And then I came to the end of Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (2022), New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman’s biography of Trump.
It took me months – I bought this to entertain myself on a flight to Chicago back in September. Thinking what? That I would find some insight here? Truth and reconciliation? Look, The Power Broker (1974) this is not.
If anything, I’m left mostly with the sense that things … just sort of happen, and there’s not much you can do about it. Revisiting these names and events, no deeper meaning is revealed to me. Bannon, Miller, Scaramucci, Guiliani, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! People are venal and craven, not only but especially the ones in power – not a surprise – and it turns out that examining this in close detail will not enrich your life.
I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, although I’m sure it’ll be important to future historians or whatever. Recommended if you like reliving outrage through dry reportage.