Caveat: Rodham’s book is about way more than Trump, but that’s the part I was most interested in.
Furthermore, her chapter on sexism is, in my opinion, far too brief and superficial; I’d attribute Lauer’s questions for her on NBC’s Commander in Chief Forum to sexism, if not outright misogyny.
“… I saw him dominate a debate with a crowded field of talented Republican candidates—not with brilliant ideas or powerful arguments but with ugly attacks that drew gasps …” 7
“[Trump] was wrong about so much. There had been seventy-five straight months of job growth … Twenty million more people had health insurance … Crime was still at historic lows. Our military remained by far the most powerful in the world. These are knowable, verifiable facts. Trump stood up there in front of the world and said the exact opposite … Listening to Trump, it almost felt like there was no such thing as truth anymore.” 8
“To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, than all is spectacle.” Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny [quoted on p9]
“If [Trump] stood up tomorrow and declared that the Earth is flat, his counselor Kellyanne Conway just might go on Fox News and defend it as an ‘alternative’ fact’ … ” 9
“It quickly became evident that normal debate prep wouldn’t work this time. Trump wouldn’t answer any question directly. He was rarely linear in his thinking or speaking. He digressed into nonsense and then digressed even more. There was no point in refuting his arguments like it was a normal debate—it was almost impossible to identify what his arguments even were, especially since they changed minute to minute. Winning, we realized, would mean hitting hard (since he couldn’t bear it), staying cool (since he often resorted to viciousness when cornered), throwing his own words back at him (since he couldn’t stand hearing them) and making my own arguments with clarity and precision (since he couldn’t do the same for himself).” 105-6
“… White House Communications Director for George W. Bush has warned that the Republican Party is in danger of being ‘permanently associated with misogyny’ if leaders don’t stand up to Trump’s treatment of women.” 137 Yup. Done.
“And he has a penchant for saying absurd things such as ‘I know more about ISIS than the Generals do, believe me.’ Nobody believed him. In fact, more than a hundred senior national security officials from Republican administrations publicly denounced him. Many signed a letter warning that Trump ‘lacks the character, values, and experience’ to be Commander in Chief. They wrote that he would be ‘the most reckless President in American history’ and would ‘put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.'” 218 Yup. Done.
“Trump didn’t care about policy at all. He seemed proud of his ignorance and didn’t even pretend to come up with plans for how he’d build his wall, fix health care, bring back all the lost jobs in manufacturing and coal mining, and defeat ISIS.” 232
“The ongoing normalization of Trump is the most disorienting development of the presidential campaign …” Jonathan Chait [quoted on p318]
“Trump doesn’t think in terms of morality or human rights, he thinks only in terms of power and dominance.” 334
“… despite repeated bankruptcies and even though most American banks refused to lend to him … ” 335 Right. So where is he getting his money from?
