American Carnage Quotes

“few trusted advisers, the president confided that he was worried about some interconnected trends taking root in the country—and most acutely within the Republican Party. There was protectionism, a belief that global commerce and international trade deals wounded the domestic workforce. There was isolationism, a reluctance to exert American influence and strength abroad. And there was nativism, a prejudice against all things foreign: traditions, cultures, people. “These isms,” Bush told his team, “are gonna eat us alive.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“This is what “Make America Great Again” conveyed to many voters. Others heard a message that was altogether different—not an identity-based message, but an anti-elitist screed, or a populist call for government reform. The genius of the catchphrase, and what made Trump’s candidacy so effective, was its seamless weaving of the personal and cultural into the political and socioeconomic. His was a canopy of discontent under which the grudging masses could congregate to air their grievances about a nation they no longer recognized and a government they no longer trusted.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“The reason Trump was able to get away with calling his rivals ugly, with insulting prisoners of war, with belittling women and using vulgar language, was that Americans, particularly conservatives, were becoming numb to the outrage culture.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“invoked the “nuclear option” in the Senate,”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“The most lasting critiques of the president, and of his enablers, will extend far beyond policy. From the moment Trump took office, Republicans on Capitol Hill and throughout the administration would offer a common refrain: “Focus on what he does, not on what he says.” For all Trump’s bizarre behavior and inflammatory rhetoric, they explained, he was delivering on many policies for which the party had long hungered. But this argument conveniently obscured a self-evident reality about the role of the presidency. Trump, as the American chief executive, is both the head of government and the head of state. His behavior and his rhetoric, therefore, were every bit as relevant as his policies. In certain instances, what the president said was actually more meaningful than what he did.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“The president’s staffers lived in fear of one thing: bad weather. Some spent Saturday nights praying for clear skies the next day, knowing a tweet-free afternoon would give them a window of uninterrupted tranquility, time to spend with their families and decompress from a job known to be demanding under the most normal of circumstances.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“I waited three, four, five minutes, and finally I said, ‘Mr. President, I didn’t get on this goddamn phone call to listen to you lecture me one more time!’” Boehner recalls. “Then I hung up. I’m sure McConnell was shitting in his pants.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“No matter what turns up—in the congressional hearings probing Trump’s financial entanglements, in the Southern District of New York’s examination of wrongdoing outside Mueller’s purview—the GOP had committed itself to a fully binary view of politics that safeguards Trump’s survival. This was justified not by adherence to principle but by addiction to power: the power to hold office, the power to make laws and influence government, the power to appoint judges, the power to project ideology onto the culture at large, and the power to deny such powers to an opposing party.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“The elemental prerequisite for GOP lawmakers attempting to keep their job is to stay out of the president’s crosshairs, to avoid antagonizing his supporters back in their states and districts. This requires considerable sacrifices, chief among them ideological consistency. But it’s a small price to pay for another term with a salary of $174,000; fully funded trips around the world; sprawling staffs catering to their every whim; power-flexing appearances on cable television; black-tie dinners and top-dollar fund-raisers and seats at the table with some of the world’s most powerful and well-connected people.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“At another point, Palin remarked, “When will they let us control our own care? When will they do to stop causing our pain, and start feeling it again? Well, in other words, um . . . is Hillary a new Democrat or an old one? Now, the press asks, the press asks, ‘Can anyone stop Hillary?’ Again, this is to forego a conclusion, right, it’s to scare us off, to convince that—a pantsuit can crush patriots?”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“IT WASN’T OVER QUITE YET. BUT WITH TRUMP NOW AT 264 ELECTORAL votes, any one of the outstanding competitive races—Michigan, Wisconsin, or Arizona—would put him over the top. He won all three. When the final numbers were tabulated, Donald Trump had defeated Hillary Clinton in one of the strangest results in presidential history.2 Trump won the Electoral College with 306 votes to Clinton’s 232 (officially 304 to 227, after seven pledged electors went rogue). The margin of the GOP victory was found in three states—Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—which Trump won by a total of 77,744 votes, less than the capacity of some Big Ten football stadiums. Meanwhile, Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“The only Republican who Hillary Clinton possibly could have beaten was Donald Trump, and the only Democrat that Trump possibly could have beaten was Clinton,” Boehner says.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“FIGHT. IT BECAME THE DEFINING WORD OF THE MODERN REPUBLICAN era. As feelings of desertion took root during this period of dizzying cultural and economic transition, voters came to crave one quality above all others in their elected officials: a willingness to scrap, claw, kick, and bite on their behalf, demonstrating an understanding of their frustrations and their fears. It’s why Donald Trump, despite innumerable manifest flaws, won the presidency in 2016.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Using the “party of Lincoln” label as protective cover, Republicans could pursue discriminatory policies in one breath while debunking allegations thereof in the next by insisting that their ideological forebears had freed the slaves. Of course, nothing could be farther from the truth: Southern segregationists fled the Democratic Party following Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, sparking a decades-long realignment that, with the aid of the “Southern Strategy” employed by Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon, turned the GOP into the champion of the old Confederacy’s states-rights, small-government creed.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“By disrespecting the president of the United States with a blatant, provable falsehood, Wilson had become right-wing royalty. It was a promising blueprint.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“She was the early embodiment of some of the problems that would plague the party: mediocrity, anger, resentment, populism, proudly anti-intellectual, and increasingly bitter. And she was a rock star for it,” says Wehner, the Bush White House official. “That was a sign that something was going on in the Republican base. We went from glorifying excellence and achievement to embracing this anger and grievance and contempt.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“TARP is quite possibly the most successful government program of its generation. All the money was paid back, with interest, and experts believe that the intervention almost certainly staved off a Depression-like catastrophe.17 But the entire episode was scarring for millions of Americans who became convinced that Washington and Wall Street were playing by a different set of rules; that the economy was rigged against them; that professional politicians had sold them out.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“We went from wanting people who were experienced and qualified to wanting people who would throw bombs and blow things up. The ultimate expression of that was Donald Trump, but Sarah Palin was the early warning bell.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“TO CONSIDER TRUMP’S RISE IS TO RECOGNIZE THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS of American life: instinctual outrage and involuntary contempt, geographic clustering and clannish identification, moral relativism and self-victimization”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Trump was made for these moments, having spent decades mastering camera angles and production quality, distorting his expressions and gestures for maximum dramatic impact. He was having the time of his life. Bush was not. Awkward and reticent, with his six-foot-four frame coiling into itself due to poor posture, the former governor was already sore about having to compete with the Judas known as Rubio. Now he was forced to endure the indignity of sharing top billing with a man who had spent the last year mocking his family. Trump could read the repulsion on his rival’s face. At one commercial break, he turned to Bush. “Jeb, how you doing?” he asked. “I’m fine, Donald.” “So, where are you going after this?” “Headed to New York for some fund-raising events tomorrow.” Trump beamed. “You want a ride? I’ve got my plane here. We’re heading back tonight.” Bush stared blankly. “No. I’m good. We’ve got a ride.” “You sure?” Bush nodded briskly. “Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.” Trump, feet still positioned perfectly over his stage mark for the television cameras, turned toward his family in the front row and winked. It was a down payment on the space he would occupy inside Bush’s head for the duration of the campaign.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“For most of those in attendance, me included, Trump belonged in the same category as Sarah Palin: an “entertainer,” as King said when introducing the reality television personality. In fact, this was an insult to the future president. Whereas Trump actually spoke of policy, however fleetingly and unintelligibly, the former Alaska governor delivered a speech that was incoherent bordering on clinically insane. “GOP leaders, by the way, y’know the man can only ride ya when your back is bent,” Palin said. “So strengthen it. Then the man can’t ride ya. America won’t be taken for a ride.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“These evangelical [leaders] are the biggest phonies of all,” says Michael Steele, the former party chairman. “These are the people who spent the last forty years telling everyone how to live, who to love, what to think about morality. And then this motherfucker comes along defiling the White House and disrespecting God’s children at every turn, but it’s cool, because he gave them two Supreme Court justices. They got their thirty pieces of silver.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“I WANT TO KNOW: IS HE TRANSITIONAL OR TRANSFORMATIONAL? Trump smirks. “I mean, can there be—” he stops abruptly. “I don’t want to be saying it.” But the president can’t help himself. “Can there be a question?” he says, pushing his chair outward and standing up, casting a shadow over the Resolute desk. “Honestly, can there be even a question?”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“The trappings of Trump’s propaganda ministry were substantial: regular Fox News appearances, rides on Air Force One, invitations to the White House, phone calls with the leader of the free world. Many a GOP lawmaker fell prey to these perks. But none more odiously than”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Having covered many of these lawmakers for years—long before the Freedom Caucus existed—I knew for certain that had Obama said the same thing Trump had, they would have been preparing articles of impeachment. Finally, the spinning and evading became too much. I raised my hand and asked, giving them a final opportunity, if any of them had any problem whatsoever with what Trump had said.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Chapman concurs. “All the polling we get back shows the fiscal issues are a complete wasteland,” he says. “And the donors know it.” “The Tea Party is gone. It doesn’t exist anymore.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Brad Wenstrup, a little-known third-term Ohio lawmaker who had served as a combat medic in Afghanistan. Wenstrup tied a perfect tourniquet. It would later be credited with saving Scalise’s life. “When I got to the hospital, they said I was within a minute of death,” Scalise said.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Trump thrived on transactional relationships, and in white evangelicals—81 percent of whom voted for him in 2016—he discovered an ideal trading partner.”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“In many ways, the new president’s flaws and failures—and the harsh judgments thereof—endeared him to the GOP base. Conservatives, and especially churchgoing Christians, could identify with someone dismissed by the political elite, disrespected by the mainstream media, delegitimized by the American left. Feeling ostracized in a culture that no longer reflected their core values”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump

“Comey, who had written contemporaneous memos after his meetings with the president, shared the memos with a law professor friend, authorizing him to leak them to the press. Comey’s goal was to trigger the appointment of a special counsel to continue”
― Tim Alberta, American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump