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mommatea's review against another edition
4.0
A comically chilling faux-reality check of what is in store for this country if things stay the way they are.
jeanetterenee's review against another edition
Apostate Republican strategist trying to help the Dems get out of their own way so they can defeat the Evil Orange Ogre. I fear the Dems are too enamored with their highfalutin' idealism to play dirty in the way that is required to beat the pure unmitigated evil that is the Republican party. I sincerely hope I am wrong.
huzzahcoffee's review
3.0
Excellent strategy and real talk delivered in a crass and not-as-clever-as-Rick-Wilson-thinks style. In the end I split the difference between the info (four stars) and the nonsense (2 stars).
lilyofthevalley_reads's review
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Rick Wilson, the man, the myth, the legend... The political Nostradamus of our fucked up times!
I may not share exact or anywhere close to the political views of this author, but that does not mean that I do not take his advise very, very seriously. Deadly seriously in fact, especially after COVID-19 infected the whole world. If Miss Corona did not delight us with her presence this glorious year of 2020, a lot of things in this book wouldn't feel so outdated. Especially since this book only came out in January of this year. Case in point: "I don't think Bernie will do anything for the 2020 Democratic nominee, and I'm not sure the Democrats have the capacity to alter his behaviour in the slightest."-pg. 115. In fact, since Bernie lost the Democratic nomination for President back in February or March (I can't remember, it feels like ages ago doesn't it?!), Bernie has been campaigning (digitally) because he knows how much he fucked up in 2016, and if he only sucked up a bit more and bit his lip then, we (the world) would not be dealing with what we are now. This is just about the only example of him being incorrect in this entire book. There are others like the next quote, which is so eery as to be almost not believable:
"Anything else can happen to fuck up your campaign generally will. Weather, natural disasters, economic downturns, emergent scandals, Russian interference, terrorism, Chinese interference, plague, pestilence, and Guilder invading Florin."- pg. 223 However apt of a quote because so many of these things came to pass, unfortunately.
Rick was also correct in saying that Trump was indeed going to use the visual power of having Air Force One as a campaign background: "Both the White house itself, and Air Force One are powerful visual campaign props, and presidents of both parties have used them for their political ends. As we're painfully aware, Donald Trump lacks the genes of shame, modesty, and discretion, so expect the AF 28000 and AF 29000 to get a lot of air miles clocked in service to his campaign. Expect to see one of the two Air Force One planes parked behind him during speech after speech at airport hangar rallies around the country." -pg. 142
The best chapter IMO is titled "Speaking American," a quick how-to guide for Democrats to use on key issues like guns, abortion, taxes, etc. It was so succinct and well written for how to avoid the tripwires of the typical talking points of the Republicans.
Overall, I think even if this election goes either way (Biden or Trump winning), this will be a good book for people to read, as both a hopeful look back at these crazies times or a salient reminder that people really should listen to Rick Wilson, even if its painful at times.
I may not share exact or anywhere close to the political views of this author, but that does not mean that I do not take his advise very, very seriously. Deadly seriously in fact, especially after COVID-19 infected the whole world. If Miss Corona did not delight us with her presence this glorious year of 2020, a lot of things in this book wouldn't feel so outdated. Especially since this book only came out in January of this year. Case in point: "I don't think Bernie will do anything for the 2020 Democratic nominee, and I'm not sure the Democrats have the capacity to alter his behaviour in the slightest."-pg. 115. In fact, since Bernie lost the Democratic nomination for President back in February or March (I can't remember, it feels like ages ago doesn't it?!), Bernie has been campaigning (digitally) because he knows how much he fucked up in 2016, and if he only sucked up a bit more and bit his lip then, we (the world) would not be dealing with what we are now. This is just about the only example of him being incorrect in this entire book. There are others like the next quote, which is so eery as to be almost not believable:
"Anything else can happen to fuck up your campaign generally will. Weather, natural disasters, economic downturns, emergent scandals, Russian interference, terrorism, Chinese interference, plague, pestilence, and Guilder invading Florin."- pg. 223 However apt of a quote because so many of these things came to pass, unfortunately.
Rick was also correct in saying that Trump was indeed going to use the visual power of having Air Force One as a campaign background: "Both the White house itself, and Air Force One are powerful visual campaign props, and presidents of both parties have used them for their political ends. As we're painfully aware, Donald Trump lacks the genes of shame, modesty, and discretion, so expect the AF 28000 and AF 29000 to get a lot of air miles clocked in service to his campaign. Expect to see one of the two Air Force One planes parked behind him during speech after speech at airport hangar rallies around the country." -pg. 142
The best chapter IMO is titled "Speaking American," a quick how-to guide for Democrats to use on key issues like guns, abortion, taxes, etc. It was so succinct and well written for how to avoid the tripwires of the typical talking points of the Republicans.
Overall, I think even if this election goes either way (Biden or Trump winning), this will be a good book for people to read, as both a hopeful look back at these crazies times or a salient reminder that people really should listen to Rick Wilson, even if its painful at times.
sarah_'s review
4.0
God, I hope democrats working in the campaign of the eventual nominee read this book! Rick is my favorite conservative in the age of Trump, and listening to his snark and humor in this book was highly entertaining.
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