The Conspiracy to End America

Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy

By: Stuart Stevens

Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms

Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

“This is the first must-read of the 2024 election cycle if you want to understand the stakes.” –Nicole Wallace

A former chief Republican strategist and bestselling author of It Was All a Lie offers an ominous warning that the G.O.P. is dragging our country towards autocracy, and if we don’t wake up to the crisis in our system, 2024 may well be our last free and fair election.

Today’s Republican party is not a “normal” political party in the American tradition. It has become an autocratic movement masquerading as a political party. As Stuart Stevens argues in The Conspiracy to End America, if we look away from that truth, we greatly increase the likelihood that the America we love will slip away, never to return.

Whenever a democracy slides into autocracy, there are five critical elements at work: financers, propagandists, party support, legal theories to legitimize, and shock troops. The Conspiracy to End America examines each of these driving forces on the Right and makes clear how they are working in concert to end our democracy as we know it.

In the tradition of It Can’t Happen Here and On Tyranny, The Conspiracy to End America is a blinking red distress call about the dark intentions lurking within Stevens’ old party and a rallying cry to beat back this perilous threat and save the Republic.

©2023 Stuart Stevens (P)2023 Twelve

Critic reviews

“Republican campaign legend Stuart Stevens used his skills to battle Trump as candidate and president. Now Trump is back—and so is Stevens, with this anguished and eloquent summons to stand for democracy against reactionary authoritarianism at home and abroad.” (David Frum, senior editor at The Atlantic and MSNBC contributor)

“In THE CONSPIRACY TO END AMERICA, Stuart Stevens uses his decades of working within the Republican Party to lay out in brutally honest terms how his old party is turning America into an autocracy. Every person—Democrat, Republican, and Independent—concerned about the rise of Trumpism should read this book.” (Dan Pfeiffer, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump)

“As a former Republican strategist and media consultant, [Stevens] knows the threat we face today from the Republican Party, which has embraced autocracy and works to damage our democracy beyond repair. His timely and heartfelt book lays out the essential elements and enablers of authoritarianism with admirable clarity. It’s essential and timely reading.” (Ruth Ben-Giat, MSNBC Opinion Columnist and author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present)

The Broad Range of the Historical Epochs of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

Certainly, the broad overview presented. Catholicism's history is deftly presented. In terms of the post Vatican II Church, the author spent considerable time discussing the negative impact of the papal encycical, In Humanae Vitae. Interestingly, the author states that lay Catholics mostly ignore it and use contraception and view the use of contraception as being responsible. Clearly, the Church and Pope Paul VI who authored and promulgated this encycical, miscalculated.

I was surprised that the author said nothing of the ultra conservative, traditional Catholics that were forme bt Archbishop Lefebvre. His SSPX created an oppositional group to the seamlessness of Vatican II in regards to liturgical practice.

This is a wortwhile tome and a decent, concise history of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, warts and all.

Every American should read this book, mostly Republicans.

As a lifelong Republican, Stuart is hitting the nail on the head. A must read for any never Trumper’s. A must read for anyone that really wants to have a democratic form of government in America. This thread is serious and real.

Knowledge, understanding, insight, authenticity!

I thought this book on what is going on with Trump and the Republican party. I found the book very informative, truthful, and essential to understand what is happening to our democracy. I respect the author Stewart Stevens and have been following him for years
Must listen to this.

Required Reading

Author Stuart Stevens offers a compelling, easy to read diagnosis of our current national political landscape, especially that of the Grand Old Party. Trump’s GOP is not Lincoln’s party. It’s now an anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian party which seeks to rule the country like autocrats in Hungary, the Philippines, India, and Brazil (under Bolsonaro).

Necessary

A must read. Hard realities that true conservatives must face. Sobering for progressives that might consider not voting. Hopefully a book that will help unite all who want to protect our country.

An insider's insight about his former party

If only this were required reading for every voter and every candidate for office from grassroots to federal level, we might be able to strengthen our democracy instead of losing it to an autocrat and his craven followers. America seems to have lost its way and too few of its citizens are even paying attention.

Scary but true

Unfortunately the people who need to hear this - Republican voters - will likely not - more than unfortunate - it’s tragic.

The truth you need to hear.

This author very clearly described how our democracy is about to be overturned! His explanation and evidence of it was easily understood. My only regret was that the book was too short. I loved it!

The truth shall make you free…

Great reporting and analysis by a humble man who knows well his subject and who writes. Steven’s helped elect Republican candidates for four decades. His portrayal of that party as a cult of personality based on racism and fear is compelling.

So what do we do to save the American experiment in democracy? As you point to Marjory Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz, and/or Donald Trump, ask any Republican you really care about: “Is that who you really are?”

If they answer “Yes,” then reply “I really hoped you were better than that. Why are you so afraid?”

Then vote Democratic!

Fear for America

This description of the current state of American politics and zeitgeist is terrifying. Racism and individualism is supreme. White Christian nationalism, embodied by the likes of Bannon and Flynn threatens the future of democracy.