First published 2008
Glenn Greenwald dismantles the Republican Party's carefully constructed image machine. He targets the mythology that has sold GOP candidates as brave warriors, family values champions, and fiscal conservatives since Ronald Reagan's cowboy persona captured American imaginations. Greenwald argues this John Wayne archetype masks a different reality. Many Republican leaders avoided military service, maintain records of broken marriages and affairs, and live privileged lives while condemning Democrats for identical behaviors. The author examines how this marketing strategy has proven so effective that voters support Republican candidates even when disagreeing with their policy positions. Greenwald exposes the tactics used to avoid substantive debate on real issues, relying instead on attacks portraying Democrats as weak and elitist. He calls on Democrats to abandon defensive postures and confront Republican hypocrisy directly. The book reveals how right wing propaganda machines hijack political discourse and offers Democrats a blueprint for fighting back using the same aggressive tactics.
Genres: american, political-science, politics, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: call-to-action, expose
Setting: United States
Period: 21st Century
217 pages · Kindle Edition · Crown