Trump on Trial: The Investigation, Impeachment, Acquittal and Aftermath

I was concerned that this book might be a little boring, given that I closely followed the events it depicts. In reading the book, I have been consistently amazed at its freshness and novelistic qualities. The authors have obviously done a tremendous amount of follow up research about the people and events of the impeachment. The characters involved are rendered with great insight and depth, and the book contains many back-stories about the thoughts and motivations of those involved. The narrative is propulsive because it is multi-layered: we learn the basic facts, plus the back story behind the facts, plus a sophisticated and fact-based analysis of the characters involved, plus the occasional Easter egg that will leave readers shaking their heads in amazement.

I appreciate that this book provides great insight without any hint of bias. It is clear that the astounding facts contained in the book are actual facts, not just the authors opinions stated as fact. This is a masterful accounting of an important event in American history. Although the book is a great public service, it is also a rollicking, compelling read. This is a great read for those interested in recent events and American history, but also for those who are most interested in character-driven accounts, such as novels.

I’ve read a whole series of books:
True Crimes and Misdemeanors
Fear
A Very Stable Genius
The Room Where It Happened
The Threat

This is the first one that had a profound impact on me emotionally.
It is written as a report on a timeline of events.
Day by day and week by week the authors expose the events that lead to the impeachment and the impeachment.

I highly recommend this journey into the events that were an unfortunate reality of dysfunctionality.

Reads like a novel. Even though you know the ending, its hard to put it down. It puts you there and lends insight into some of the most important, heroic players that will forever be a part of our history. Well written, easy to follow, and fills in some of the blanks.

Truthfully writing

It probably shouldnt have been surprising that the opening scene in Chapter One was a tug-at-heart strings tale of the mistreatment of Marie Yovanovitch and how a negative tweet by Donald Trump Jr. hit her like a punch in the face. In reality, for a book about Trump impeachment, Yovanovitch is a puzzling place to begin. To those who paid attention, she said in her opening statement to the House Intel Committee she missed the key events in questionlong gone by the time of the July 25 phone conversation between Trump and Zelensky and well after Hunter Biden went to work for Burisma.
Just as the impeachment itself wasnt based on high crimes and misdemeanors, its fitting that the Lefts/WaPo reporter’s retelling of it is based entirely on high emotions and intense narrative.
The book becomes almost weepy about the words of Adam Schiff’s Senate trial speech.
The woeful lack of self-awareness of authors was evident, as they made at least seven references to echo chamber, each time meaning the conservative media echo chamber. One only needed to have viewed CNN and read the Post and the NY Times during the impeachment charade to see an echo chamber in action.
I’m not a fan of Matt Gaetz and might even agree with the book’s characterization that he was swarming and stinging like an angry hornet. But then of Nancy Pelosi, the book blasts Republicans for painting her as the enemy, a liberal bogeyman. As if the entire impeachment wasn’t based around a hysterical “Orange-man bad” bogeyman!
In the midst of the predictable and trite tone, there are points where the book is correct, but never in real context. Hunter Bidens activities seemed largely an afterthought in the book other than describing Trumps purported misdeeds for bringing the matter up in a phone call.
With a fig leaf of evenhandedness, the writers present a Republican argument while characterizing it in a sneering manner while accepting version of Schiff and others. In the age of anti-Trump hysteria, the predictable tone and lack of self-awareness is likely what I should have expected from a book from Washington Post reporters.
I got the book from NetGalley. The best I can say is that it kept my interest enough because I wanted to see what else I might read to make me say out loud, “Are you kidding me.” But that’s not enough to earn a second star.

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