The following is a review of a book that came out three days ago. The author has been a guest on most of the big conservative radio talk shows since it came out....so it's obviously an important pro-Trump book. So I did what I do on Tuesdays....I'm at Barnes & Noble on the 'new releases' day....take out my wallet and spend money on the book....and actually act like the present condition of America is important in that I place a priority on current events in light of God's Word over sports or any of the other pastimes that have contributed to America's nearing demise....then I finish the 372 page book overnight and put out a review within hours in a further attempt to warn America on who Donald Trump really is....and now I add this preface to this post which will only get people more upset with my thoughts. Why....because life is not a reality show....time passes quickly.....get ready to face God whether you like it or not. Folks....over the decades I've almost begged some Christians to read any one of a number of important Christian books....often paying for it myself and putting it in their hands....and then waiting a month or so while they read a few pages a night at best....and today decades later....almost without exception....and in light of these lazy practices.....they are no more knowledgeable or discerning than they were twenty years ago....still complaining about the bad liberals....still sometimes falling for false prophets....still eating pablum....still giggling through humorous anecdotes of sermons from men (and women!) who long ago quit thinking in humility that they had anything left to learn....and continuing to hope that some election will bail them out....instead of falling face down before a Holy God who has given them more warnings than Donald Trump has pecked out tweets. If you believe these thoughts to be ridiculous....please pass them on....particularly to your Bible study or prayer group....even if it's only so that others can be warned to beware of someone like me.
The Case For Trump
It's about as insightful a description of the 2016 presidential campaign and why Donald Trump won as I have read....this being Victor Davis Hanson's just released The Case For Trump. True to his resume as a military historian and classics professor....the book delves often into the world of generals and literature....and also culture as the author shows that he's seen a classic film or two....with analogies when applicable of tragic film and literature heroes to Donald Trump. It's easy to read....enjoyable....and although I disagree with many of the authors conclusions about Donald Trump....I would recommend it as part of the well-rounded syllabus that we need to follow on just what happened in our politics over the past few decades but particularly over the past three years.
The greatest achievement in the book is that it so accurately describes what went through the mind of most Trump supporters during the election....and what they think now....at least those who are open to analyzing a few difficult areas. President Trump is seen in the book as a man who....although vulgar and vengeful....is so plain speaking and genuine and forthright in expressing his true thoughts....that this alone may make him a better choice for president than one who is not coarse and vulgar but also not tuned in to America's problems. I obviously disagree but the point is taken. Victor Davis Hanson paints not only an accurate albeit partial portrait of Donald Trump but a likable figure.
There are large sections in the book on Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton and Republican/Democrat politics in general....so much so that I was more than halfway through the book wondering if it was about the campaign more than the candidate. My concerns were alleviated as the author in the later chapters defended Donald Trump the man and the president with a vengeance.....which is what I expected when I purchased the book. The Deep State is explained very clearly...as is a biased mainstream media. These areas of the book are helpful.
Other than just disagreements on conclusions there are some major weaknesses in the book. It seems as if Donald Trump may have been born on the day that his hit show The Apprentice began. The personality of Donald Trump is explored in great detail but the issue of his character is brushed off with one-sentence excuses.....or analogies to other presidents who had character issues....and even here character only referred to private moral failures....and not public truthfulness vs deception. There's a section in the book where a litany of presidents and other notable figures are literally torn apart just so that Donald Trump doesn't look so bad. This chapter to me was disturbing.
Jared Kushner appears on two pages.....Ivanka on four. The mere presence of these advisers are a major issue with Donald Trump's base.....an issue that effects not only where his administration has gone at times....but where it will continue to go....and it is non-existent in the book. Donald Trump Jr. is not mentioned. The fake Obamacare repeal is glossed over.....as is the wall fiasco....and the burgeoning national debt. There is no attempt to show what Donald Trump really believes....if he has any core beliefs....but only what his plan is on pursuing his new agenda....which is far removed from the agenda that he was elected on.
If this is the only book about President Trump that you read then you may come to the conclusion that Donald Trump gave it his absolute best to keep his promises....that he may succeed....and yet he may not....but you need other books to go along with it.....particularly those that might show what Donald Trump's first fifty years or so were like....and what his business practices and personal relationships were like....and how the art of the deal is really the art of deception....and how he came to be the huge celebrity with serious psychological issues that are manifested in grandiose narcissism and revenge....and callousness and insecurity....and not the person he convinced the author and most of us on who he was supposed to be....and how it is very problematic that a man who will turn on a dime on promises if he can get a better deal somewhere else....will be the one making decisions in areas that demand transparency and truthfulness....areas with the potential of catastrophic consequences....where wisdom and not profit motives should be valued....and against enemies who can size up a con for they are also masters of the con.
NOTE: I thought about what book to recommend to give a glimpse of the other side of Donald Trump and decided on the book that I started just before The Case For Trump but finished just today....Laurence Leamer's MAR-A-LAGO.....Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace.....the reason being that the description of Donald Trump in the book is the same as just about all of the other books I've read in the past year on our President....(about two dozen)....although it's a little more detailed due to its limiting the scope of the subject matter to President Trump's life as it relates to Mar-a-Lago and the Palm Beach community. I would think that the result of conservatives reading this book would be....'this is the man who I primarily entrusted the future of my children to?' Coincidental....Ann Coulter....who the President recently referred to in a tweet as a "wacky nut job"....will be speaking tomorrow (Monday 3/11/19) at noon at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach....the community.....according to the author's account.....that has been seriously divided since Donald Trump came to town.
