First published 2021
Donald Trump enters 2020 with a powerful reelection machine. The economy booms, Republicans stand united, and his campaign operates with precision. Then the world shifts. COVID arrives, the economy crashes, and civil rights protests sweep the nation. Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender chronicles how Trump's team watched their advantages disappear. Drawing from five years covering Trump, Bender reveals Oval Office conversations, Air Force One moments, and mega-rally scenes. He conducted fresh interviews with Trump himself, campaign advisers, and administration officials. Internal memos, emails, and text messages expose previously unknown campaign details. The book traces Trump's journey from confident incumbent to history's first president in thirty years to lose reelection. It shows how his refusal to accept defeat led to the Capitol insurrection that threatened his own vice president. Bender connects Trump's repeated claims that he could never lose to the violent events of January 6th.
Genres: history, political-science, politics, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Oval Office, Air Force One
Period: 2020
432 pages · Hardcover · Twelve
Content warnings: violence