PeterRS Posted September 28 Posted September 28 The above is the subtitle of a book published last week with its main title The Last American President. I guess most readers here will not feel the need to read this short new book as much has already been commented here. But it has received extremely good reviews. Not having read it, here is the opening blurb - "The Last American President rips open America's wounded democracy to expose a terrifying truth: Donald Trump isn't an anomaly—he's the inevitable product of a system engineered to fail. This searing investigation reveals how a man forged by childhood trauma, pathological narcissism, and calculated cruelty didn't hijack democracy—he was handed the keys by those who should have been its guardians. "Hartmann uncovers the unholy alliance between Trump's damaged psyche and America's rotted institutions. From Fred Trump's brutal parenting to Roy Cohn's lessons in shamelessness, from a Republican Party that traded principles for power to billionaire donors who treated democracy as a profit center, this book exposes the assembly line that manufactured an authoritarian. "But this is about more than Trump's past—it's about America's future. As climate catastrophe accelerates and fascism spreads globally, Hartmann reveals the nightmare scenario: a second Trump term that doesn't just end American democracy but also triggers irreversible planetary damage. Through meticulous research and unflinching analysis, he shows how political cowardice and corporate greed created the perfect storm that could extinguish humanity's last chance at survival." And from one of the 13 amazon reviewers all of whom have unusually given this book 5 stars - "I’ve read over a hundred books on the cultural divide in this country and the rise and rule of Trump, but never have I seen the variables that have led to our current crisis woven together with such insight and urgency." Quote
