Un-Trumping America: A Plan to Make America a Democracy Again

by Dan Pfeiffer

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yes We (Still) Can and cohost of Pod Save America, a sharp political playbook for how Democrats can take on Trump, McConnell, Fox News, and the rest of the right-wing circus dominating American politics.
There is nothing more important than beating Donald Trump in 2020, but defeating Trump is just the start of this timely book. Un-Trumping America offers readers three critical insights: first, Trump is not an aberration, but rather the logical extension of the modern Republican Party; second, how Democrats can defeat Trump in 2020; and third, preventing the likes of Trump from ever happening again with a plan to fix democracy.

While the catalog of the president's crimes is long and growing, undoing Trumpism -- the political platform of racism, authoritarianism, and plutocracy that gave rise to Trump and defines the Republican Party -- is a long and continuing fight. Through a craven, cynical strategy engineered by Mitch McConnell, funded by the Kochs, and fueled by Fox News propaganda, Republicans have rigged American politics to drown out the voices of the people in favor of the powerful. Without an aggressive response that recognizes who the Republicans are and what they have done, American democracy as we know it won't survive this moment and a conservative, shrinking, mostly white minority will govern the country for decades.

Un-Trumping America dismantles toxic Trumpism and offers a way forward. Dan Pfeiffer worked for nearly twenty years at the center of Democratic politics, from the campaign trail to Capitol Hill to Barack Obama's White House. But it was Trump's victory and Republicans' incessant aiding and abetting of Trumpism that has radicalized his thinking. Here, Pfeiffer urges Democrats to embrace bold solutions -- from fixing the courts to abolishing the electoral college to eliminating the filibuster -- in order to make America more democratic (and Democratic).

Un-Trumping America is a powerful call for Democrats and progressives to get smarter, tougher, and more aggressive without becoming a paler shade of orange.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Current Affairs, American, Unfinished

273 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2020

Reviews

[CoachJim · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, many people wondered how that happened. This book explains the steps that must be taken to prevent it from happening again. The book was published before the 2020 election; a democratic candidate had not yet been chosen, and it was also before the COVID Pandemic. However, we find ourselves again faced with an election with Trump as the Republican candidate.

The book discusses the chaos resulting from the 2016 election that proved the American political system is broken. Trump is not an aberration. He is the product of the current Republican party. HIs election and presidency showed that we are governed by antidemocratic institutions and that the majority of Americans are being governed by a small conservative white minority.

The Republican Party has become a party that finds truths and facts do not matter. That there is no shame in having a leader who is a racist clown. It has become dominated by a generation of mini-Trumps. Membership in the Republican Party requires politicians to support his racism, ignore his incompetence, and tolerate his corruption.

The dangers of another Trump presidency, and this would include any future candidate with trumpian tendencies, is that it provides a detailed map of the loopholes of which he took advantage. In addition to the many laws he ignored, he also ignored common norms all previous presidents had followed.

Hoping that Trump would fall under the weight of his own corruption and incompetence didn’t happen. Two impeachment trials and numerous outrages have proven that his party will not disavow him. Following Nixon’s shenanigans during his reelection in 1972 several Republicans Senators and members of Congress went to the White House to convince Nixon he must resign. After Trump’s misconduct following the 2020 election Republicans in Congress obeyed his orders to try and overthrow the government. This is not a party that puts the good of the country before the good of their party.

After explaining how the election of Trump happened, the author turns to suggestions for preventing its reoccurrence. There are several policy changes a future democratic president should propose, these, however, would only address the corruption that Trump employed.

He does address the need to remove the financial distortion that hinders a democratic election, and the need to increase voter participation. There is a money problem in our elections which was exacerbated by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. That decision prohibits the government from restricting contributions to political campaigns by corporations and Political Action Committees. That has put our democracy up for sale. As the Republican Party is the party of businessmen and billionaires that gives them a distinct advantage. The author recommends a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. “A 2018 survey by the University of Maryland found that three-quarters of voters and two-thirds of Republicans supported such an amendment.” (Page 195)

He also recommends expanding the vote. Here the question is raised “why is the Republican Party trying to stop everyone from voting?” “They are the party of billionaires, corporations, and Wall Street banks. Republicans know their agenda of giving tax breaks to the rich and paying for it by cutting health care, Medicare, and education is not popular. They know that if you are allowed to vote, they will lose power.” (Pages 158-159)

The message the author is trying to deliver is somewhat difficult to distill given his partisan ranting about all things republican. He served in the Obama White House and so had a front row seat to the racism Obama encountered from the republican party. But a few of his suggestions are important.

In the short run the first thing that must be done is defeat Donald Trump, and as many Republicans as possible in the 2024 election. This will perhaps teach the Republican Party that adopting a racist agenda will not be successful. The Democrats have nominated Kamala Harris as their candidate to run against Donald Trump. She is a strong, intelligent, capable woman. If she loses this election because people do not vote then there is nothing left to say or do.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review turned out to be already dated a few weeks after writing it, since Bernie will not be the nominee and now we're in the middle of a pandemic. I still don't feel terribly optimistic about most of Dan's ideas becoming reality, but hey, life comes at you fast, apparently!
---
3.5 stars. I'm rounding up because I think Dan Pfeiffer is great and I love most of the ideas in this book. But did I feel hopeful about those ideas after reading this book? No, I felt pessimistic and like we're definitely totally fucked. In the words of one of his Pod Save America co-hosts, "It's not great, Dan." Maybe it doesn't help that I'm currently in a spiral over worrying that Bernie Sanders is about to become the nominee and lose big, bringing down House Democrats down-ballot, or at best win and be a crappy president, hurting Democrats' future chances (sorry, Bernie fans, I truly hope I'm wrong!). I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, but it's frustrating to watch the party so often snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. So that's where my head's at, and maybe it just wasn't the best time to read the book. It is a good book, and these are great ideas, but I'm too exhausted to get excited about them right now. But I know I need to get my shit together add, as President Obama advised Dan and other staff, "get caught trying." So I do recommend this, but I'd advise reading it when you're ready to be optimistic about the long term fight we're up against.

I listened to the audio, which I might recommend for hardcore PSA fans, who are used to hearing Dan talk to them every week. But his narration was not great here. I didn't mind it too much, being familiar with his voice, but he sounded uncomfortable and didn't always enunciate well. The only part of the book where he did sound passionate and authentic was his bonus rant about Paul Ryan at the end. If you're not a big PSA fan, I would not recommend the audio for this book.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Dan Pfieffer and he has some fantastic analysis, but if you listen to Pod Save America, you'll have heard a lot of this already. He discussed a few times while writing this book how he struggled with the blank page; I feel like that lead to him trodding down his own well-worn paths. I haven't read his first book, so I would like to try that.

I think I was hoping for something a bit more like Ezra Klein's book, which was firmly situated in a lot of historical political context. Pfeiffer only lightly skims over that at the beginning.

I also had the audiobook, which contributed to my overall impression that this is mediocre. The book is clearly told in fairly short chunks within each chapter; the brief discussion of every subject he brings up felt conspicuous as a result. Pfeiffer also clearly felt awkward reading his own book - no shame at all in that, I would be too. But it does come through and narrators are of course very important to the format. He regularly spoke with odd intonation, sounding like there was more to the sentence when he was moving on to the next one. It was a bit grating.

But for my money, nothing beats his 13 minute rant about Paul Fucking Ryan at the end of the book. If you take nothing else from it, bask in the glory of the bonus chapter.

[Coni · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Democrats and Republicans are not opposite sides of the same coin. The great asymmetry in American politics is that Democrats view political power as a means to an end, and Republicans view political power as an end in and of itself. In other words, Democrats want to do the right thing and Republicans want to win."

I have never read a political book before. I never thought I would, but I have become more political since 2016. I started listening to Pod Save America podcast. I never got around to getting Dan Pfeiffer's first book, but have heard good things. One night, after listening to the podcast while riding the bus home a bit tipsy after happy hour, I heard Dan say that anyone that pre-ordered it would also be giving money to Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight voting rights effort. I'm glad that buzzed me made that decision and it showed up on my doorstep last month.

There is a lot here that Dan has talked about on the podcast, but there were still some ideas that I hadn't heard before or needed to read more about. The beginning of the book is quite depressing when it talks about the shift in Republicans doing whatever they can to keep the power they have and often choosing party over the country. The rest of the book is more hopeful. Dan has ideas. He has a lot of ideas. Some of it is what those running for office need to do. Some of it is what everyday people can do. He ends each of his chapters (after the first part) with action plans of what all of us can do.

This book is also very funny. Most of it is in the footnotes, which I found to be very amusing. They might seem annoying to some, but I liked them. The end of the book has some bonus content, which is pretty much a chapter-long rant about Paul Ryan. Dan isn't a fan. He makes his case why. It's very entertaining.

[Person · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads should not allow book ratings before a book is published, these numbers are carried over to Book Depository etc.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the book, drink some water, and get to work.

[Amber Nosek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is illuminating and is the bolt of lightening I need right now three months before the general election. Dan Pfeiffer is hilarious, so smart, and incredibly insightful in this. This book answered so many puzzling questions I had on my mind like, what’s up with the Democratic Party? Is the Republican Party really what it seems like from the outside? What is an actionable plan to get democracy on track? Like actually what is it going to take? Who are the players and where do I fit in? Awesome clarity, and the right balance between hope and grave seriousness that this moment needs. Great book and highly recommend for a plan, an education and a laugh! Keeping this on my desk for the next year like a textbook to
help with my to-do list. Lots of recommendations of organizations to engage in and I found myself hopping back and forth from the book to
Google/Instagram/Twitter to engage in real time.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very good and Dan Pfeiffer is a smart man. I thought it was a bit dense at times and I feel like I've heard him say the exact same things on Pod Save America many times, but it was still an engaging and interesting read. Also, as with the first book, it's the footnotes that make the book. They're hilarious and always my favorite part, because they're primarily Dan's wry/witty commentary, and that's always great. I hope that whoever ends up winning the primary takes some of Dan's suggestions to heart; there's a lot of good ones in here.

[Jessica Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a faithful Crooked Media follower, I may be biased, but I absolutely love Dan and this book. I’ve read other political books with similar messages, but this one was everything I’d been looking for. It clearly lays out the problems with our government and gives concrete examples of how to improve the system and how to get involved as individuals. On top of that, Dan’s personal stories and humor kept me very entertained and hopeful for our country’s future throughout the book. Highly recommend!

[◬❍Nastja❍◬ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore the Pod Save America crew.
There are a lot of important facts and lessons in this book.
There's also hope, which is a tad hard to come by nowadays.
During these less than ideal times, people of integrity and character help keep me sane.
Everyone, please, vote.

[Patrice Levinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by one of the smartest, most thoughtful political thinkers out there details the history, the problem and detailed strategies for making America work for American families. It’s great, Dan!

[Susanna Sturgis · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a follower of several Crooked Media podcasts, including Pod Save America, I expected to like Dan Pfeiffer's book. I didn't expect to love it. But I do. Pfeiffer combines his years of on-the-ground political experience with a well-informed and mostly unflinching look at what the last several decades have wrought in U.S. politics. The result is surprisingly hopeful -- and often laugh-out-loud funny. (Seriously. Don't have your mouth full when you flip to the endnotes.)

I was won over by my first skim through the table of contents. The title of chapter 1 -- "Trump: An Abomination, Not an Aberration" -- was encouraging in itself. I've lost patience with people who believe, or want to believe, that Trump came out of nowhere. And my biggest fear about President Joe Biden (who was maybe my sixth choice in the Democratic presidential primary contest) is that deep down he doesn't realize how depraved the Republican Party has become. It's also worth mentioning that Un-Trumping America was published just before COVID-19 took hold in the U.S. Anyone who still thought at the beginning of 2020 that the Trump administration couldn't get any worse has since learned better.

The following chapter titles looked promising -- then I got to "Bonus Content: A Paul Ryan Rant for the People in the Back." Reader, I never skip to the end of books I've just started, but this time I did, and gods help me, I laughed so hard I was recommending Un-Trumping America on Facebook when all I'd read was the intro and the rant at the back. Needless to say, Ryan's performance as Speaker of the House was anything but funny, but (1) it's satisfying to see it skewered so brilliantly, and (2) it reminds me to bless once again all the activists, candidates, and voters who made Blue Wave 2018 happen. If you think we're in trouble now, spare a thought for where we'd be if the GOP still controlled the House.

Btw, for decades I was one of those people who frequently repeated the cliché "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal." What shut my mouth was the ever-more-blatant GOP attempts to make it illegal or at least extremely difficult to vote. If you're in the U.S., get registered if you aren't already, do what you can to support the candidate(s) of your choice, and vote, goddammit.

After Part One's crash course in how we got here, Pfeiffer devotes Part Two to "How to Un-Trump America," with a focus on the utterly drop-dead crucial elections of 2020, and then Part Three to the longer haul, "How to Make America a Democracy Again." Part One won't be news to anyone familiar with Jane Mayer's Dark Money (which I keep by my bed as a reference guide to who's pulling the GOP's strings) and other books that have examined the nefarious, often clandestine influence of mega-big money on U.S. politics. I'm glad Pfeiffer kept it fairly short, however, because dwelling too long on how the billionaires and plutocrats have warped the whole country tends to breed hopelessness, and that is one thing we can't afford.

In Part Two, Pfeiffer takes a hard look at the Democratic Party. "A proud Democrat" for very good reasons, not least that "Democrats are the ones who saved the country during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Great Recession," he's also "willing to look at ourselves in the mirror." How to reconcile Barack Obama's spectacular electoral success with the fact that "the Democratic Party collapsed during Obama's presidency"? I think his analysis boils down to our relying too much on the charismatic head of the ticket and not enough on the kind of grassroots organizing that could sustain the party at all levels.

I also believe that 2016 woke a lot of us up: in the matter of local organizing, the GOP had been running circles around the Democratic Party for decades, and plenty of people reliably voted Democratic (like there was a choice?) but kept our distance from the party and even found it somewhat distasteful. This would include me: I didn't register as a Democrat until January 2017, after volunteering for several local Dem candidates and Hillary Clinton in 2016, and am now heavily involved in local Democratic groups.

As Pfeiffer notes, the Democratic Party is "a broad, diverse coalition that agrees on little more than Trump's general terribleness." IMO coalitions, especially diverse coalitions, are by definition messy, so let's stop expecting the Dems to fall into lockstep line the way the Republicans do. I hope we can agree with Pfeiffer that "fixing democracy needs to become the primary purpose of the Democratic Party," because otherwise "there will be no Medicare for All, no Medicare for some, no Green New Deal, no $15 minimum wage, and no new gun safety laws." This involves not only electing public officials who pledge reform but holding them to their promises once they're in office.

From how to make the Democratic Party more responsive, more inclusive, and less wedded to the presidential election cycle, Pfeiffer moves on to the serious structural changes needed to "make America a democracy again. He critiques and recommends changes to everything that enables the ability, even inevitability, of a minority party to ride roughshod over the whole country. The basics: Expand voting rights. Take down-ballot races (e.g., state legislatures and local offices) seriously. Fix the U.S. Senate (which includes getting rid of the filibuster and statehood for D.C.). Get rid of the Electoral College (not easy, but while we're working on it, support the National Popular Vote interstate compact, in which 15 states and D.C. have already pledged to award their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote).

Get rid of the Citizens United decision and curb the power of big money in general. Persuade "our" millionaires and billionaires to invest in the party instead of just particular causes (because, e.g., "raising public awareness about climate change does little good when our politics are too rigged to do anything to save the planet"). Reform the Supreme Court.

Dan Pfeiffer lays out strong cases for all of the above, but he never pretends it will be easy or quick. He also notes: "This book contains a number of ideas that will make some folks in Washington queasy. Many of them are ideas I would have rejected out of hand before Trump knocked the blinders off my eyes." He's very clear that without a citizenry that stays engaged after the election is over, none of it will happen.

If I were still the armchair politico I was before 2016, I'd probably think it was all wishful thinking. But having done what I've done and seen what I've seen since then, well, I think we can pull it off. It probably helps that I've been reading about the U.S. suffrage movement and the fight for the right to vote more generally. Those activists were in it for the long haul. Many of them knew, or at least suspected, that they might not be around for the victory, and they weren't. But they kept fighting anyway.

Pfeiffer's seen a lot more of the country than I have and he's hopeful. What I see around me is frustrating as hell in some ways, but all in all I'm hopeful too. Sometimes it's mostly because the alternative is unacceptable, but other times I know I'm part of a big wave moving into the future, moving in the right direction.

Now I'm going to reward myself for finishing this review by rereading (not for the second, third, or even fourth time) "A Paul Ryan Rant for the People in the Back."

[Marlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good! I didn’t like it as much as Yes We Still Can and it took me a little longer to get through, but overall I enjoyed it. I’m always a huge Dan Pfeiffer fan.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, that was an excellent read. I like Pfeiffer's writing style and humour. Footnotes ftw.

It's a fairytale tho. Trump will be re-elected and even if not, #untrumpingAmerica is not gonna come true. Yeah, I know, I'm a cynic Debbia Downer. Sue me.

[Sandy from Alaska Colón · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I think everyone who wants to get rid of Trump needs to read this book.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a "friend of the Pod", Pod Save America, and I read and enjoyed Dan's first book, so I figured I'd give this one a try. Even though it was published in February, it doesn't hold up quite as well as his prior work, but that isn't Dan's fault. The pandemic came and blew everything up and there was no way he could have anticipated how that was going to change the race for the White House.

With those unfortunate shortcomings aside, I think a lot of Dan's prescriptions for "un-trumping" America are sound. Although, even he admits that some of them will be easier than others and some of them will be downright impossible.

If Democratic leadership gets nothing from this book understand these things:
1. Republicans are not going to act in good faith. Ever. If you assume they will, that's on you.
2. Get rid of the filibuster. It's undemocratic and even if the Democrats take the White House, the Senate, and hold on to the House, without getting rid of the filibuster, they are guaranteed to accomplish nothing.
3. Defend the things you believe in. The Republicans are going to paint you as a commie socialist pinko Che Guevra no matter what you do. You may as well do your best, try and help people and let the chips fall where they may. Let the Republicans argue that poor people don't deserve insurance or livable wages. They have the tough argument, not you.

A solid book, unfortunately hobbled by it's timing but the pandemic ruined everything else this year. Why should Dan's book be an exception?

[britt_brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catchy title, but this political and social commentary by former Obama staffer, and Pod Save America cohost, Dan Pfeiffer, is about much more than the shit show that is Trump’s America. It’s a roadmap to possibly fixing our very broken two-party system and massively flawed voting process. A very timely and provocative read! I’ve never listened to his podcast, but I should start!

[Kayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read while I feel guilty for not keeping up with my Outlander book club. I’m sorry, mom, but the library was going to take this away from me and I couldn’t renew 😂

Basically like reading a Pod Save America episode, Dan’s book was a (well, cant really say enjoyable, can we?) good book on how Trump is not the exception, but the result of years of the GOP selling its soul for corporate tax cuts, guns, and power. Not exactly groundbreaking, but an important reminder that removing Trump (god willing) in November 2020 is only the beginning of the problems we need to solve.

A bit funny to read this in light of a global pandemic (even though it was only published in February 2020!), since even small claims and assumptions have already been challenged in the past few weeks (or months? March 2020 has felt like its own year).

Also this book confirms my belief that working in the Obama White House was basically like a West Wing episode come to life. The anecdotes prove it. Does that mean we’re currently in a shitty spin off of house of cards? Probably not, Frank Underwood was a million times smarter than Trump.

One last thing - just as I was getting into the groove of Dan’s footnotes, the numbering in kindle became inaccurate. Repeated numbers, and it was driving me crazy. Wonder if the print books have it too.

Open to any other political non fiction reads. I did keep thinking about the Fifth Risk throughout this rest. I wonder what Michael Lewis would have to say about the pandemic...

[Anya Vindla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering perspective on how tough 2020 will be, and provides a roadmap to whoever the Democratic nominee is on how to create a broad coalition. I'm ready for Dan to start his imaginary superPAC...yesterday! It's nice to see Dan's PSA thoughts communicated so clearly, and I appreciated how he provided suggestions on how to help/contribute at the end of each chapter. I was already mostly convinced, but now I firmly believe that in order to create substantive change in this country, the Senate must be reformed, starting with abolishing the filibuster. Also, bonus points for the rant on Paul Ryan chapter at the end - seeing in writing makes it even more satisfying than hearing Dan rant about it on the air.

[Megan Ley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy Pod Save America, you'll probably like the book. Dan goes over the structural issues that led to Trump and what needs to be done to fix it. A lot of it wasn't new information, but it was pulled together with studies (and PSA humor) to create a full picture. It has a strong left bias, so it's not for everyone. I'm giving it four stars because I feel like I've heard a lot of the info on the podcast already. I found it cathartic, but I'm not really sure who I would recommend this book to.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just want to use this space to beg--nay! Supplicate--to anyone who will listen, to please, please, PLEASE vote for Joe Biden for president on November 3rd, 2020. Not green party. Not Justin F@%^&* Amash. Joe Biden, the democratic nominee for president. Even if you don't like him (I happen to really like him, but it's okay if you don't). Vote for him because you'll be voting for Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Voting for Biden is the only way we can truly begin to Un-Trump America.

Oh, and listen to Pod Save America . Those dudes rock.

[Seán Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Thanks in part to Trump's plan, many huge multinational corporations pay ZERO dollars in federal taxes. Americans pay more for their Amazon Prime subscription than Amazon pays in federal taxes. If you think that is right, vote for Trump. If you think corporations should pay their fair share, vote for a Democrat." -Dan Pfeiffer

Dan takes things that seem so complex, and makes it simple to understand. That's why he is so good at what he does.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even when I was reading this book, I was trying to figure out how I would organize my review and what I would say. What I decided to do was just write everything in my head about this book and then organize it based on what I wrote. With that said, everything below this paragraph is the final version of what I wrote.

Two Main Thoughts
My first main thought about this book was "Somebody's lying, but I do not know who." While the author is just one representative of a group of individuals called the Democrat Party, he is saying things that I think some Democrats believe in, but the thing is I have heard the same lines from some Republicans. I have heard sentiments like this from some Republicans about Democrats "If Democrats keep doing the right thing and losing and Republicans do all the wrong things and win, why not emulate them? (Pfeiffer, 24). On pages 49-52, the author mentioned Republicans gerrymander to get what they want, yet I have heard the exact same thing from certain Republicans about Democrats. I have also heard some Republicans say Democrats have been "...rigging the game to hold on to political power," (Pfeiffer, 59) while they been trying to create good policies and other similar sentiments about amassing power. There was a specific phrase that the author used on page 121, which was "outrage is the language of the Right" as seen in this sentence: "And it also turns out that outrage is the language of the Right" (Pfeiffer, 121). I have heard the same phrase said by at least one Conservative/Republican, but they said "outrage is the language of the Left." While I think there are more examples, this is what I was able to find by scanning the book and not reading it over again.

My second main thought is "What's with the language?" There were a number of f-words and other curse words. I was surprised to see those words. The use of such negative language does not seem to support the optimism that the author says is part of the Democrat party (Pfeiffer, 12-26). I will also say the use of language did color my view about this book.

Words and History Matter
Overall, you can say I am a literal person, meaning I like to take words at their face value for there is less confusion and ambiguity that way. I use certain words based on their definitions or I try to do that. Sometime even I use shorthand or try to stuff more meaning into a word than necessary, but I feel like when dealing with polarizing and tension-causing topics being literal and direct is good. This means I had problems with the the title and the subsequent mentions in this book to democracy. The United States was never a democracy. It is a Democractic Republic, which means it has characteristics of both a republic and a democracy. I also thought it was problematic that the author did not give a full history on why certain institutions were created by the Founding Fathers, such as the Electoral College.

There was some sentences that I felt were for dramatic impact than factual basis. For example, "If Roe [vs. Wade] is overturned, women will lose their lives because they don't have access to safe medical procedures" (Pfeiffer, 209). My understanding of Roe vs. Wade is about legalization of abortion, which is a specific procedure. Yet by saying safe medical procedures, it sounds like the author is talking about every medical procedure that a woman could get would be in jeopardy. Maybe I am reading this wrong, but that is what I got from that. Another sentence that I also questioned is this one in reference to gun manufacturers being immune from legal liability: "The victims of gun violence would have no legal recourse to seek damages from the companies that profited off tragedy" (Pfeiffer, 224). Maybe I am misunderstanding, but gun manufacturers are making guns that can be used in various purposes and not just in moments of violence. This means that a gun manufacturer is only making guns to be used in moments of violence, where someone is using it to harm/maim/kill another person. There were other similar sentences, but they are not easy to spot, unless you are reading the book line-by-line.

Cite, Cite, Cite
My thoughts about which party's individuals are lying about the other party's individuals and these possible less than factual sentences could have been remedied if there was a bibliography and/or sources. Yes, there were footnotes, but these were what I am going to call commentary footnotes or maybe even bonus content footnotes. I could not look up a piece of proof or evidence about the good things that Obama, his administration, and the Democrat Party had done and what the bad things that Trump, his administration, and the Republican Party has done. Without those sources, I cannot verify for myself about what the author mentioned. Yes, there was attempt to cite on page 48, but the title of the article was not given it was just a 2016 article written by Aaron Blake from the Washington Post, but that is not a complete citation. As I said in a previous review, I believe the MLA rules say that if something shows up in three or more sources then you do not have to site, but I feel when you are dealing with a polarizing topic and person there needs to be sources, especially if a person is reading this book to gain some perspective.

Perspective.
Speaking of perspective, this book is very much written for Democrats by a Democrat. This book is not talking to you like you could be from a different side of the political spectrum. For someone who is trying to say that the Democrat Party is tolerant, inclusive, kind, loving, and a bunch of other positive words, the author paints Republicans in a really negative light. With any political party, it is made up of individuals and yes some of those individuals may behave/say/act in terrible ways, but I think it is wrong to say implicitly that every individual is bad by saying "Republican Party" or just a blanket "Republicans." This book also made it seem that Republicans only attract white people as voters and possibly government candidates "Every year, the American electorate is getting more diverse, which means that Republicans need to get more and more votes from a dwindling white base" (Pfeiffer, 43). That is not true. Currently, Anna Paulina Luna is running for Congress as a Republican and she is a Hispanic-American. Then there is Kimberly Klacik who is running for the House as a Republican and she is African-American.

Conclusion
I will say that I think the author cares about America and wants our country to succeed, but I think that sometimes that gets lost among the language and the sentences that only focus on Democrats. When someone is in a political office, I feel you have responsibility to also care for the people that did not vote for you, because the people who voted for you are not the only people living in the country. While this is the only sentence I could find, there are other sentences that make it sound like the author only cares about making sure America works for people that has similar views as him "But pushing for these reforms is ultimately good politics for Democrats" (Pfeiffer, 255). Overall, this was an okay read, but I felt like a bibliography and removal of language would have cleared up a lot of my issues with this book.

[Dr. Tobias Christian Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trotz allem, was Donald Trump während seiner Zeit im Weißen Haus getan hat, ist er nicht die größte Bedrohung für die amerikanische Demokratie. Dan Pfeiffer glaubt, dass die republikanische Partei als Ganzes - die jetzt gründlich von „Trumpismus“ durchdrungen ist - eine viel größere und längerfristigere Bedrohung darstellt. Die Demokratische Partei muss auf diese Bedrohung mit frischer Energie und ehrgeizigen, visionären Plänen reagieren (Blinkist, 2020).

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. Spends a lot of time on background I was already familiar with about GOP historical trends. Sections on structural reform proposals were shorter and less built out, and familiar to anyone who spends a lot of time on the Internet. Style wise I get that it is intended to be more accessible, but I think I was looking for something more in the vein of an Atlantic article than something that reads like a written edition of the Pod Saves America podcast. All that said, agree wholeheartedly with the overall premise.

[Marco G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is so appropriate I finished this book today, the day biden won the election.

[Leandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a good book to read in the run-up to 2020 - Great in-depth analysis of how the US political system and the recent history of the Republican Party lead to Trump's election, how Republican continue to rig the system to keep the majority of voting power in the hands of their rapidly decreasing base of older white Americans, and what the Democrats need to do to regain and keep political power in the face of all of this.

Pfeiffer doesn't sugarcoat the reality of our current political system and his advice to stick to a strong platform of progressive political reform (court reform, the abolishment of the electoral college, and adding new states to the union to name a few) both in the 2020 presidential campaign and in democratic governing left me even more uneasy with the current state of the primary. This book isn't going to make you feel better but it should motivate you to do something about it.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Succinct reflections on the past few years of American politics (pre-election/coup). A good additional perspective on things from an insider.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Dan Pfeiffer and I though he had some excellent ideas here. But it just was an okay book. Maybe I feel this way because of the current state of affairs.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between buying this book and reading it, a lot has changed! But I still like Dan's candor and perseverance even when it seems there is no way to make things right again. I kept having dreams about Obama while reading this. They were so comforting, lol.