American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

Written by Tim Alberta

Narrated by Jason Culp

New York Times Bestseller

“Not a conventional Trump-era book. It is less about the daily mayhem in the White House than about the unprecedented capitulation of a political party. This book will endure for helping us understand not what is happening but why it happened…. [An] indispensable work.”—Washington Post

Politico Magazine’s chief political correspondent provides a rollicking insider’s look at the making of the modern Republican Party—how a decade of cultural upheaval, populist outrage, and ideological warfare made the GOP vulnerable to a hostile takeover from the unlikeliest of insurgents: Donald J. Trump.

As George W. Bush left office with record-low approval ratings and Barack Obama led a Democratic takeover of Washington, Republicans faced a moment of reckoning: they had no vision, no generation of new leaders, and no energy in the party’s base. Yet Obama’s progressive agenda, coupled with the nation’s rapidly changing cultural identity, lit a fire under the right. Republicans regained power in Congress but spent that time fighting among themselves. With these struggles weakening the party’s defenses, and with more and more Americans losing faith in the political class, the stage was set for an outsider to crash the party. When Trump descended a gilded escalator to launch his campaign in the summer of 2015, the candidate had met the moment. Only by viewing Trump as the culmination of a decade-long civil war inside the GOP can we appreciate how he won the White House and consider the fundamental questions at the center of America’s current turmoil.

Loaded with explosive original reporting and based on hundreds of exclusive interviews—including with key players such as President Trump, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell—American Carnage takes us behind the scenes of this tumultuous period and establishes Tim Alberta as the premier chronicler of a political era.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jul 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9780062965103

Tim Alberta

Tim Alberta is a staff writer for The Atlantic, the former chief political correspondent for Politico, and has written for dozens of other publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, and Vanity Fair. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump. He co-moderated the final Democratic presidential debate of 2019 and frequently appears as a commentator on television programs in the U.S. and around the world. He lives in Michigan with his wife and three sons.

Reviews for American Carnage

[steve02476 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A well-done book, but not my kinda book. Long, exhaustive history of Republican Party politics for the last 10 years or so, but mostly about DJT and his relationship with other Republicans. I learned a lot certainly, but it involved wallowing in a lot of history I didn’t like watching at the time and It wasn’t any better reviewing in hindsight either. One thing I liked about the book is that the author is a conservative himself, just not a wacko, so it was good to get an insider perspective (although Albertson’s a journalist not a politician).

Political junkies, have fun with this book.

[writemoves · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you read the newspapers or keep up with the news, the contents of this book will not surprise you. However, the longer you read the book, the more you will feel despair, grow angry and feel depressed. Truth be told I have no respect for about 95% of members of the Republican party and about 100% of Republican members of Congress. There was some attempt at sanity by various people like John Boehner, John McCain and Paul Ryan to reign in some of the insanity from members of the hard Right, evangelicals and tea party members.

Regrettably the Republican Party, especially with Trump, have given in to their basic instincts – – – – racism, nationalism, fear of change etc. You will read countless examples of where narrow self interests particularly those of the Rich are pushed against the interests of the middle class and general populace.

The party of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush is dead. Alberta’s book provides the timeline and autopsy results of the death of the Republican party. It's now Trump's party. Vestiges of civility, compassion and good judgment have been stamped out. Alberta's book shows that Trump had many willing accomplices ready and willing to sell their souls and sell out the interests of this country.

[macdad-236140 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Though the title is taken from Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural address, this book is about more than just the 45th president of the United States and his impact on the Republican Party. Instead what Tim Alberta provides is a Washington-eye view of the evolution of the national GOP from the 2008 election to the midway point of Trump’s presidency. A longtime political reporter, Alberta draws upon a wealth of interviews with many of the key Republicans in Congress, featuring them as they key figures in their party’s evolution from the pro-immigration supporters of free trade and fiscal restraint into the more nativist, protectionist, and xenophobic party they have become since 2016.As Alberta demonstrates, the factors that led to this transformation were present well before Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency. By the end of George W. Bush’s presidency Congressional Republicans faced a lot of internal discontent with their deficit spending habits and the costs of two interminable wars in the Middle East, to which was added the onset of a severe recession. With Barack Obama’s victory over John McCain in 2008, Republican leaders feared they might be politically marginalized for the next generation. Even in the afterglow of Obama’s victory, though, his team recognized that they would likely face a backlash because of the dismal economic conditions and the hard choices before them.That backlash was the Tea Party movement. Its energy translated into Republican victories up and down the ballot in the midterm election. Yet even as Republicans benefited electorally from public dissatisfaction with Obama’s administration, Alberta notes the emerging tension between the party leadership and the new members of the caucus, many of whom rode to victory on the basis of this dissatisfaction. The new House Speaker, John Boehner, bore the brunt of this conflict, as the more radicalized members of his majority often pressed for actions that Boehner (who at one time was considered on the extreme wing of the House Republican caucus) resisted as pointless. Such extremism proved counter-productive in the Senate races that year, as Alberta notes how the selection of the more radical candidates cost the Republicans winnable races that would have given them unified control of Congress.This tension only grew over the next six years, inspiring ambitious Republicans and frustrating legislative achievements. With Obama’s reelection victory in 2012, many within the party worried that they were on an electorally unsustainable course that would prove disastrous. Three years later the Republicans had a primary field notable for its considerable diversity, yet in the end what the base desired most was not ideological extremism or detailed conservative proposals, but someone who tapped into their cultural anxieties. Enter Donald Trump, whose often outrageous rhetoric and media savvy combined to win the nomination over a number of prominent party figures. Though many Republican officeholders blanched at his statements, his unexpected victory cuffed them to a mercurial figure who demanded total loyalty and who was even willing to sacrifice political power to get it.Drawing as he does from conversations with many of the key individuals involved, Alberta offers an insider’s account of a decade’s worth of American politics. As perceptive of much of his analysis is, though, Alberta’s book suffers from some unfortunate limitations. These are a consequence of his “inside the Beltway” focus, with little consideration of developments at the state and the local level. With only a marginal effort made to unpack the dynamics that often drove many of the events he describes, the Congressional maneuvering and political infighting he describes can assume a greater importance than it might otherwise possess. A more expansive coverage might have made for a stronger book, albeit perhaps a less readable one. For with its mixture of reporting and retrospective commentary, Alberta’s book serves as a compulsively readable record of an important moment in the history of the Republican Party, one the consequences of which continue to ripple outward.

[flourgirl49 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a dissection of the Republican Party covering the last 20 years or so and details the conditions under which Donald Trump was able to take over the GOP and totally change it. It's a very long book (600+ pages), but engrossing if you're into the subject matter. The state of affairs of politics and the behavior of the elected officials in our nation is disgusting and disgraceful, and frankly I can't see how we're ever going to make our way back to the days when both parties in Congress actually worked with each other and compromised in order to accomplish big things. It's very disheartening and troubling.

[brianinbuffalo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Readers looking for an exhaustive recap of Donald Trump's tumultuous trip to the White House — and his first couple years in office — won't be disappointed by Alberta's work. For those of who closely follow political developments, "American Carnage" will offer few surprises. But Alberta's systematic recounting of the many controversies gives readers an insightful bird's eye view of what is clearly among the most twist-filled eras in U.S. history. When I saw that this audiobook spanned 22 discs, I almost put it back on the library shelf. I'm glad I didn't.

[susan.macura · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an insightful and complex look at what has happened to the Republican Party since the era of George W. Bush. The author attributes many of the changes to the core beliefs of this party to Bush - and not in a positive manner. It was always my belief that Bush was the worst president in our history, though now with Trump he moves up one notch. However, the author lays out a compelling case that Trump was the result of the changes made during Bush's tenure, so perhaps a tie for worst? I found the book both fascinating and frightening, because unless major changes are made, the future might even be more difficult than today. This is a great book for anyone interested in politics, government and the future of our country.

[citizenjoyce · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tim Alberta is one of those conservatives who realizes the disaster that is Donald Trump. The difference between this book and one written by a less ideologically committed author is that Alberta doesn't see how the GOP paved the way for Trump. Rather he shows Bohner and Ryan as fine, patriotic men who want only to assure good governance but are thwarted by trump's scattered thinking and vengeance. Sure Ryan's goal from the moment he entered government was to support the "Makers" and let the "Takers" fend for themselves. The way to do that is to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But no, he says, once Ryan lost his bid for Vice President, he realized the error of his ways and became much more compassionate. Strange, we didn't notice the compassion. He also has good things to say about Flake and Cruze. They didn't really flip flop, promising to work for the people and morality while they voted for trump's plans at every turn. It was just that trump was proposing things that, as conservatives, they agreed with. Strangely, he didn't have one good thing to say about Clinton. Hmm, I guess she doesn't have Cruz's morality. It's a good book to see how conservatives can forgive themselves for this moral disaster, but I don't have much hope that they will change.

[k6gst · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Look, the main reason I quit Facebook is because I don’t ever want to read what any of my friends or family think about politics, so I’ll spare you my thoughts on this book, other than to say that it is a thorough account of why I will never again associate with the Republican Party.