This is a great book. However, before I tell you why I gave it five stars, I want to address at least some of the objections you might have. There are typos. There are things you will disagree with. Rick Wilson is, after all, a Never Trump conservative and that contrarian stance means he does not quite “fit” into either the Democratic or the Republican box. OK. Now let me tell you why I think you should read Everything Trump Touches Dies.
It’s really, really well written. It provides painful insights about our country but does so with humor. For example, the author says that if the elite had wanted to stop him, Trump would have met the same end as befell “every other high-cray Facebook group like Tea Party Patriots Against the Soros Moon Base. (I know you’re about to search Facebook for TPPASM. The question isn’t whether that’s a real group. The telling factor is that in this era you think it might be.)” True and depressing? Of course. Hilarious way of putting things? Absolutely.
Wilson explains how politics gets made in Washington DC and the country at large. For me that was an eye-opener. I don’t think I really appreciated the different roles consultants, lobbyists and donors play in shaping our views. He also provides a very astute critique of Trumpism when he points out that “for the Trump team, the new message is, ”I’m from the government and I’m here to punish the people you hate.’” That’s it. Exactly.
There is good (if unsolicited) advice for Democrats here too. Wilson feels that that the Democratic Party has a brand problem. Or, as he puts it, “Middle America scans the cliché New York-Boston-San Francisco liberal sneer as a judgment on their lives… Would it help expand the brand if you didn’t rub things in their face that may be normal in Berkeley but repulsive in Middle America? More than you think.” If you bristled at that, keep in mind that public pollsters say much the same thing when they tell us most Americans agree with Democrats on the issues but not on the (perceived) ideology. That’s how you get people supporting protections for pre-existing conditions but opposing Obamacare and supporting Medicare but opposing government healthcare. The pollsters and Wilson agree; Rick is just more direct about it.
The conversational (if parental guidance advised) tone of the book is yet another reason I recommend it. It is written in an eminently readable, conversational English. It’s also a very personal book. He talks about his family, mentions his Grandmother, and perhaps inadvertently describes the idealism that got him into politics. No, he does not consider himself an idealist; quite the contrary. But read this passage and tell me that wasn’t written by an idealist. “I remember reading [Newt Gingrich’s] Window of Opportunity, wowed by his embrace of technology, space travel, and industry and his leveraging America’s edge in the sciences…”
Yes, he ended up in a business that’s all about “Just win, baby” but after reading Everything Trump Touches Dies, I felt he got into that line of work for the right reasons. I doubt he would be a Never Trumper if that wasn’t the case. By becoming a Never Trump conservative, Rick gave up income, faced credible threats to himself, his clients and his family, saw his relationship with erstwhile conservatives (and now Trumpers) fundamentally change.
Wilson knows personally the people he castigates and his disappointment with most of them (to put it very, very mildly) comes through loud and clear. Still, villains and pathetic figures who sold their souls are not the only ones who make an appearance in these pages. Rick has the utmost respect for General Mattis and pities Melania.
Rick Wilson ends with a vision of how we begin to heal after Trump. Not the world’s greatest fan of crony capitalism, he recommends we “take a meat ax to the legions of consultants conducting the business of government without any real accountability to Congress.” Along the same lines, Rick urges us to once again adhere to the Constitution (“the national operating system”). Wilson feels we need to reform the rentier state and tell “Americans we believe in them.” Hope is better than fear. And Americans are fundamentally optimistic.
It’s a harsh and funny book. It brutally exposes the political mess we’re in and how we got here yet manages to end on a “militantly optimistic” note. I highly recommend it.
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Reviews with images
A Very Well Written, Very Deeply Personal Trip Through the Looking Glass of American Politics
Normally, I would write that the book was well done. It was. I would write that it was informative. It is. I would write that I enjoyed it immensely. I did.But that would be a cop-out in this case. The author deserves more of a review than this. And anyone wishing to read this book deserves a more in-depth analysis.I won’t go over the structure of the book. It’s fine. There are a few places where things feel repetitive, but in full context, a repetition of stories or of feelings about people lead to better understanding of the months in question around the time Rick Wilson speaks of (2015 up until roughly mid-2018.)Rick Wilson does not go into the entire history of Donald Trump. He delves into his part in the time when Trump decided to run for office. He does not go into the Russian issues, except in passing. A good idea, given that at the time of this book, the investigation dealing with Russia and Donald Trump is still ongoing.No, I wish to go into the personal issues that this last Presidential campaign caused for the author and why this book is not just another “my detestable President” sort of writing. While overall this is exactly what the title of the book is, I noticed as much the personal damage and what Wilson did to recover from the last election. This book is a part of that, but there was something else as well, Wilson underwent a deep change.He saw his party damaged beyond repair as it shifted from values he grew up with all his, and happily helped to maintain into something akin to a certain viewpoint as noted by Godwin’s Law.This is a book of rage. But it is also a book of showing the acceptance to what happened, and to moving on. This is a book about small men and women gaining great power, and honestly not knowing what to do with it. This is a book about men and women of great power, suddenly at a loss when that power shrinks down from values of a country to the desultory values of a single person.There is still a great mystery left behind. We may never fully understand all the reasons why people he respected turned toward the winner with such depth that they would dismiss so many warning signs of doing such a thing. And he speaks of this.But Wilson also shows us a small bit of what makes Washington DC the city that it is. Not in any particular detail, but the essence of power we’ve derided and yet wondered at is shown here. And most of all, Wilson shows his mistakes that he made himself. And he gives some advice to the opposite party. (I don’t agree with the idea he proposes, but keeping fiscal responsibility in ad hoc for a reborn ‘real’ conservative party is doable I suspect.)There is a sense of revenge here in this book, in the general feel of what he feels is coming. And he’s very honest with his views about that. And personally, I have no issue with the more specific personal revenge he carried out. (Read the book, it’s rather funny, and he done did good while he was at it.)Overall, I think in terms of timing, this book came out at the right time. We needed a reminder of many of the messes we saw but forgot about in trying to keep up with the current administration’s ridiculous glorification of Donald Trump. If Rick Wilson had written this after all was said and done, it would not have come out with the same sense of emotions in the reading. At the very beginning, the sense of “I told you so!” would read too strongly.As it is, that sense of such that he pushes forward with the very title is still fresh in the mind of the readers. It is because of this, I very much recommend Everything Trump Touches Dies to anyone even skirting the idea of understanding the United States of American politics in its current state.As for the future of the party. The cynic in me does not see all his wishes come true. But if the Republican Party is ever to recover. Indeed, if the Democratic Party is ever to grow and change to more modern events, it will be due to people like Rick Wilson to show at least a modicum of a guiding light.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2018
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2018
But that would be a cop-out in this case. The author deserves more of a review than this. And anyone wishing to read this book deserves a more in-depth analysis.
I won’t go over the structure of the book. It’s fine. There are a few places where things feel repetitive, but in full context, a repetition of stories or of feelings about people lead to better understanding of the months in question around the time Rick Wilson speaks of (2015 up until roughly mid-2018.)
Rick Wilson does not go into the entire history of Donald Trump. He delves into his part in the time when Trump decided to run for office. He does not go into the Russian issues, except in passing. A good idea, given that at the time of this book, the investigation dealing with Russia and Donald Trump is still ongoing.
No, I wish to go into the personal issues that this last Presidential campaign caused for the author and why this book is not just another “my detestable President” sort of writing. While overall this is exactly what the title of the book is, I noticed as much the personal damage and what Wilson did to recover from the last election. This book is a part of that, but there was something else as well, Wilson underwent a deep change.
He saw his party damaged beyond repair as it shifted from values he grew up with all his, and happily helped to maintain into something akin to a certain viewpoint as noted by Godwin’s Law.
This is a book of rage. But it is also a book of showing the acceptance to what happened, and to moving on. This is a book about small men and women gaining great power, and honestly not knowing what to do with it. This is a book about men and women of great power, suddenly at a loss when that power shrinks down from values of a country to the desultory values of a single person.
There is still a great mystery left behind. We may never fully understand all the reasons why people he respected turned toward the winner with such depth that they would dismiss so many warning signs of doing such a thing. And he speaks of this.
But Wilson also shows us a small bit of what makes Washington DC the city that it is. Not in any particular detail, but the essence of power we’ve derided and yet wondered at is shown here. And most of all, Wilson shows his mistakes that he made himself. And he gives some advice to the opposite party. (I don’t agree with the idea he proposes, but keeping fiscal responsibility in ad hoc for a reborn ‘real’ conservative party is doable I suspect.)
There is a sense of revenge here in this book, in the general feel of what he feels is coming. And he’s very honest with his views about that. And personally, I have no issue with the more specific personal revenge he carried out. (Read the book, it’s rather funny, and he done did good while he was at it.)
Overall, I think in terms of timing, this book came out at the right time. We needed a reminder of many of the messes we saw but forgot about in trying to keep up with the current administration’s ridiculous glorification of Donald Trump. If Rick Wilson had written this after all was said and done, it would not have come out with the same sense of emotions in the reading. At the very beginning, the sense of “I told you so!” would read too strongly.
As it is, that sense of such that he pushes forward with the very title is still fresh in the mind of the readers. It is because of this, I very much recommend Everything Trump Touches Dies to anyone even skirting the idea of understanding the United States of American politics in its current state.
As for the future of the party. The cynic in me does not see all his wishes come true. But if the Republican Party is ever to recover. Indeed, if the Democratic Party is ever to grow and change to more modern events, it will be due to people like Rick Wilson to show at least a modicum of a guiding light.
A Very Well Written, Very Deeply Personal Trip Through the Looking Glass of American Politics
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2018
Normally, I would write that the book was well done. It was. I would write that it was informative. It is. I would write that I enjoyed it immensely. I did.Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2018
But that would be a cop-out in this case. The author deserves more of a review than this. And anyone wishing to read this book deserves a more in-depth analysis.
I won’t go over the structure of the book. It’s fine. There are a few places where things feel repetitive, but in full context, a repetition of stories or of feelings about people lead to better understanding of the months in question around the time Rick Wilson speaks of (2015 up until roughly mid-2018.)
Rick Wilson does not go into the entire history of Donald Trump. He delves into his part in the time when Trump decided to run for office. He does not go into the Russian issues, except in passing. A good idea, given that at the time of this book, the investigation dealing with Russia and Donald Trump is still ongoing.
No, I wish to go into the personal issues that this last Presidential campaign caused for the author and why this book is not just another “my detestable President” sort of writing. While overall this is exactly what the title of the book is, I noticed as much the personal damage and what Wilson did to recover from the last election. This book is a part of that, but there was something else as well, Wilson underwent a deep change.
He saw his party damaged beyond repair as it shifted from values he grew up with all his, and happily helped to maintain into something akin to a certain viewpoint as noted by Godwin’s Law.
This is a book of rage. But it is also a book of showing the acceptance to what happened, and to moving on. This is a book about small men and women gaining great power, and honestly not knowing what to do with it. This is a book about men and women of great power, suddenly at a loss when that power shrinks down from values of a country to the desultory values of a single person.
There is still a great mystery left behind. We may never fully understand all the reasons why people he respected turned toward the winner with such depth that they would dismiss so many warning signs of doing such a thing. And he speaks of this.
But Wilson also shows us a small bit of what makes Washington DC the city that it is. Not in any particular detail, but the essence of power we’ve derided and yet wondered at is shown here. And most of all, Wilson shows his mistakes that he made himself. And he gives some advice to the opposite party. (I don’t agree with the idea he proposes, but keeping fiscal responsibility in ad hoc for a reborn ‘real’ conservative party is doable I suspect.)
There is a sense of revenge here in this book, in the general feel of what he feels is coming. And he’s very honest with his views about that. And personally, I have no issue with the more specific personal revenge he carried out. (Read the book, it’s rather funny, and he done did good while he was at it.)
Overall, I think in terms of timing, this book came out at the right time. We needed a reminder of many of the messes we saw but forgot about in trying to keep up with the current administration’s ridiculous glorification of Donald Trump. If Rick Wilson had written this after all was said and done, it would not have come out with the same sense of emotions in the reading. At the very beginning, the sense of “I told you so!” would read too strongly.
As it is, that sense of such that he pushes forward with the very title is still fresh in the mind of the readers. It is because of this, I very much recommend Everything Trump Touches Dies to anyone even skirting the idea of understanding the United States of American politics in its current state.
As for the future of the party. The cynic in me does not see all his wishes come true. But if the Republican Party is ever to recover. Indeed, if the Democratic Party is ever to grow and change to more modern events, it will be due to people like Rick Wilson to show at least a modicum of a guiding light.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
True Inspirator
Such a fun and abrasive reading. My wife thought I was becoming crazy laughing ;-)) LOL
Reviewed in Canada on April 1, 2022
Kindle Customer
Disappointed because the book is a tedious read
Reviewed in India on February 11, 2024MR A T B
Scathing, Funny, Tragic and Prescient
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2018
Suzana Vuksanovic
A humorous tour-de-force of the Trump World by a strategist who knows what he’s talking about!
Reviewed in Australia on January 9, 2019