Fire and Fury - 3.5 Stars
Unbelievable - 5 Stars
I am doing a joint-review because I really don't like giving this douchenozzle any more attention than he's already received for the last couple years. I also don't feel it necessary to do any kind of in-depth review. No one supporting him is going to change their mind because of anything I write, and I am not going to waste the time. Trumplethinskin sucks and I look forward to the day when he is out of office and we can start correcting the massive mistakes piling up daily under this "administration".
I read Fire and Fury because, of course. I went into it knowing that there would likely be very little new information. Because of the intensity of coverage due to the giant man-baby waddling around the White House and his various golf courses, we know everything. All the time.
It is EXHAUSTING.
I long for a simpler time when I went a few days without hearing President Obama's name and it was okay, because he was an adult doing his job and taking his responsibilities seriously as the president of the greatest nation on earth.
Anyway. There is nothing new or groundbreaking here. If you recognize the fact that Trumplethinskin is among the dumbest of the dumb and is surrounded by scum-sucking gutter rats, nothing in this book will surprise you. It's basically a summary of the shit we have been living through since he was "elected". We already knew that a lot of the people in the book are awful. I did enjoy, however, the constant reminders about how dumb Trumplethinskin's sons are, and that Ivanka is not much better. In fact, Ivanka and her husband are collectively referred to as Jarvanka. Bannon is there is in all his grizzled, disgusting glory, and it is all so stupidly ridiculous that THIS is what is currently operating our government.
So, because this book was such a bombardment of complete and utter grossness, it was necessary to follow it up with a look from the outside, of sorts.
Tur's book follows Trumplethinskin in the same chaotic way, but the chaos comes from life on the campaign trail as Tur alternates between those details and then episodes from Election Day. I can not imagine doing her job, and for covering him as long as she did. When a candidate running for office to lead the most powerful country on the planet, perhaps that candidate should not be implying that he admired(?) Putin for executing journalists. But this is true. He discussed it at a rally. Probably more than once.
I initially rated this book a four-star, but the more I reflected on it, I decided it deserved five. After all, Tur survived the constant movement as the campaign went city to city to city. I can barely stomach seeing this moron's face on the book cover, I don't know how she managed it for months on end.
Here are a few of my fave quotes from each book:
Fire and Fury
"There was a lack of coherent message because there was nobody to write a coherent message - just one more instance of disregarding political craft" (page 148).
"After months of defending Bannon against liberal media innuendo, Kushner had concluded that Bannon was an anti-Semite" (page 140). Um hellooooo....what took him so long????
"George W. Bush, on the dais, supplied what seemed likely to become the historic footnote to the Trump address: 'That's some weird shit' " (page 40). I hate to say it, but I have said it for a while now, pretty much from that event on January 20th - W is looking better and better in the review mirror as this clusterfuck of a presidency rolls on.
Unbelievable
"He is the polar opposite of President Obama. Where Obama's rhetoric soars, Trump's rhetoric slithers. While Obama eats arugula, Trump scars Burger King. Where Obama is controlled and calculating, Trump is petulant and loud" (page 80). Yes, this, a thousand times.
Overall, you already know if you are going to read Fire and Fury. I would recommend Unbelievable if you are choosing between the two. Honestly, Fire and Fury needed a bit better editing, there were some typos and errors of that nature. And like I said, reliving it constantly is exhausting. Unbelievable is less exhausting, but no less frustrating. There were so many times his campaign should have been sunk.
When I saw the title of your post from my blogroll, I said "She must have read Fire and Fury". ;-)
ReplyDeleteI started reading fire and fury when it fell off the wikileaks truck, but didn't go more than few chapters. I'm not much for tabloid gossip. The trump administration is an amusing trainwreck. Again, I hope that once it's finished people will be tired of DC, but I know they won't. They're just waiting until the charismatic and polished criminals are back in the big seat, instead of the very obvious and boorish one that's there now. At least with trump nothing is hidden.
Yep, sure did! It was super gossipy, but pretty much everything we already knew, or figured was happening.
DeleteThe problem with it being such a trainwreck is that so many people are going to suffer as a result. He know nothing of what he is doing and the book definitely made it obvious that no one around him knows either. It will takes years to recover from how far he is setting our country back.
I still haven't gotten over him being elected. OK, I appreciate that a lot of people on both sides didn't like Hilary but still..... Sheesh! It's going to take years to repair this kind of damage and it'll be 10 times worse if he gets re-elected.... Can you IMAGINE????
ReplyDeleteTrust me, I have not gotten over it either. It pains me greatly still to know that he is in office, someone who is the least presidential person in the modern era to live in the White House. I maintain that had Bernie Sanders won the nomination, he would have beaten Trumplethinskin, easily. I am cautiously hopeful about the way the special elections have been going, in that more Democratic candidates are winning. I hope that in the fall for Midterm Elections, we will see Democrats take back the House and Senate and that we can start undoing or at least limiting the damage. It makes me want to throw up at the thought of him getting re-elected.
DeleteHe's certainly working hard to isolate the US from the rest of the world. Maybe that's what he means by America First. If you're completely alone you will be Number One!!! You know, OF one.....!
DeleteYeah...it is a living nightmare. I can not tell you how many mornings I have woken up and thought, "Wow, we survived the night and were not obliterated by nuclear war". Legit, I have had these thoughts (especially when all the taunting of North Korea was going on). I can't wait until this idiot is out of office.
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading both books! I love this kind of political book!
ReplyDeleteI just wish Fire and Fury had been edited better. There were a few mistakes (like a missing word!) that were just careless. But still, a pretty accurate picture of what we've known and assumed about this ridiculous "administration". I'm glad I read Unbelievable second, it was far less manic than Fire and Fury. Tur's perspective was very informative.
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