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A review by crybabybea
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
4.5
Every bit of this describes our current political climate and how we got here. Although Trump isn’t necessarily involved with the organizations mentioned, every move being made by the Trump administration is paralleled. This book lowkey broke my mind.
Although this is a book mainly about the corrupt lobbying utilized by right-wing politicians, Jane Mayer doesn’t fully absolve the Democrats either, which helped her argument come across as less biased. She points out how the Democratic party failed to take threats seriously, underestimated the “other side”, and attempted to appeal to moderates which helped the Overton window be pushed further and further to the extreme right; something that we saw repeated in 2024. Also, although Obama was outwardly spoken about the issues he was facing with corporate lobbying, Jane Mayer doesn’t hold back on naming the Democratic politicians who were *also* in the pockets of the corporate donors. Such a corrupt system through and through, throw it all out honestly.
During my time reading, I was reminded of something Imani Barbarin said at the beginning of the 2025 election; it's time to stop memeifying politics, especially Donald Trump and other right-wing extremists. Jane Mayer exposes how coldly calculated these people are, although they might come across as mediocre white men bumbling their way to success, their money translates to very real, very tangible power.
While the ideas presented here might be obvious — billionaires (majorly white men) in America are able to manufacture consent by lobbying politicians, influencing culture, creating smear campaigns, and denying science just by virtue of throwing money wherever they want. This book, however, really digs into the nitty gritty of how deep the corruption goes. Deeply, thoroughly researched, and every detail matters to create a broader perspective of just how insidious these “dark money” organizations are.
You might know, on a fundamental level, that America has descended into oligarchy (and perhaps always was one), but Dark Money lays out in excruciating detail how this issue came to be, and the many, many people behind it.
Similarly, you might think, on a fundamental level, that the Koch brothers and others of their ilk are inherently evil. Obviously. They’re billionaires who are content to destroy the world for their own profit. But Jane Mayer pushes it even further, peeling back layer after layer of corruption, including their inspirations pulled from extremist groups like the Russian oligarchy, the Taliban, and even, yes, the Nazis.
The writing itself is quite dry. Due to the sheer amount of information presented, and complexity of the situation, the names of people and organizations, dates, and dollar amounts all seem to run together after a while. But I feel like I have to recognize the impressive extent of investigative journalism on display here.
I have to admit it was hard not to spiral into doomerism while reading this. I can’t overstate how deep these issues go. The history of “dark money” goes back decades, and has tentacles in literally every realm of American existence. Billions and billions of dollars have been funneled into these projects. Overall I think the information I learned will stick with me forever and will continue to be applicable as politics in America continue to crumble.
Although this is a book mainly about the corrupt lobbying utilized by right-wing politicians, Jane Mayer doesn’t fully absolve the Democrats either, which helped her argument come across as less biased. She points out how the Democratic party failed to take threats seriously, underestimated the “other side”, and attempted to appeal to moderates which helped the Overton window be pushed further and further to the extreme right; something that we saw repeated in 2024. Also, although Obama was outwardly spoken about the issues he was facing with corporate lobbying, Jane Mayer doesn’t hold back on naming the Democratic politicians who were *also* in the pockets of the corporate donors. Such a corrupt system through and through, throw it all out honestly.
During my time reading, I was reminded of something Imani Barbarin said at the beginning of the 2025 election; it's time to stop memeifying politics, especially Donald Trump and other right-wing extremists. Jane Mayer exposes how coldly calculated these people are, although they might come across as mediocre white men bumbling their way to success, their money translates to very real, very tangible power.
While the ideas presented here might be obvious — billionaires (majorly white men) in America are able to manufacture consent by lobbying politicians, influencing culture, creating smear campaigns, and denying science just by virtue of throwing money wherever they want. This book, however, really digs into the nitty gritty of how deep the corruption goes. Deeply, thoroughly researched, and every detail matters to create a broader perspective of just how insidious these “dark money” organizations are.
You might know, on a fundamental level, that America has descended into oligarchy (and perhaps always was one), but Dark Money lays out in excruciating detail how this issue came to be, and the many, many people behind it.
Similarly, you might think, on a fundamental level, that the Koch brothers and others of their ilk are inherently evil. Obviously. They’re billionaires who are content to destroy the world for their own profit. But Jane Mayer pushes it even further, peeling back layer after layer of corruption, including their inspirations pulled from extremist groups like the Russian oligarchy, the Taliban, and even, yes, the Nazis.
The writing itself is quite dry. Due to the sheer amount of information presented, and complexity of the situation, the names of people and organizations, dates, and dollar amounts all seem to run together after a while. But I feel like I have to recognize the impressive extent of investigative journalism on display here.
I have to admit it was hard not to spiral into doomerism while reading this. I can’t overstate how deep these issues go. The history of “dark money” goes back decades, and has tentacles in literally every realm of American existence. Billions and billions of dollars have been funneled into these projects. Overall I think the information I learned will stick with me forever and will continue to be applicable as politics in America continue to crumble.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Islamophobia, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide