Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump: An Intervention

by David Shields

Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump: An Intervention is perhaps the only genuinely original thing you have read yet about Donald Trump. It can be read in a variety of ways: as a psychological investigation of Trump, as a philosophical meditation on the relationship between language and power, as a satirical compilation of the "collected wit and wisdom of Donald Trump," and above all as a dagger into the rhetoric of American political discourse--a dissection of the politesse that gave rise to and sustains Trump. The book's central thesis is that we have met the enemy and he is us. Who else but David Shields would make such an argument, let alone pull it off with such intelligence, brio, and wit, not to mention leaked off-air transcripts from Fox News?

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Biography

268 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2018

About the author

David Shields is the author of fourteen books, including Reality Hunger (Knopf, 2010), which was named one of the best books of 2010 by more than thirty publications. GQ called it "the most provocative, brain-rewiring book of 2010"; the New York Times called it "a mind-bending manifesto." His previous book, The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Knopf, 2008), was a New York Times bestseller. His other books include Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity, winner of the PEN/Revson Award; and Dead Languages: A Novel, winner of the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. His essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Yale Review, Believer, Village Voice, Salon, Slate, McSweeney's, and Utne Reader; he's written reviews for the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Inquirer. His work has been translated into fifteen languages.

Reviews

[Kent Winward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of the words spilled on Trump miss the literary nuance and Shields draws out a portrait much like a literary pointillist, no one point being sufficient to explain the uniquely human phenomenon of the United States electorate and their President, but when gathered together, it sort of looks like something, not sure exactly what, but something. The blurred vision though feels the most authentically human response to Trump I've read.

This is something different than the work of Michael Lewis and David Cay Johnston which focus on the operations of government under Trump. It is also not a journalistic take on the President or an attempt at autobiography or political analysis. Shields is doing the hard work for us of examining our own prejudices and pleasures through Trump. This is more of an intervention for all of us to look at those most human drives within ourselves.

[Dewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a David Shields fan, I downloaded Does Anybody Hate Trump More than Trump?: An Intervention as soon as it was released. Shields here is as truculent as a post-mod H.L. Menken. He investigates the malaise that Trump’s popularity represents and asks what is Trump’s “essential wound,” which we somehow share. This leads to familiar lit crit about enjoying villainy while condemning it. Applying the method he promoted in Reality Hunger, Shields creates an ironic tapestry of Trump’s words woven in with other quotes and observations from far-ranging others, such as backstage comments from Fox News moderators, passages from Nietzsche, A.C. Bradley on Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, and personal anecdotes that are at least food for thought and at most revealing. Of course, even on rereading, some quoted fragments seem portentous, and Shields’s connections can seem overly oblique. Others, however, are intriguing. Early on he ponders Trump’s interview about his favorite movie, Citizen Kane, and Shields comments: “(He’s kinda getting it; he’s getting it; he’s really getting it; forget it, he doesn’t get it.)” He considers young Trump’s attachment to his mother and his infantile craving to be cared for; the fact that as a boy, Trump was bullied in Queens by working-class boys; the psychological likelihood of being called a sissy in military school, etc. etc. Addressing the shallowness/complicity in media criticisms of Trump, Shields nails Rachel Madow: “She’s a gifted mugger for the camera, snark artist, synthesizer, but she’s not a journalist. She plays one on TV.” He warns of “the piety of liberalism” and our “culture of shame” as factors contributing to the creation of “their monstrous opposite.” He’s first-rate on Trump et. al. as “obviously post-postmodernism incarnate…it is as if they’ve taken all the post-1968 French deconstruction…and, or, ‘weaponized’ it with political thought.” His “intervention” shares the purgative impetus of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, tragicomic, satirical, and as fed up with epic presumptions as the philosophical Thersites snarling “Fry, lechery, fry.” Trump is “nothing more or less than the logical extension of [our own] venality.” To ask how Trump got this way is to look within.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few reviewers seem to think the style of these essays is unfocused or rambling, but I found this style to be more like brushstrokes, using soundbytes from media, many of them not directly Trump-related, actually, to paint a fascinating and sobering portrait of us: our culture, our base ape instincts, our ennui, the ways self-hatred and fear manifest. And the greatest self-immolator of them all, at least in our present, is Trump. There were a lot of details in here that deserved my cringing--it's like a damn reflex, now--not only over the obvious centerpiece, but the petty, pathetic, and unevolved in all of us, even myself.

If you want just the facts, this won't be your type of book, but what are facts, anyway? What is real? What do you do with your subjective and admittedly limited perception?

In the absence of easy answers, how vital are your questions?

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno, es un ensayo con sucesos, anécdotas y declaraciones en torno a Trump que el autor ha ido recopilando y sobre las que va escribiendo. Da una muy buena idea de lo enloquecida que es la sociedad que acabó votando a Trump, su entorno y él mismo.

Soy mucho menos fan del psicoanálisis de andar por casa y de, como siempre, echarle la culpa a la madre por estar poco presente o tener poca personalidad o no plantarle cara al cabrón del padre de Trump (tengo un par de charlas al respecto), pero mira, es un ensayo y no pretende ser más.

Ameno si bien un poco deprimente, pero útil para entender un poco mejor esta época estrambótica en la que vivimos.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Trump-focused book I have bought since his election to the presidency. I read a page or two in a bookstore and liked the author's voice and thought it might be a good place to start.

The book reads a bit like the President's Twitter feed: disjointed, always jumping from half-formed thought to half-formed thought, to someone else's quote apropos of nothing, to a pop culture reference, to a Trump quote from an unspecified point in time (sometimes the 80's, sometimes 2017) — all under the pretense of introducing the reader to the best way the author has come to understand his subject. Understanding Trump is, as the author admits in not so many words, a bit like nailing Jell-o to a wall. He's a shape-shifter: he's whatever the observer needs him to be, utterly uncommitted to anything but his own gain. He is at his core an empty vessel, willing to be whatever people around him need him to be, just so long as he gets his hit of praise.

The author comes off as an intellectual version of a Trump-Avenatti-Salinger hybrid: brash, self-aggrandizing, in love with his view of the world and/or his subject of the moment, coherent or not. For liberals who are sick of losing — sick of the ersatz politesse of the modern Democratic Party's milquetoast representatives and operatives, who are satisfied with holding the moral high ground because it's the only ground they ever hold anymore, and who steadfastly refuse to learn how to kick an unpopular party and its unpopular representatives in their collective soft parts when they are laid bare — it is cathartic, but it is also roughly as shallow as its subject.

In that sense, it is a deeply frustrating book, even as it occasionally sheds some new light on a facet of the President's confounding psychology or hints at a viable coping mechanism or attack strategy. But insofar as the book is intended to help the reader understand Trump, for all its shortcomings, it succeeds in one very notable sense: the utter chaos of the author's writing style and/or thought process is very nearly the same chaos most of us have experienced through 2 years of gaslighting, exasperation, and being blatantly and repeatedly lied to by this President and this administration — at a historic rate and with historic arrogance. In that sense, it validates the reader's sense that this period in the American presidency is not normal, that it is utterly unmoored from norms that have guided this president's predecessors, and that that recklessness is having a deleterious and probably long-lasting effect on the soul of the nation. But as far as I could tell, that is the beginning and end of this book's real contribution to the subject.

If you're already a fan of Shields' style (which I understand is reflected in this book), or in the market for a catharsis-and-chaos cocktail, this may be a worthwhile read for you. I cannot bring myself to recommend it outside of those two qualifiers.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd, scattered, and interesting. Bleak at the end.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tries soooooooo hard, but is very disjointed and all over the place

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Shields always surprises with his books. Sometimes it's his topic, or it could be the book's structure or his point of view, etc. I happen to love that about his work. It opens me up to travel in new literary places I've never even thought to go. This is the first political book of his I've read. I had to read it 3 times to glean all of the interwoven parts at play. He uses uncommon sources to gather information about D. Trump. Some are even from behind the scenes chatter at Fox News. His various and surprising sources are part of what made the reading fun for me, and I wasn't certain I could ever enjoy a book about Trump. Also, Shields takes a peek at Trump as a boy and his relationships with his mother and father through the eyes of those who knew him then. The collection of "evidence" gathered does give what felt to me like a full picture of the man (if there is such a thing). Add to this Shields' own reflections of being bullied as a kid who stutters, and the book is certainly one of a kind.
I'm glad I read it.

[Nikki Basten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, but a little all over the place. While I enjoyed the concept of “fact” matched with “direct quote” (and there were some good ones in here that I didn’t even remember Trump saying), it felt a little bit like a bumpy ride. Nevertheless, it gets you thinking.

[jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

trump is always playing trump—fighting to win, but win what or why? he has no clue and knows he has no clue. and we know he has no clue. and he knows we know he has no clue. and his lostness, his irreducible sadness, is what i find so compelling, almost moving, about him.

following the successful formula he's employed over several recent books, david shields "specialize[s] in culling smart quotes from other people, assembling them, and putting the david shields brand on the larger structure." so it is with his new book, nobody hates trump more than trump (a title sure to attract quizzical glances whilst riding public transportation). drawing from disparate sources, including interviews, media, literary excerpts, and his own personal insights, shields confronts the fragile ego and psyche of the current president, attempting, perhaps, not so much to make sense of what brought our present moment to bear, but instead the measure of a man equally despised and beloved by so many (though certainly not both by any one sane or rational person).

"beneath his bluff exterior, i've always sensed a hurt, incredibly vunerable little boy who just wanted to be loved. what trump craves most deeply is the adulation he has found so fleeting." (tony schwartz, co-author of the art of the deal, as quoted herein)

nobody hates trump more than trump is, at times, a wonderfully illuminating read, reflecting back at ourselves the very worst of our culture. shields, in spite of his ornery, combative, and amoral subject, at times eschews objectivity and devalues and distracts from his otherwise cogent arguments by offering a snide aside (about public figures not even holding office). nonetheless, shields is clearly fascinated by the president and instead of bashing his many obvious faults, does, seemingly in earnest, attempt to detect and discern a signal amidst all of the noise. shields's vignette styling makes his writing accessible and his broad knowledge base draws connections that may have been overlooked by a less critical mind. in all, nobody hates trump more than trump is one of the more palatable books about the president released since his campaign and subsequent election. while it doesn't offer any answers (or ameliorations), per se, what it does do, it does very well: offer ample evidence of the adage "hurt people hurt people."

the most interesting thing about him to me, by far, is his commitment to self-immolation, which is unmissable and unending.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so, am I the stupidest and least aware person about social media in America? Am I the only reader and social observer who had no idea of who David Shields is? (He's described as "an internationally best-selling author of 22 books" on his Amazon page. And he's one of the best-looking bald man I've ever seen. Though maybe that's just a good picture.) Anyway...David Shields was not in my knowledge-pool, but I paid $4.95 today to buy and read the eversion of his book, "Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump: An Intervention".

After reading Shields's book, I am still rather stunned that I was able to survive the barrage of incoming coming at me from Shields's text. Everything from Donald Trump to Fred Trump to Martin Scorsese to Robin Quivers to Donald Trump again to Brian Williams (I couldn't tell if he liked or disliked Brian Williams but he did seem to pop up in the book a lot) to cats to poor people to Martin Amis and back to Donald Trump again. He also touched on a building at the University of Washington where he teaches called "Sieg Hall". (The building's been there for 20 years or so and yet no one has officially commented about the name. I checked the University of Washington website and there it was...Sieg Hall!)

It's clear that David Shields doesn't care for Donald Trump, but his book is sort of an explanation of how and why Trump was elected in 2016 (and might be again in 2020). There are many quotes by Trump and about Trump (sources noted in a "Citations" section at the back of the book) There's just so much other, extraneous "stuff" in the book that I couldn't separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

Who was the "intervention" for?

But here's the thing. I'm not a reader of David Shields but he clearly appeals to readers who aren't me. And if you're one of them, then you're probably used to his...uh...writing style. And I suspect that "Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump" is a pretty good example of it, so if you're already a fan, you'll probably enjoy the book.

[Suzanne Cloud · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Shields' book infuriated me, confused me, and made me laugh. He takes name-dropping to a new level that forces the reader to look up many of the people he is quoting or refering to. No context as to who they are, with an aptly placed appositive, just a name - so if you don't know who the person is, you feel utterly stupid and out of the loop. Believe me, I don't mind having to look up references or words when I read, but when I have to do it almost every page, it's tiring and puts me on edge.

The organization of this book is more a hodgepodge than a gestalt arrangement, and at times, seems thrown together, resembling a cut-and-paste strategy.

I gave it three stars because I hate Trump and love anything that makes him look stupid and vain.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suspect Shields's collage style will have a lasting effect on the way I write and think about writing, although the book as a whole struck me as unhelpful. In seeking to divorce Trump's poststructural tendencies from his politics, Shields has written a book without political stakes. This criticism is rooted in my opinion that the substantive consequences of Trump's policies and rhetoric should be emphasized more so than his role as a media manipulator. Besides this point, the book maintains a mean-spirited and borderline misanthropic tone.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasionally brilliant, occasionally meandering, with observations that are piercing and insightful but also cliched and oversimplified.

[Greg Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book simply because of the title. I was a little afraid that it would devolve into another partisan attack on Trump but that's not really what it is. Like other David Shields books, this book is written in a "collage" style where the author uses quotes from Trump and others to provide a foundation upon which he builds his discussion of Trump.

The author starts by trying to dig below the surface to figure out what makes Donald Trump tick, what motivates him. Even though the author is definitely not a Trump fan, he is actually fascinated by him. His writing often has a sympathetic tone towards Trump.

But then the focus starts to shift to looking at the political culture in the US. How did we get to the place where we would elect a man like Trump to be President? I think this part of the book is pretty insightful. But it will probably make you mad at some point regardless of which side of the political fence you are on. This book is critical of both the liberal and conservative sides in American politics.

Zizek says, "The ongoing rise of populism is grounded for many ordinary people in the experience, 'Don't believe in what the government or public media are telling you.' It's a general mistrust, and I think this is a quite justified mistrust . . . Trump is, as they say, an effect and not a cause."

In other words, the election of someone like Trump to be President was inevitable (if not now with Trump, then later with some other authoritarian leader). The book argues that Trump is simply a reflection of our true cultural values. The book ends with this quote, which I think sums up the argument of the book.

Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

For me, this book made some interesting and thought-provoking points. But I'm a little skeptical of its literary psychoanalysis of Trump based on quotes from Trump and others who have dealt with him. Like Trump, we are all flawed sinful people who are inscrutable at times. So I'm not sure we can really get to the bottom of what makes Trump tick. But ironically, this book made me more sympathetic towards Trump than I've been in the past. I agree with the author that Trump is a fascinating personality even if I also find him infuriating at times. And I also agree that Trump is a product of our culture and values. This book is an intervention of sorts, but the intervention is not with Trump but with America.

[Erin O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having previously read How Literature Saved My Life, I recalled that Shields' writing style is the thought catalog style that relies heavily on juxtaposing quotations and letting the reading put them together into coherent trains of thought. The first time I encountered this, I thought it was a little strange, a little grating. It's grown on me. Now that I'm better versed in "curating" content on blogs and social media, I can appreciate the thought catalog approach to explaining why the author thinks the way the author thinks.

Spoiler alert: Shields thinks Donald John Trump is "lost" and "irreducibly sad." We know, and Shields knows that we know, and he also knows that Trump knows we know. That's the fascination of Trump for Shields: he's a bottomless pit of narcissistic need...and so are all of us. He's the ugly orange mirror to America's ugly orange soul.

You probably won't learn anything new by reading this book, but it won't hurt to read it prior to the November 2020 election so you can remind yourself exactly how much of a soul-sucking morass of utter incompleteness Trump truly is.

I purchased this book with my own funds from Firestorm Books and Coffee (Asheville, NC) and was not obligated in any way to review it.

I wish to read one more book by David Shields and it is Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season. Then I'll probably move on to other authors.

[Joe Conley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reads like a self-congratulatory literary circlejerk.

I don't hate it, and don't necessarily hate David Shields' writing style (basically, a large collections of quotes from different smart people) with a few prose passages of his own, wrapped together into chapters with some vague attempt at combining things into a 'theme' about aspects of the human experience. But I also don't really like it.

Still, Shields manages to tease out a few things about Trump, namely, that he's a deeply broken person with a deeply broken background and that's what he's a delusional, deeply narcissistic asshole. Which. I mean. We all know he's a delusional deeply narcissistic asshole.

Whatever.

[Bagul Bazarova · Rating 3 out of 5]

i listened this book in audio format. to be honest: i mostly listened to it on the way (from home to work & work to home). most of the time, i fell asleep on the bus 😄 that’s the reason i usually don’t prefer audiobooks—because i sleep most of the time. it’s like a lullaby.

and to come to the book itself: the quotes were good, the humor worked sometimes….but what did i actually gain from this book - 🤐 (silence!)
maybe not all books are meant to teach you something…you just read (listen, in my case) and enjoy it.

p.s: someone actually said that “if Trump were president, there would be no problem in America.” Really??? he didn’t solve any problems other that creating chaos.

[Courtney Leblanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars solely because his italic Trump quotes are so important. A little too scattered for me, i had to spend a lot of time looking up names on google, I think this book would be a fantastic read for someone more informed and intelligent than me (not insulting myself.... just that this book treads with the literature “elite”) * note , My fiancé will fly through this and know every name without google.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up hoping it'd have some new insights as to the mind of Trump. Unfortunately, only 10-15% of the book is specific to Trump and none of the references were new to me. What's left is a lot of meandering "thoughts" by the author, none of which I found interesting or enlightening. I'm sure the title alone will result in a lot of recommendations and sales, but personally I'm tired of the recent slate of ADHD / Ritalin-inspired musings that seem to be in vogue. YMMV.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Partly rated for a 5 because of how insightful it is, partly because it was a completely different in terms of format from anything I've ever read. Listening to Marc Maron's interview with the author before I read this helped me understand it a little more than if I hadn't heard the interview - but also, this was so dense with meaning that I think I could read it again.

Trigger warning, it does get a little pretentious. But I am not bothered by this.

[Bryan Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shields' epigrammic, peripatetic style serves the subject matter very well here. Interspersing quotes from the Orange King with observations and anecdotes both personal and shared, Shields creates a fascinating profile of the man who's probably going to be president until he dies or he ends the world around him.

I think in 50 years' time, books like this will provide far more insight on Trump and what he was than any straightforward narrative either in favor of or against the man.

[John Frisbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe the perfect bathroom book for 2019. really just short essays - if that's the right word. thoughts expanded from quotes and readings turned into more thoughts and readings. what I enjoyed was the theme - stated in the title - and explorations of that theme through quotes both real and if not imagined, extrapolated.

[Duncan Swann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining. One the one hand the psychoanalyzing frustrated me, but on the other it is used, ultimately, to point the finger back at society. It never felt like the book was telling me the whole truth, which I suppose is the point. It did feel at times like the author 'got it' but mostly the hatred was very obvious. Liked the style too, quite persuasive.

[Peter Wolfley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this one up to hopefully get some insights into the psyche of possibly one of the strangest people to ever serve as president. The author basically just uses Trump as a vehicle to deal with his own issues and the premise of the title is quickly abandoned in favor of ragging on people from the author’s hit list.

[Marcella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disjointed thoughts, ideas, and quotes made this book somewhat hard to track- where's he going with this idea? Why did he bring in this anecdote or reference? There were times I just wasn't with him, despite being willing to go where he lead.

[Kevin Middaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is collection of quotes and retelling of statements from lots of sources, some interesting and so so. It does present a different opinion of Donald Trump than you usually hear. I give it 3.5 out of 5

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one on a whim. It was very interesting. The author quotes Trump and then breaks down the cultural significance of the ideas. A lot more interesting than I can explain. I may have to go back listen again.

[David Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, scattered series of thoughts about the massive cloud of self-loathing that Trump both embodies and seems to have called up in people.

[Riley Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great bricolage of Trump analysis along with takedowns of high culture bullshit. Everyone will love it.