campaign, Vice President JD Vance vociferously defended his comments about “childless cat ladies,” but in his new memoir, he admits it was “boneheaded” and “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever said,” Mediaite reports.

CNN: “When JD Vance published his best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy in 2016, he had drifted away from the Christian faith of his childhood — a familiar story amid a broader national retreat from organized religion that had left church pews emptier than in previous decades.”

“Now, Vance as vice president — and likely 2028 presidential contender — is a practicing Catholic, a conversion he has chronicled in his second book, Communion, publishing Tuesday. And it’s landing on bookshelves amid a remarkable turnaround: Catholicism is, by some measures, experiencing a resurgence in the United States unlike anything in recent memory.”

A must-read: Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State by Michael Lewis.

An inside look at the early days of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, as told by the public servants it targeted.

The author to Politico: “Every now and then the world hands you the material for a wild story. The collision between the Trump Administration and the civil service is one of those moments.”

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Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State

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“Many former Biden aides think Jill Biden’s new book is rewriting history, unhelpful to the Democratic Party and tone-deaf,” Axios reports. 

“Most Democratic Party leaders don’t want to talk about Joe Biden’s presidency, but the Bidens are making that difficult. Both are writing books and the former president plans to make campaign stops ahead of the November midterms.”