The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party

by Dana Milbank

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A scalding history of twenty-five years of Republican attempts to hold on to political power by any means necessary, by a hugely popular Washington Post political columnist

"A thorough and scathing account of how the Republican Party fell prey to Trumpism."— The New York Times Book Review

In 1994, more than 300 Republicans under the command of obstructionist and rabble-rouser Congressman Newt Gingrich stood outside the U.S. Capitol to sign the Contract with America and put bipartisanship on notice. Twenty-five years later, on January 6, 2021, a bloodthirsty mob incited by President Trump invaded the Capitol.

Dana Milbank sees a clear line from the Contract with America to the coup attempt. In the quarter century in between, Americans have witnessed the crackup of the party of Lincoln and Reagan, to its current iteration as a haven for white supremacists, political violence, conspiracy theories and authoritarianism.

Following the questionable careers of party heavyweights Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, and Rudy Giuliani, and those of many lesser known lowlights, Milbank recounts the shocking lengths the Republican Party has gone to to maintain its grip on the American people.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Current Affairs, American History, Political Science

416 pages, Hardcover

Published August 9, 2022

About the author

Dana Timothy Milbank is an American political reporter and columnist for The Washington Post.

Reviews

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s fairly good. It attempts to contextualize the current state of Republican politics in light of recent party history. We have heard much of it before. Milbank attempts to connect the dots from Gingrich, Rove, Bush, the Roberts Court, Palin, the Tea Party, Giuliani, & McConnell, to Trump the alt right and Jan 6. In the end, he strives to show that Trump and MAGA, rather than starting the fire, are the products of decades of Republican Party barn burning and are seizing the fire by pouring fuel on the conflagration. There have been a few such histories written recently. This one has the advantage of trying to paint a fairly succinct continuous picture dating back to the early 1990s. The use of this timeframe also served as a limitation, as the roots of this history could be traced back past the Southern Strategy. In the last analysis, the book paints a picture of the state of the Republican Party, which we should understand as part of a larger mosaic.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explains how the destruction of the tolerant America started with Newt Gingrich. His felonious and misleading commentary on everyone from welfare recipients the Clintons ET see it’s just mine boggling. So many Republicans in the past 25 years and more have wasted time and taxpayers money. From the suicide of Vince Foster, The 200 page detailed report a bill Clintons extra marital relationship with Monica Lewinsky all the way to trumps birther complaints and the list goes on and on it waste taxpayers money and time that we could be focusing on things that really matter, but because some white people are so intimidated by those who are educated and not Caucasian they make up lies and distractions so that the people cannot see who is really the better candidate and thanks to mob mentality and those of lower intellect that cannot think for their self the problem persist and it’s all covered in The Destructionist by Dana Milbanks. Let’s hope we don’t need a more updated version of this book in 25 more years. This truly made me sad to read and when I read about the black senators and the disrespect they received walking in to tax funded building wanting to do the work for the people. This is sad in a national embarrassment and if you’re not embarrassed then you’re part of the problem. I highly recommend this book and it should be mandatory reading for college students. I was given this book by net galley and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author traces the start of the Republicans campaign of lies, threats and fear-mongering to Newt Gingrich. Whoever started it, the strategy has been amazingly successful. This book recounts lie after lie, all disproved but still foundational arguments of the Republicans. The author concludes on a hopeful note. While he acknowledges that all of the things that need fixing can’t get done while the Republicans are insane, he thinks that the younger generations will return us to the correct course.

I think that is naive, and disagree for a variety of reasons, but the main ones are: 1. Those generations were bred by the older ones, and I don’t think enough of them will escape their breeding. I used to think things would improve. But, ultimately, hateful people produce more hateful people. And burning books doesn’t exactly encourage change. 2. So long as Republicans succeed with their campaign of voter suppression, intimidation and gerrymandering, Democrats voting probably won’t be enough to keep all Republicans from being elected. And that’s what it will take. No Republican should ever again be elected to any office. 3. My most depressing conclusion is that it is too late. The trust in the Constitution, government, science and truth has been so undermined that the country will never recover. It has been destroyed by a bunch of craven, self-interested politicians and their gullible, frightened, racist, xenophobic followers.

Very good book. Didn’t make me feel better.

[Bill Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before you even start: yes, we know that there have been corrupt Democrats and liberals who have acted horribly and done reprehensible things. This is undisputed. I'm sure a lot of devout Whataboutists will decry this book's lack of balance in also attacking Democrats and the Left Wing.

Well, my friends, that is because while Dems have a handful of bad actors, they don't have the systematic rot that the Republicans have developed over the last 30 years. It all started with patient zero -- the craven, corrupt, repugnant Demogorgon Newt Gingrich, who fed his unwashed followers enough propaganda to ride a brown-tinted wave to the House speakership. (Steve Kornacki's book The Red & The Blue also does a great job of exposing Gingrich's disgraceful ascent.)

Sure, you'll have a Jim Traficant here or a Sheldon Silver there on the Dem's side. But the party itself -- as much of a mess as it is -- isn't the same racist, intolerant, violent morass of uneducated buffoons that it's right-wing counterpart is. Sorry, it's just not.

Dana Milbank does well to avoid the temptation to counter his thesis statement -- The Republican party is a violent, illiberal, obstructionist party with fascistic tendencies that governs in bad faith -- with some kind of "both sides are equally bad" nonsense that I hear all too often from people who aren't paying attention.

The examples of horrible human beings in the book are dizzying, and overwhelming. Todd Akin; Matt Gaetz; Darrell Issa; Trey Gowdy; Ted Cruz; and maybe one or two* more. The fact that all of these grown-ass men, men of supposedly iron-spined resolve, have so willingly bent over and spread 'em for a failed Reality TV judge, is astonishing.

I didn't learn a whole lot that was new in the book, only because I sadistically pay attention to this bullshit on a daily basis. (Politics used to be kind of fun! I swear!) But as a consolidated document of the abasement of what passes for conservatism these days, it's an essential read and an invaluable historical document.


*hundred

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched and exceedingly well written. Painstakingly explains how our country ended up with only one functioning political party and how Donald Trump is the result of more than two decades of Republicans trading governmental norms for power and authority.

[Arianne X · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAHA (Make America Hate Again)

Polarization is Not the Problem

The problem is not polarization, it is extremism. The notion of polarization creates a false equivalency fallacy between extremist and rational political actors. Polarization is not the problem when one set of political actors, the Republican Party, is a dehumanizing, tribalistic, furious, ferocious, radicalized violent cult and other is a set of rational political actors, the Democratic Party, concentrating on public policy and foreign relations. One Party is trying to uphold the norms and institutions of American Government while the other is trying to dissemble and sabotage them. Given this dichotomy, polarization is the only option for the rational participants in the political process. Ironically, it is the cult party, with hatred and malice for all, that demonizes and dehumanizes the rational political actors thus proving itself to be a hate-filled cult of irrationality for anyone who cares to see it.

Trumpism prior to Trump

The Trump presidency can easily be summed up as the racial backlash to the Obama Presidency. There always has been a deep undercurrent or underground of, anti-science, anti-intellectualism, anti-expertise, racism, bigotry, violence, and religious fanaticism in America that was kept on the margins of the less educated. Trump simply gave it voice and made it mainstream. “Make America Great Again” really means make America hate again. Trump’s Presidency was truly an awakening. Prior to Trump there was a vulgar cast of cultural assassins to soften the target so to speak such as Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, conservative talk radio as well as political opportunists of the lowest order to help pave the way such as Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Mitch McConnell. Even prior to these dangerous clowns was the Tea Party, the Southern strategy of Nixon and Republican overtures to violent militia groups. With a constant assault on facts, reality, truth, science, and expertise by the GOP, Trump was the next logical step in a steady decline of intellectual ability, the reversal of social progress and progress of cultural degradation. Trump gave voice to the underlying anti-intellectual, racism, misogyny, bigotry, and intolerance just under the surface of American society. Such vitriol and hatred directed at institutions and people undermines the entire society. For example, relentless attacks upon an institution such as the courts and the legal system only undermines the rule of law and the credibility of the institutions in the public awareness making it easier for a would-be authoritarian such as Trump to abolish or ignore them. It is not so much that the line has blurred between anti-social, and anti-science, religious extremists, and the Republican Party, rather, it is the case that the Republican Party now represents the anti-social, and anti-science, religious extremists. We have already reached the point of no return for the now fascist adjacent authoritarian Republican Party and the millions who follow. These people cannot be convinced, they must simply be defeated through legal and electoral means. Otherwise, we will become a nation of death threats, gag laws, book banning, and secret informants.

Starts with Gingrich?

Dana Milbank makes the case that the current dysfunction of the U.S. Congress, which has infected the rest of government and now the entire political climate started with the petulant and pugnacious Newt Gingrich. Gingrich empowered the bomb throwers and the saboteurs and then could not keep them under control. The enormous damage done by Gingerich’s ‘enemies list’ and scorched earth tactics to American political culture cannot be underestimated and Dana Milbank does a great job of cataloging his offenses, but I think the dysfunction and fringe conspiracy theory thinking can be traced further back. At least to the Birchers. I recall seeing the videos of them heckling Nelson Rockefeller at 1964 Republican convention. Gingrich just brought the crazy caucus into the majority as he declared compromise to be a crime.

Scoundrels and the Collation of the Conspiracy-Minded

When the politics is wrong, everything is wrong, everyone suffers. Furious and extreme political rhetoric stokes paranoia and rage which leads to violent and reckless behavior. Gingrich started the idea of tearing down and the destroying the government he was sworn to uphold and protect. He got himself elected so as not to do the work of governing. He introduced into the government a new and reckless extreme that was previously on the outside margins of American politics with the Birchers but never in the government itself as he and the Republican Party courted the support of religious extremists, white racists, and violent nationalists. These groups now are the modern Republican Party where governing is at best a subset of campaign politics and not a serious concern.

Subsequent Antecedents & Precedents

These are some of the factors which wreaked many of the internal checks within the executive branch of government making future audacious assaults easier.

Precedent for election violence: The “Brooks Brothers Riot” of 2000 where mob rule prevailed over the democratic process to stop the recount of ballots in the contested Florida presidential election.

Precedent for minority-rule: The 2000 election, the voter suppression in Florida and the brazen partisan actions of the Supreme Court, set the precedent for not needing a majority to gain control of the government.

Precedent for undermining Confidence in U.S. elections: As part of the 2000 election, Republicans cried fraud in other voting jurisdictions planting the seed that elections results were not reliable or could be rigged to justify voting restrictions.

Precedent for ‘Fake News’: The knowing deception and lies used to create the alternative ’facts’, contrary to best intelligence analysis, allowing George W. Bush to start a wasteful and disastrous war.

Precedent for Loyalty over Expertise: The administration of George W. Bush placed many political operatives and party loyalists into taxpayer funder official government jobs rather than qualified experts.

Precedent for abandoning Consensus: During the George W. Bush years it was found that appealing to the extremes and party loyalists was more effective than trying to persuade swing voters or appealing to the political center. Motivating the extremists and party loyalists became more important the persuading rational voters or trying to build a consensus.

Precedent for the Religious Right: One of the best quotes in the book comes from Republican strategist Margaret Tutwiler who in 1996 said that for Republican to win, “We’re going to have to take on [board] the religious nuts.” And as Michael Scanlon, a top aid of then House Minority Leader Tom DeLay said, “bring out the wackos” when referring to Christian conservatives who could be easily manipulated.

Precedent for the Big Lie: Start with smaller lies such as the claim Vince Foster was murdered. From here, lies to start the Iraq War, lies about Obama not being a U.S. citizen, lies about “death panels” in the Affordable Care Act, to lies about the 2020 election being stolen. Lies are now the coin of the realm for conservatives and the Republican Party. The Republican mainstream is now the lunatic fringe. This has moved us from being a nation of low information voters to a nation of disinformation voters. Facts and evidence are irrelevant in this new unreality of “Loonyville”.

Precedent for MAGA: This was the Tea Party, a fringe, violent, racist, extremist movement which coopted the Republican Party and began mainstreaming fringe conspiracy theories. This is the new rage, stoked by Republican politicians and amplified by social media. The Republican Party leaders, instead of calming tension, have become the leaders of the violence and terror.

Precedent for overturning the rule of law: When Mitch McConnell refused to consider a nominee to replace Antonin Scalia in 2016 with eleven months left in President Obama’s term, McConnell took an important step in destroying the integrity, credibility, and legitimacy of the Court to capture it and convert it into a political branch, a Pyrrhic victory.

Minor criticism:

Dana Milbank claims that party affiliation is the single deepest divide in American society, greater than race, gender, religion, or education. I see the divide working in the opposite direction. Deep differences in race, gender, religion, and education drive the political divide. The politics is the outcome of more fundamental causes, not the fundamental cause of the divide.

[Colleen Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly readable book written by a very well known and respected journalist with The Washington Post. Milbank places the beginning of the crack up squarely on the shoulders of Newt Gingrich when he became House Speaker in the 90's. Gingrich was a bomb thrower who realized that his party was losing elections and decided that rather than trying to reform and reach out to a broader base, he would be as disruptive as he could be and would instruct fellow Republicans to do the same. As history has shown, he was highly successful. Although I was aware of many of his hijinks and those of his fellow party members, reading it all again and together makes one realize just how dysfunctional and dare I say evil it has been. Our democracy hangs by a thread.

Many people have believed that getting rid of Trump will solve the problem but as Milbank points out, it did not begin with him. He merely came along and turned disfunction into an art form. From the impeachment of Clinton to McConnells behavior, particularly with regard to the judicial branch, turning the Supreme Court into a partisan and distrusted branch of government that the majority of Americans no longer has faith in. From the hyper gerrymandering- particularly in states like Texas and Wisconsin which has turned most seats in the House safe seats with clearly bat sh_t crazy people like Marjorie Tayler Green who throws bombs every time she enters the chambers.

Our democracy which used to have the respect of the world, no longer does. In fact, it is not even clear that we will survive as a democracy. Trump has created a cult with followers who believe everything he says and members of his own party afraid to cross him because they know they will pay a price.

A worthwhile book that is depressing because it reminds us just how fragile our democracy is.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have once again decided to embark on a mission to read a number of books on subjects that will be of great importance to the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Election. This was a great success as I prepared for 2020, with an outcome at the polls (and antics by both candidates up to Inauguration Day) that only a fiction writer might have come up with at the time! Many of these will focus on actors and events intricately involved in the US political system over the last few years, in hopes that I can understand them better and, perhaps, educate others with the power to cast a ballot. I am, as always, open to serious recommendations from anyone who has a book I might like to include in the process.

This is Book #8 in my 2024 US Election Preparation Challenge.

There is no doubt that the emergence of Donald Trump helped tip the Republican scales to the right more than anyone else I have seen in my lifetime. Award-winning journalist Dana Milbank agrees, but feels that the GOP shift has been a long time in the making and uses this book to illustrate the move. In an exploration of the Republican Party’s ongoing push to lose its connection to the roots that made it an ideological contrast to the Democrats, Milbank argues effectively that the shift is real. He wonders just how far things can go or how long it might take before party officials will correct their drift. Well argued and pulling no punches, Milbank offers a tense look at this move towards the fringes of the right.

In Dana Milbank’s study of the GOP (the vernacular for the Republican Party) over the past quarter-century, the award-winning journalist seeks to study the various events and characters who have helped steer it away from its ideological base and towards a collective that uses vitriol and xenophobia to suppress segments of the American population. The shift, while clearly seen, took a long period and was incremental, which is why many might not see it. Opening the book by exploring the rise of Newt Gingrich to House Speaker, it was apparent he sought to destroy President Bill Clinton by any means necessary. Gingrich prided himself on trying to block legislation and smear the president at every turn. Gingrich didn’t hide his animus, openly pushing to rally fellow Republicans to keep Congress at odds with the White House. His push was supported by some who wanted to push an ideological sentiment, but Gingrich chose to pour gasoline on the ideological differences in order to drive a political wedge between the two parties and ensure that falsehoods would spill over to influence the voter.

Milbank also explores some of the Republican shifts from the White House when George W. Bush won the 2000 election. Pushed to make a significant shift after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush Administration sought to tighten up immigration and minority policies. Republicans allowed their sentiments to guide them towards new pathways that would never be reeled back and proved a precursor to the xenophobic views that are mainstream in today’s GOP. While apparently justified by the attacks, Milbank posits that the Republicans used this as an excuse to push their views and vilify Democrats for seeking to rethink or decline such perspectives. Slowly, but surely, the move to the extreme right continued.

While many would be pleased to see significant progress with the election of Barack Obama, the Republicans sought to begin their racist attacks on the newly-elected Democratic president. More than simply sour grapes for losing, GOP politicians used the moment to equate Obama with a monkey, questioned his being American, and even wondered if he might be a Muslim plant, a la Manchurian Candidate. The sickening sentiments were fueled by the likes of outlandish Sarah Palin and the ever-right-lurching Tea Party, which would soon make itself known as part of the extreme right-wing of the Republicans. Racial attacks and ignorant views were accepted, which paved the way for Trump to keep it up when he would emerge on the scene (yet still in the background). Seeking less to conflict on ideological sentiment and more to divide the country, the Republicans began defining themselves as a party who wanted to protect the White Christian man, as Milbank explores as this point in the book.

Milbank brings the argument home when he presents much of the chaos of the Trump-era Republican Party, a group that had totally lost their roots. There were no longer subtle ties to extremists, but rather they were given free access to the White House and the president’s ear. This shift to the extreme right was justified as needed to keep the country on track to be great once more, as if things had gone so far into an abyss. Trump spewed ignorant rhetoric and purposely wanted to drive wedges (ones that would make Gingrich’s earlier attacks seem like a schoolyard skirmish). Milbank cannot dress things up to be anything but completely xenophobic, sexist, and compounded by piles of lies whose origin are to be accepted without evidence. While I am highly familiar with many of these antics, I was shocked to see Milbank present them all the same. Even after Trump lost (or was illegally ousted, as the rhetoric-filled GOP lie goes), his pressure never dissipated. The disgusting views and baseless lies lingered during the Biden Administration. Extrapolating from the narrative of the book, these sentiments have resurfaced as Trump returns to lead the GOP into the 2024 presidential election. It pains me to see it, as the Trumpian GOP is like a cockroach, never fully dead and buried. One can only wonder if Milbanks is waiting to pen another chapter of his book to discuss new and unexpected disasters that lurk around the electoral corner.

While the reader must always be careful when reading books that criticise political parties and views, there can never be a completely unbiased account. However, trying to substantiate sentiments with strong truths and documented happenings help support the sentiments made. Dana Milbank may work for a newspaper that has long been critical of the Republican Party, but through his clear arguments, the reader can see just how troubling things have become. There will be some who feel this is a piece of writing that seeks only to point out the negative, which is their right, but an unwillingness to accept alternate views is where trouble begins. Milbank, while not perfect, seems to want to keep things as truthful as possible, using well-documented chapters to help exemplify how things have gone so far off the rails and how they could, should the Republicans want, return them to a fair and equitable playing field. That will surely take removing some core members of the far-right branch of the GOP and their ignorant mouthpiece.

Kudos, Mr. Milbank, for trying to shed some light on issues, even if those who are responsible are ignorant to the digression.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Doubleday and Netgalley for sharing this non-fiction title with me. As you might expect, the book was maddening to me, reminding me of all the discord that I have lived through (Newt Gingrich started his rise when I was in my late 20s). So many things I had forgotten about over the years, causing my blood pressure to spike anew. Up until halfway through the book, I thought it was a definite 5 star read. It in the latter half, I began to tire of hearing the same examples repeated. Believe me there are plenty of examples and many of them support more than one of the areas Milbank has divided the book into. But that fact alone really diluted those 4 areas he chose to address, to the point that I could no longer remember which area we were talking about. It all ran together. Overall a very good read, but brought down by the sheer repetitiveness of the lists. But if he was trying to prove a point through examples, that was definitely accomplished.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many books have been written about how the Republican party has become a part of conspiracy theories, extremists etc. Dana Milbank, a columnist for the Washington Post has written a comprehensive dismantling of the Republican party beginning with Newt Gingrich. Bit by bit, the party became what it is today and fueled not only by Trump but the majority of the party. It is not a pleasant book to read. It left me fearful of our country becoming an authoritarian state.

[Terry W. Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional description of what we must change.

It is easy to see the effort that Milbank put into this book. He has outdone anyone else I have read to offer a very thorough presentation of the case he presents. Every American who loves this country should be required to read this book. It is time for change.

[literaryelise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t bad it just read like a bullet point, chronological list of events. The analysis was severely lacking.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a Democrat and a political junkie. I belong to a group of ladies (ages 72 to 94) who call ourselves the "Wise Women". We text each other daily about the latest political machinations of the modern Republican party. So nothing Dana Milbank writes could amaze me. In fact we read his columns regularly in the Washington Post. That said, even I was a little surprised to learn how blatantly the Republicans have plotted, schemed, and lied to get their party to its current place in American politics. And how easy it was to accomplish their goal! Of course, Trump's arrival on the scene "trumps" everything that came before him!

The part about the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United was an eye opener for me. The Roberts Court literally allowed vast amounts of money to pour into political campaigns, destroyed the integrity of the primary election process and skewed future elections to those with the most outside money. So the local political hero with a large following of loyal donors has no chance these days unless some Big Money finds him appealing and useful to their needs..

In conclusion, Milbank states: "How we got into this mess is obvious: Republican leaders have been weakening democracy's defenses for a quarter century. How we get out of this mess is less clear. The lure of power has induced Republican leaders to abandon the compact of democracy. And the reflexive, tribal policies they nurtured means a large chunk of the electorate has joined them in abandoning the American experiment." It's that "large chunk of the electorate" that breaks my heart.....how so many people could be manipulated and fooled by appeals to their anger over race, immigration and other issues.

I notice that Milbank left little space in his book for suggestions on what can be done to fix this problem. in fact, 1-1/2 pages! How discouraging! One solution lies in the younger generations who will, hopefully, see through Republican lies and get out to vote. And the courage of people like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who were willing to buck their party leaders and serve on the January 6th Committee is a slim ray of hope.

The Wise Women chipped in to buy this book. I was the first reader - now I get to pass this on to the others.

[Cadence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well… that was heavy…

A few takeaways, no particular order:

1. Screw you Newt Gingrich, you deserve a slow and painful way out for what you’ve caused.
2. Republican leadership has no morals.
3. Brett Kavanaugh has been around WAY longer than I realized.
4. 2024 is going to be even more terrifying than I already thought.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Destructionists by Dana Milbank is an in-depth look at the step-by-step attack on democracy by the Republican party, with extensive notes for those who always scream "fake news." Nothing fake here, people, except the faux-patriotism of the right wingnuts.

It is amazing to read this and realize just how many of the vile things the right has done has become normalized by the sheer frequency with which they lie and destroy. There are quotes here (documented) that will make those who don't remember the events very well shudder. The number of times these people scream about others allegedly doing what they themselves are in fact doing. The hypocrisy on display in today's GOP started with Gingrich. I'm not talking about the usual selective arguments both parties used to use to try to sway voters. I mean out and out lies, which they know are lies, that serve no purpose beyond gaining/maintaining power and destroying democracy.

Everyone needs to read this. Those not drinking the Kool-Aid will get angry. Those who have sipped the Kool-Aid hopefully will see how they have been and are being played. And those who guzzle the Kool-Aid will at least be presented with evidence about just how vile they are.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Kaitlyn Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a reviewer copy of The Destructionists by Dana Milbank from the publisher Doubledays from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read another book recently about right wing extremism which didn't work as much for me. The Destructionists is a book that worked better for me and I think that if people legitimately think both parties are the same, this is a book I would hand to someone. This book provides the history of the shift of the right wing from Reagan era conservatives (I know, I know Reagan era conservatives have their problems, but alas) to the current GOP that appears to be a giant dumpster fire of a cult of Donald J. Trump.

This book follows the conservative movement of Clinton's time in the white house to the present day GOP. We get to know the Newt Gringich, Karl Rove, Sarah Palin, and of course Trump. There is a lot of interesting history here that provided quite a bit of light for me on how we got here. However, I recognize I'm younger and if you were adult aged during Clinton era/Bush era, it might be less powerful to you, This book was detailed and intriguing and really does work to build the case.

I would definitely read this book if you want to know more about how we got here. This book was well done and I highly recommend.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in high school when Newt Gingrich put the Contract with America, which is the major shift in politics. No longer would Congress work both sides of the aisle, but only tow the party line. We often joke about immature people being in high school because of the cliques that existed then versus now, but since Contract on America our politicians have started to act like Kindergartners. Milbank discredits many lies we are still hearing like the Clintons are killers. When I hear this I ask if they are contracting it out or if they are do it themselves kind of killers. I've yet to get a response, possibly because they have not been fed an appropriate response. Having read many books both pro and con on the Trump presidency the second half of the book was material I was already familiar with. The first half was in my high school and college days and not really paying as much attention to politics however, nothing was a big surprise and things I already knew a bit about so it was more of remember this.

How did this book find me? My friend Judy was reading it and she doesn't often talk about the books she is reading so I thought I would borrow it from my library.

[Lohersh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just mind boggling when you see the history of the party, starting with Newt Gingrich, laid out chronologically. I learned a few things. You can clearly see where we have come from and why we are where we are. So much deception, manipulation, lies, all in the name of power and position. Certainly gives you something to think about. 😒 Also pretty discouraging. With typical what-aboutism, Defenders (and deniers) of the Republican Party’s downward spiral often love to say, in response to any book they perceive as critical or from a ‘liberal’ perspective, that it “fails to address why 74 million people voted for Trump” - (in other words, if Trump is so awful how did that many people still vote for him?) I’d say this book pretty well explains how that came to pass - and it wasn’t all because of Trump. It’s been years in the making, and yet nothing here will make one ounce of difference in the thinking of anyone who did.

[Dave Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book.

The Republican Party today has no agenda other than retaining power, and it has retreated from the defense of democracy to authoritarianism, ready to overthrow the will of the voters.

This well-written book traces the development of these positions, starting with Newt Gingrich's time in Congress, when he introduced the notion of refusing to cooperate with the other party instead of cooperating to formulate legislation.

The story is well-told, and buttressed by facts at every stage. It's very convincing.

But the book's greatest asset is the writing style--a newspaper guy like Milbank knows how to tell a story in a direct style that carries your interest. It's an easy read.

[Matthew Sobolik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Milbank makes the argument that the current cynicism of the Republican party did not originate with Trump, but with Gingrich in the 1990s. He makes a compelling argument, tracing the lies which the Republican Party has woven over the last 3 decades. However, I got the feeling that this book would have worked better as a powerpoint presentation with bullet points. Often there was little connecting one paragraph to another, or even one sentence to another, save the cynicism of the Republican Party.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, maybe the most excellent, book I’ve read, of books on the topic of American political disintegration over the last several decades. It is a run down of all the things that lead ultimately to nomination and the election of Donald J Trump. And while you, if you follow politics, will be familiar with most, if not all, of the events the thread tying them together is so succinctly drawn here by Millbank it becomes jaw dropping.

I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of how the Republican party destroyed itself. Author claims there is a straight line from Newt Gingrich’s antics to the current debt ceiling crisis. If it didn’t spell the end of democracy, the GOP’s failure would almost be funny.

As to the book itself, it seems to have been written chapter by chapter as 12 different essays so some material gets repetitive.

This is a first draft of history and kind of reads like a first draft.

[Linda Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The historical trends from the 1990s until today were well researched and written. I learned a lot about how the political climate of today is a consequence of what has been happening for the last 25 years. A thought provoking book! B

[Ed Grimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well organized around his clearly identified principal points. Then supports the points with ample evidence, not incidental anecdotes but clear trends and patterns, widely adopted

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was well aware of most of the information in this book (I live with someone with an incredible memory for political information and I watch a lot of news.)
I wasn’t aware if Brett Cavanaugh’s role in the Starr investigation.
What a story though.
While this is a very serious subject I had to laugh frequently at some of the totally absurd statements made by Trump and his ilk. You can’t make this stuff up!
How we got to the state we are in is incredible.

[Cerealflakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, though hard to read, book about what has happened to the Republican Party. The warning signs have been coming for 40 years. I wasn’t paying attention for that long, so this book helped me get a more complete picture of what and why things are happening the way they are now.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devastating: Painful to read/hear, but so important to know. Milbank's thorough reporting and analysis pulls the threads together to weave a sad and troubling portrait of a once-great political party.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though the writing is fluid and compelling and the argument clear and convincing, it is hard to read this detailed description of the descent of the Republican Party into anti-democratic partisan authoritarianism simply because the subject is so painful. Milbank details that decline in great detail, beginning with Newt Gingrich's move to combative politics and ending with the GOP rallying behind Trump even after the insurrection of January 6. Each page seems to offer some new detail in that story of decline, calling us all to look the problem square in the face. He ends on a note of slight hope in the change of generations and that hope is underlined by the Red Wave that didn't happen in 2022 (after the book was finished). Still, this is a strong call for vigilance and action against the continued threats to our democracy from the misguided leaders on the Right.

[Susanna Sturgis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this after reading one chapter. The whole book lives up to it. Recommended for everyone who's trying to cope with what's going on now and working on how to get our country back on track.

"Just started this but already I recommend it to anyone who isn't familiar with the history of the GOP since the Reagan "revolution." Too many people, including pundits who should know better, think Trump is an aberration, that he came out of nowhere and now we can get back to normal. Milbank refutes that pretty well in his first chapter. (Fwiw, I lived through all of this as an adult, but I wasn't paying much attention to electoral politics. My bad.)"

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A damning and well written 30 year saga of the Republican Party’s decline from political party to deceitful cult. As someone who remembers the events Milbank describes and analyzes and connects, I found it a sad reminder of the history of my adult life. Milbank divvies up the story by theme, so be prepared to go back and forth in time. And be prepared to be equal parts sad and angry.