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tristansreadingmania's review against another edition
3.0
The American presidency has been ripe for the taking by a wealthy, non-political entity like Trump for some time now. It was inevitable.
In 2016, the moment of judgment had finally come. It didn’t take much doing. Child’s play, really. The system was that weak and ineffective, unable to put up any substantial fight. Now, a new paradigm has been set. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. The question was only how ridiculous, sad and vile things could get. The conditions had been present for at least 20 years, clear to anyone with eyes willing to see the perfect storm about to hit American politics like a juggernaut.
A large swath of disenfranchised, deeply resentful citizens with an axe to grind with its increasingly detached and myopic political representatives were ready for change, any change. Their education was generally poor, prospects few, if there were ever any to begin with. While they suffered, grew desperate and radicalised in grudging silence, the political, intellectual, economic and media elites vacantly looked on, safely cloistered in those upscale residential area’s on the East and West Coasts, gorging themselves on everything the good life had to offer them.
The Trump presidency isn’t an accident, neither an aberration. It’s a fitting end product of American culture and politics. To a perverse mind, a not inconsiderable amount of schadenfreude could be derived from watching this glorious dumpster fire unfold before unbelieving eyeballs of millions around the world.
This is you, America. Democrat, Republican, it doesn’t matter. Both wings of the establishment screwed up royally. Now you're reaping the whirlwind of your willful ignorance and callousness. You’ve reached the end of civilised political discourse, things will never be the same after this. Division is total. Now you truly are the living embodiment of a reality TV freak show.
Matt Taibbi echoes my - admittedly bleak - sentiments rather well in his deceptively titled Insane Clown President. Deceptive because, while Mr. Orange does get a fair amount of coverage, this series of columns which originally appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, reads more as an indictment of the entire system which gave rise to Trump in the first place. Absolutely everyone, apart from Bernie Sanders, has to undergo Taibbi’s scorched earth policy like a child about to be chided, a mode of writing which he executes rather well.
It’s especially refreshing to see a mainstream journalist performing a mea culpa like this:
“This is a horrible thing to have to say about one's own country, but this story makes it official. America is now too dumb for TV news.
It's our fault. We in the media have spent decades turning the news into a consumer business that's basically indistinguishable from selling cheeseburgers or video games. You want bigger margins, you just cram the product full of more fat and sugar and violence and wait for your obese, over-stimulated customer to come waddling forth.
The old Edward R. Murrow, eat-your-broccoli version of the news was banished long ago. Once such whiny purists were driven from editorial posts and the ad people over the last four or five decades got invited in, things changed. Then it was nothing but murders, bombs, and panda births, delivered to thickening couch potatoes in ever briefer blasts of forty, thirty, twenty seconds.
What we call right-wing and liberal media in this country are really just two different strategies of the same kind of nihilistic lizard-brain sensationalism. The ideal CNN story is a baby down a well, while the ideal Fox story is probably a baby thrown down a well by a Muslim terrorist or an ACORN activist. Both companies offer the same service, it's just that the Fox version is a little kinkier.
When you make the news into this kind of consumer business, pretty soon audiences lose the ability to distinguish between what they think they're doing, informing themselves, and what they're actually doing, shopping.
And who shops for products he or she doesn't want? That's why the consumer news business was always destined to hit this kind of impasse. You can get by for a long time by carefully selecting the facts you know your audiences will like, and calling that news. But eventually there will be a truth that displeases your customers. What do you do then?”
Hunter S. Thompson would approve. What he would make of this madness though, one can only guess.
Recommended for those sadomasochists out there eager to relive one of the darkest times in American political and social history. The pessimist in me however thinks this ride will last for a good while yet, with no lever in sight to halt it.
In 2016, the moment of judgment had finally come. It didn’t take much doing. Child’s play, really. The system was that weak and ineffective, unable to put up any substantial fight. Now, a new paradigm has been set. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. The question was only how ridiculous, sad and vile things could get. The conditions had been present for at least 20 years, clear to anyone with eyes willing to see the perfect storm about to hit American politics like a juggernaut.
A large swath of disenfranchised, deeply resentful citizens with an axe to grind with its increasingly detached and myopic political representatives were ready for change, any change. Their education was generally poor, prospects few, if there were ever any to begin with. While they suffered, grew desperate and radicalised in grudging silence, the political, intellectual, economic and media elites vacantly looked on, safely cloistered in those upscale residential area’s on the East and West Coasts, gorging themselves on everything the good life had to offer them.
The Trump presidency isn’t an accident, neither an aberration. It’s a fitting end product of American culture and politics. To a perverse mind, a not inconsiderable amount of schadenfreude could be derived from watching this glorious dumpster fire unfold before unbelieving eyeballs of millions around the world.
This is you, America. Democrat, Republican, it doesn’t matter. Both wings of the establishment screwed up royally. Now you're reaping the whirlwind of your willful ignorance and callousness. You’ve reached the end of civilised political discourse, things will never be the same after this. Division is total. Now you truly are the living embodiment of a reality TV freak show.
Matt Taibbi echoes my - admittedly bleak - sentiments rather well in his deceptively titled Insane Clown President. Deceptive because, while Mr. Orange does get a fair amount of coverage, this series of columns which originally appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, reads more as an indictment of the entire system which gave rise to Trump in the first place. Absolutely everyone, apart from Bernie Sanders, has to undergo Taibbi’s scorched earth policy like a child about to be chided, a mode of writing which he executes rather well.
It’s especially refreshing to see a mainstream journalist performing a mea culpa like this:
“This is a horrible thing to have to say about one's own country, but this story makes it official. America is now too dumb for TV news.
It's our fault. We in the media have spent decades turning the news into a consumer business that's basically indistinguishable from selling cheeseburgers or video games. You want bigger margins, you just cram the product full of more fat and sugar and violence and wait for your obese, over-stimulated customer to come waddling forth.
The old Edward R. Murrow, eat-your-broccoli version of the news was banished long ago. Once such whiny purists were driven from editorial posts and the ad people over the last four or five decades got invited in, things changed. Then it was nothing but murders, bombs, and panda births, delivered to thickening couch potatoes in ever briefer blasts of forty, thirty, twenty seconds.
What we call right-wing and liberal media in this country are really just two different strategies of the same kind of nihilistic lizard-brain sensationalism. The ideal CNN story is a baby down a well, while the ideal Fox story is probably a baby thrown down a well by a Muslim terrorist or an ACORN activist. Both companies offer the same service, it's just that the Fox version is a little kinkier.
When you make the news into this kind of consumer business, pretty soon audiences lose the ability to distinguish between what they think they're doing, informing themselves, and what they're actually doing, shopping.
And who shops for products he or she doesn't want? That's why the consumer news business was always destined to hit this kind of impasse. You can get by for a long time by carefully selecting the facts you know your audiences will like, and calling that news. But eventually there will be a truth that displeases your customers. What do you do then?”
Hunter S. Thompson would approve. What he would make of this madness though, one can only guess.
Recommended for those sadomasochists out there eager to relive one of the darkest times in American political and social history. The pessimist in me however thinks this ride will last for a good while yet, with no lever in sight to halt it.
pocketvolcano's review
5.0
Reading this in 2020, it’s clear that one of the biggest mistakes made in 2016 was not taking Trump seriously. It’s sobering to look back and see how we got to where we are now.
quercus707's review against another edition
4.0
Despite the title, this wasn't primarily a hatchet job on the Chief Cheeto. It was a Fear-and-Loathing style deconstruction of the 2016 campaign, from someone who was there. Villains include the Democratic party, the Republican party, the abysmal field of candidates, and the press. If you lie awake wondering what the f@#$ just happened, this book might shed some light on that question. And Matt Taibbi is a damn fine writer - in the midst of my gloom I found myself laughing out loud at some of his fantastic and unusual metaphors or turns of phrase. An excellent read, if you can face it.
fahimiqbal23's review against another edition
4.0
I've been reading a lot of post election books for example, I've read Michael Bender's book, "Frankly We Did Win This Election". Which was about how Trump lost the election in 2020. While I enjoyed reading Bender's book, I find myself entertained by reading Taibbi's book. Just getting flashbacks of all the Republican candidates who were running for the election at the time like Bobby Jindal or Rand Paul. I overall agree with Taibbi's critique for the rise of Trump and the growing popularity of Bernie Sanders. The truth was the political environment since the rise of the Tea Party and the more right wing faction of the Republican party was never going to be favourable for a self styled moderate like Jeb Bush, (shocking how the Republican establishment spent 100 million dollars for this guy) or a milquetoast Republican version of Obama like Marco Rubio. Another good part of the book was highlighting the problems with political journalism during the campaign and how it is more personality than substance as well as the smugness of the "establishment". I also enjoyed Taibbi's journal style reporting of the 2016 election campaign which he gives credit to Jann Wenner. The only negative that I have with Taibbi surrounds the whole idea of globalism and Free Trade, although I think that shouldn't take away from his excellent writing and critiques. I think for anyone who wants a book exploring the election campaign this is a really good book to read.
Favourite Chapters: Casting Clown Car, Inside the GOP Clown Car, America is too dumb for news,
Revenge of the Simple: How George W. Bush Gave Rise to Donald Trump, Why Young People are Right about Hilary Clinton, The Failure and Fury of Donald Trump, President Trump: How American Got it Wrong, President Obama's last stand.
Least Chapters: The Great Derangement Redux
Book Rating: 8/10
Favourite Chapters: Casting Clown Car, Inside the GOP Clown Car, America is too dumb for news,
Revenge of the Simple: How George W. Bush Gave Rise to Donald Trump, Why Young People are Right about Hilary Clinton, The Failure and Fury of Donald Trump, President Trump: How American Got it Wrong, President Obama's last stand.
Least Chapters: The Great Derangement Redux
Book Rating: 8/10
6pminhell's review against another edition
5.0
Exhilarating, hilarious real-time dispatches on this last clown car of an election. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone gives a consistently entertaining and insightful look at the craziest election cycle of all time, reflecting on the motivations and consequences of the Trump media circus and his unexpected rise to power. Insane Clown President is a worthy successor to Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, fittingly also written for Rolling Stone and contains some of the best reporting of the election that you'll read anywhere. Required reading for anyone still trying to make heads or tails of this election cycle and the rise of Trump.