Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us
Written by Amanda Carpenter
Narrated by Kirsten Potter
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
In Gaslighting America, Amanda Carpenter breaks down Trump's formula, showing why it's practically foolproof, playing his victims, the media, the Democrats, and the Republican fence-sitters perfectly. She traces how this tactic started with Nixon, gained traction with Bill Clinton, and exploded under Trump.
Where some people see lies, Trump's fierce followers see something different. A commitment to winning at all costs; there is nothing he could say that would erode their support at long as it's in the name of taking down his political enemies.
His opponents on the left and right continue to act as if his fake narratives and conspiracy theories will bring him down, when in fact, they are the ruses that raised him up.
As a conservative former staffer to a competing presidential campaign, Amanda Carpenter witnessed her fellow Republicans fall in line behind Trump. As a political commentator, she was publicly smeared by one of his supporters on live television without a shred of evidence supporting the allegations. Slowly, she watched her entire party succumb to Trump and become defenders of his tactics, and Gaslighting America may be the only hope to bring them back to reality.
Amanda Carpenter
Amanda Carpenter (aka Thea Harrison) resides in northern California. She wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter. She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She's back with her paranormal Elder Races series under the pseudonym Thea Harrison.
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Reviews for Gaslighting America
25 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a very interesting twist on explaining President Trump. Some parts I thought were brilliant, but others were less erudite. The author makes a solid point when she describes the tactics that the President uses in keeping discussions and interview's on track and focused on where he wants the discussion to go. She also sheds light on the phenomenon of Trump obsession. From the time he became a candidate, I found myself obsessed with him. I was almost eager to get out of bed in the morning to see what outrageous thing he had tweeted the previous night. This might be explainable if I was a partisan, but I am not. I disagree with him on almost every issue and I also believe he is mentally ill, but he is fascinating and whatever happens in 2020, I believe that people with still be writing books about him and trying to understand how his mind works.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5You salty bitch lmfao !!! Go f*** yourself lmfao bisch
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I hate it when Trump lies to us (if he's talking, he's lying), but after reading this book, at least I now understand better his MO. I think that all journalists should also read this book, as they're constantly getting sucked into his nonsense rather than asking the important questions. Although the author is a staunch conservative, and I do not agree with her political stances on most subjects, nevertheless she does a good job of deciphering Trump.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finally, someone who can explain to me in terms that I can understand exactly what Trump is doing! While I do not agree with all, or even many of Carpenter's political positions, what she describes in this book is spot on! I am now watching everything Trump says and does with a new understanding. She breaks down his "gaslighting" process into five easy, recognizable steps. 1. Trump sets the narrative through an outlet that does not challenge him (Fox) to float a wild claim so no one questions it. 2. Once people actually start to question his outrageous claim, he does an "advance and deny" dance where he simply says that he does not know if it is true or not, but it was made by or in some vague unverified source. 3. To keep the story going, Trump promises more information will be coming shortly, even if he knows there is no information in the first place. He just wants people to keep talking about it.4. If anyone poses a threat to Trump or his story, he simply goes on Twitter and discredits them. He keeps this up at rallies and in any other public forum he can. He will only stop if they recant and become one of his supporters. 5. Trump claims he won the argument, even if he did not. Anything to the contrary is blamed on others because the system is rigged or people are dishonest. Carpenter goes on to describe how we can avoid falling prey to this scam and allow us to survive the Trump presidency. This is a great read for every citizen and especially for members of the media. Carpenter's book is insightful, timely and extremely well-written.