How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump
by Robert Dallek
View on GoodreadsEvery president from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan gets credit here for real strengths. That said, Dallek's case is that their failings piled up over a century and prepared the ground for Donald Trump, and he leaves you with a choice between restoring democratic norms and further decline.
Core ideas
- No party exempt: TR's attention-seeking, Wilson's inflated promises and Truman taking the country into Korea without congressional authorization feed the same lineage.
- Lying and the press: Kennedy's preoccupation with image and Johnson's foreign-policy deceptions fit a pattern of presidents misleading the public and manipulating the media.
- Celebrity as power: Reagan turned celebrity into a political asset, and the book casts Trump as a regressive force whose lies and abusive language diminish the office.
Published2020
ISBN9781094158624
ReadAug 2024
