Swamp Monsters

Trump vs. DeSantis—the Greatest Show on Earth (or at Least in Florida)

By: Matt Dixon

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

“Delivering juicy details with unrelenting speed and force” (Jonathan Allen), Swamp Monsters is the wild inside story of how Donald Trump made a star of Ron DeSantis and then set out to destroy him—a struggle for supremacy that has turned Florida into the crucible of the new GOP and of America's future—by “one of the keenest and best-sourced observers of Florida’s political maelstrom” (Rick Wilson).

Ron DeSantis was struggling through Florida’s political wilderness when, in late 2017, Donald Trump extended his hand. Ambitious but charmless, DeSantis was a relatively obscure figure even within his own state’s Republican party, and an unlikely pick for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination. But when Trump took to Twitter and praised him as “a brilliant young leader” and “a true FIGHTER,” everything changed—for DeSantis, for Florida, and for the country. Today, as Florida governor and a GOP presidential frontrunner, DeSantis sits within striking distance of the Oval Office, and his onetime benefactor has turned into his most formidable opponent. Florida, meanwhile, has mutated from the country’s biggest swing state into the stronghold of the extremist wing of the Republican party—a place where COVID denialism and culture-war antics have been battle-tested, and where the nation’s political future might just be forged.

In Swamp Monsters, veteran Florida journalist and NBC News senior national politics reporter Matt Dixon pulls back the curtain on the titanic clash between a one-time kingmaker and a would-be king, showing how the battle between Trump and DeSantis has escalated, how it might end—and what it will mean for the country.

©2024 Matt Dixon (P)2024 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

“Dixon… has a deep well of sources to explain [Florida’s] governor… Trump once called DeSantis a ‘brilliant cookie.’ Read within to watch him crumble.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Matt Dixon is one of the keenest and best-sourced observers of Florida’s political maelstrom. In Swamp Monsters, he captures the war between Donald Trump and his former apprentice, Ron DeSantis, with insight, clarity, and deeper analysis than anyone else. Florida is America’s laboratory of crazy ideas, and Matt is your tour guide.”—Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything Trump Touches Dies

“Swamp Monsters is the right book at the right time by the right author. It drops the reader right into the eye of America’s political hurricane, delivering juicy details with unrelenting speed and force.”—Jonathan Allen, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign and Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency

Dixon is an real insider.

Dixon is a real insider. Unfortunately, his disdain for the governor and his social media team takes away from the exclusive information provided in the book. If Dixon would’ve pulled back a bit, the book would’ve been a five star.

Also, there should be an epilogue following DeSantis, Iowa loss.

way bad guys

Very interesting. Sadly, MAGA folks will not like. Am moderate liberal and entire book seems entirely accurate.

The Trump and Ron show

If you want to understand the 2024 Republican primary this book is essential reading. The book helps explain the rise of Ron DeSantis and the long-simmering feud with Trump. I enjoyed getting the perspective of a reporter on the front lines of the DeSantis rise and Florida's transformation from a swing state to a conservative Zion. I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned about the direction of the nation.