A tumultuous transition: Behind the scenes of a nation in crisis
This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy:
By Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns
Grade: 94
“A politician's primary job is to stay elected.”
Those are words I say often, usually to folks who challenge me about this or that decision a local or national politician makes. This answer is never satisfactory, but it’s a fact of life that non-politicians find hard to fathom. Thought of differently, I say, politicians don’t get elected and go through the hell that they do to stay in office to throw it all away by making a decision so unpopular that they risk losing the support of their base.
Maybe Lindsey Graham says it best, when quoted in This Will Not Pass:
"If you want to be relevant, you’ve got to be on the team."
The senior Republican senator from South Carolina was answering the question of why he remains loyal to former Pres. Trump, a man he once referred to as a “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” The message we should all take from his newfound allegiance is that by staying loyal to Trump the senator prioritizes political influence and relevance over any untoward feelings any outsiders might have of him.
This opinion also helps grease the skids for future elections, as the latest Winthrop Poll shows his home state trending 52% to the former president in the upcoming presidential race.
A excellent book for political junkies
This Will Not Pass, by journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, is chock full of interesting political nuggets. The lengthy, deeply reported work gives an account of the transition from Donald Trump’s presidency to Joe Biden’s, capturing the chaos, fissures, and competing ambitions that defined one of the scariest periods i`n American politics.
What I enjoyed most
The book’s narrative is awe-inspiring, drawing from vast sourcing, which allows the authors to create an at-times harrowing account of the events that were happening at a break-neck pace. I was blown away at the depth and richness of the details in the book, a product of numerous confidential conversations, private meetings, and firsthand accounts. Having read more than two dozen books on the Trump White House, this is the only one I could not put down.
Two moments in particular stand out for their stark depiction of political tension:
One was their description of the Oval Office confrontation between Trump and Vice President Mike Pence over certifying the election results. As the former president pressured his underling to overturn the election results, Pence reportedly told Trump, “I've done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. It's simply not possible."
The other involves Pres. Biden’s struggle to unify his party around his expansive legislative agenda as many Democratic leaders, including then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Bernie Sanders, faulted the president for not being ambitious enough.
What I’m always amazed by
When I tell political friends that I’m obsessed with reading books covering the Trump administration, the refrain I hear is always the same:
“You know, you can’t trust those books. They always make up his words.”
Not when he agrees to give the authors an interview, I say, which occurs in nearly every instance. The authors were able to secure an interview with the former president after he’d left office. Not surprisingly, he continued to cast himself as the victim of a stolen election and of non-stop witch hunts by his political enemies. After publication, he, of course, dismissed the book as “fake news” while accusing the journalists of taking his words out of context. However, the former president did not disavow the quotes attributed to him.
Why you should read the book
I’m tempted to say that you should read This Will Not Pass to glean the myriad details the authors uncovered during their voluminous reporting. Instead I’ll say that you should read the book because it’s as entertaining as it is enlightening. I was as impressed to learn of what was going on inside the Biden White House as I was to read of how former Pres. Trump went from dejected to back in the mix, thanks in large part to several gross miscalculations by members of his party—most of whom privately wanted him to go away.