It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America
Written by David Cay Johnston
Narrated by Danny Campbell
4/5
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About this audiobook
New York Times bestselling author and longtime Trump observer David Cay Johnston shines a light on the political termites who have infested our government under the Trump administration, destroying it from within and compromising our jobs, safety, finances, and more.
In It’s Even Worse Than You Think, Johnston exposes shocking details about the Mexican border wall, and how American consumers will end up paying for it, if it ever gets built; climate change, and all about Scott Pruitt who spent much of his career trying to destroy the agency he now heads; stocking—not draining—the swamp, despite his promise to do the opposite, Trump has filled his cabinet with millionaires and billionaires; and the Kleptocracy, where Donald Jr. and Eric run an eyes-wide-open blind trust of Trump holdings to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest—but not the reality.
With story after story, It’s Even Worse Than You Think "diagnoses the Trump administration as a…government by the least qualified and most venal among us” (The Washington Post). This is “a momentously thorough account of President Trump’s alarmingly chaotic first year in office…a precise and fiery indictment of an unstable, unethical president that concludes with a call for us to defend our democracy” (Booklist) and is “urgent, necessary reading” (Kirkus Reviews).
David Cay Johnston
David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter and bestselling author of The Making of Donald Trump and It’s Even Worse Than You Think. He has lectured on economics, journalism, and tax policy on every continent except Antarctica and is a former president of Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE). Johnston has been a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN, the BBC, ABC World News Tonight, Democracy Now!, and NPR’s Morning Edition, among other shows, and was a consultant for the Netflix series House of Cards.
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The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for It's Even Worse Than You Think
101 ratings14 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Sad that these books are being pushed onto people here. Another politicized outlet “scribed”
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Absolute garbage. Trump derangement syndrome is real and the author's whining rant is almost painful to listen to. He must be a very sad and angry man. The only open people who would enjoy this waste if time are those who already hated President Trump before reading it. Trump 2020. "Make you Cry Again;"
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Very one sided. I don't like Trump personally but this book comes out too one sided.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I’ve read several of his other books and enjoyed but this one is just another load of political scat:
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hated the things he had to say, but all true! This is a very scary account of the current president and what he is capable of. It should be a must read for all, even though his supporters would likely call it fake news. Highly recommended for a deep dive into the mind of the crazy person now occupying the white house. Caution: may cause deep depression and hopelessness about the state of our country. But it does make you want to stand up and fight back.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good analysis of Trump's character, using examples from his life.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a book that gave all information and as the reader can decide.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Honestly, this book didn't so much have me exclaiming "Oh no, it is even worse than I think!" so much as it had me muttering "Yeah, no duh" a lot. There were some things that were new to me here -- mostly involving some fairly complex economic subjects -- but I think you'd have to either be willfully ignorant or to have been living under a rock not to know most of it. (I myself often do hide under rocks when the shitstorm of US politics gets to be too much for me, but apparently I've at least crawled out often enough to get all the basics of how bad it is.)Still. It's nice -- if that's quite the right word -- to have all the ugliness laid out in an organized and coherent fashion. Well, all the ugliness up until sometime in 2018, when this book was published, anyway. There have certainly been new revelations and developments and reasons to bang one's head against a wall pretty much daily since then, so it is a little dated already.For the most part, it's all pretty clearly presented. I did find some of those fairly complex economic subjects a little difficult to follow, but, unlike Trump, I've never presented myself as an expert in economics.I will say that while I appreciate how fervently Johnston makes his arguments -- which include not just laying out all the reasons why Trump is bad at his job and bad for America, but also why it feels like he's setting an extremely worrying precedent -- I think there are a few times throughout the book where he can't resist taking what seems to me to be a slightly cheap shot. It's a temptation I understand, but in the case of Trump, it's hardly one that's necessary. There are so many perfectly legitimate shots to be taken at him instead, after all.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am a Republican. I did not vote for Trump for so many reasons. This book simply takes those reasons and provides me with the reasoning why that was an educated vote. Not only was his behavior such that he was not a valid choice for me, but his actions in office have proved that this is an office he should not hold. We have a self-centered egomaniac in office who has no respect for the truth, people's rights or learning about all of the things he knows little about - diplomacy, science, education, economics, tax law, trade, immigration, etc. Instead he is all about "Let's make Trump great again." If you want a realistic factual look at how Trump is really acting in office read as much as you can from both sides, but be sure to include this book on your list! It is important.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5David Cay Johnston is a working journalist who has covered Donald Trump for decades, and has written two previous books about him. In this book, he looks not at Trump's personal life and all the possible, ah, colorful details, which at this writing are much in the news, but strictly at his actions as President, and his business dealings that explain and illuminate those actions.
This is very much a fact-based book, examining what Trump has actually done, and the practical effects, as well as the direct contrast between Trump's specific and oft-repeated campaign promises to help, for instance, students struggling under student loans or workers who aren't finding jobs because companies have moved those jobs overseas, or to help small businesses, and what his policies really are. Trump has appointed Betsy DeVos to head the Dept. of Education. She has no real education experience, but is deeply involved in for-profit education companies. Under Trump and DeVos, President Obama's progress toward protecting students from predatory loan practices by for-profit schools are being reversed, not improved. This is just one easily summarized example. To fully understand this example and others, Johnston's careful detailing of the actions, their background, and their effects are necessary.
He lays out Trump's many conflicts of interest, and the extent to which Trump's approach to the Presidency is truly different not just from our most respected Presidents, but even from the ones we've considered incompetent or corrupt. We see how tangled, contradictory, and profoundly unhelpful his immigration actions and policies are to the American workers he has promised he will help with those immigration policies are. Again, another example, one better understood with Johnston's detail and context than in a short review.
This is an important book. It is fact-based, not ideology-driven. You will learn by reading or listening to it.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whew...this will take the air out of the room....it will make you think....it will make you mad.....but you won't forget this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Details the impact of the disgrace people elected president....along with the non-voters who blather on about how there is no difference between candidates. Trump's impact on government is detailed, including the dismemberment of the EPA to benefit his rich friends. So much for the idea that electing a rich guy president means he won't be tempted by corruption. It helps if the individual is not so openly, proudly greedy. This book illustrates the depths of Trump's impact on a government he is, conversely, totally unequalled to run.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outstanding book by David Cay Johnston, published in 2018, describing what the election of Donald J. Trump to the office of President of the United States means to the citizens of this country and the world. The author outlines, in detail, the promises Trump made during his campaign and his actions since his inauguration in January of 2017. In the chapter titled, Promises and Performance, the author states, "Critical-thinking skills to perceive and analyze problems not yet imagined are the building blocks of a great nation. And given the many belief systems, desires, and interests of people not just in America but around the worlds, developing a sophisticated understanding of other cultures is also critical to peace and progress." The book includes an index and an extensive Notes section.I recommend the book to those who voted for Donald J. Trump and those who didn't. Before the mid-term elections of 2018 it is important that everyone who plans to vote, and those who don't, make an effort to understand what happened and then form an opinion about what to do about it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trump fans would hate this, but for the rest of us, I found it informative and interesting. I for one find it scary what is happening in the White House at the moment.