by Dana Milbank
First published 2024
Dana Milbank opens with the Republican Party's narrow victory in the 2023 House elections, expecting standard political theater. Instead, he witnesses unprecedented dysfunction from day one. The new majority requires fifteen ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, the longest contest since before the Civil War. Milbank documents how Republicans then oust McCarthy and spend weeks searching for his replacement, only to threaten the successor with identical treatment. He tracks figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos, and Jim Jordan as they chase conspiracy theories about space aliens, gas stoves, and Hunter Biden's artwork. The Republicans attack immigrants, LGBTQ Americans, and military personnel while hijacking legislation with fringe proposals. Despite their majority status, they accomplish virtually nothing, falling into internal warfare instead of funding the government or addressing national security. Milbank's year of Capitol reporting reveals a Congress more interested in spectacle than governance, capturing both the absurdity and genuine danger of political incompetence.
Genres: american-fiction, american, political-science, 21st-century, journalism, current-affairs, political-thriller
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: political-satire
Setting: Capitol, United States
Period: 2023
400 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company