by Michael S. Schmidt
Random House. New York. 2020. 432 pages.
ISBN 978-1-9848-5466-7
This is a responsible, well-researched account. Schmidt, a New York Times reporter, appears to have obtained some cooperation from FBI Director James Comey and White House counsel Donald McGahn. Most of the book is built around their experiences.
Even those who have followed Trump's presidency closely will find it helpful (and distressing) to see this partial account of his misdeeds and bizarre behavior gathered together in one volume. It tends to put individual events into perspective. As Schmidt points out, there is something about Trump's behavior, and the volume of his public statements, that leaves one too shocked and disoriented to do much analysis in real time. Just as you think you've wrapped your mind around the latest outrage, along comes another shocker and you're too busy riding the crazy train to Trumptown to reflect on the last one.
Schmidt does tend to overdramatize, but this appears to be a writing style issue rather than a distortion or misrepresentation of facts. His book contains the best account I've read of the whistleblower incident which brought the Ukraine telephone call to light, triggering Trump's impeachment.
Schmidt also puts forward the unsettling hypothesis that Robert Mueller had deteriorated to a shell of his former self by the time he was appointed Special Counsel. This is more rumor and innuendo than fact-based reporting. Schmidt merely reports that a number of people (none specifically identified) worried that Mueller no longer had the "mental acuity" needed to do the job. The cause, if any, is never established.
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