Everything Trump Touches Dies

By: Rick Wilson

Narrated by: Rick Wilson

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

Includes a brand-new afterword read by the author!  

A respected, longtime Republican strategist, ad maker, and contributor for The Daily Beast skewers the disease that is destroying the conservative movement and burning down the GOP: Trumpism.

In Everything Trump Touches Dies, political campaign strategist and commentator Rick Wilson brings his darkly funny humor and biting analysis to the absurdity of American politics in the age of Trump. Wilson mercilessly exposes the damage Trump has done to the country, to the Republican Party he served for decades, and to the conservative movement that has abandoned its principles for the worst president in American history.

No left-winger, Wilson is a lifelong conservative who delivers his withering critique of Trump from the right. A leader of the Never Trump movement, he warns his own party of the political catastrophe that leaves everyone involved with Trump with reputations destroyed and lives in tatters.

Wilson unblinkingly dismantles Trump’s deceptions and the illusions to which his supporters cling, shedding light on the guilty parties who empower and enable Trump in Washington and the news media. He calls out the race-war dead-enders who hitched a ride with Trump, the alt-right basement dwellers who worship him, and the social conservatives who looked the other way.

Everything Trump Touches Dies deftly chronicles the tragicomic Trump story from the early campaign days through the shock of election night to the inconceivable train wreck of Trump's first year. Rick Wilson provides not only an insightful analysis of the Trump administration but also an optimistic path forward for the GOP, the conservative movement, and the country.

Combining insider political analysis, blunt truths, and black humor, Everything Trump Touches Dies is perfect for those on either side of the aisle who need a dose of unvarnished reality, a good laugh, a strong cocktail, and a return to sanity in American politics.

©2018 Rick Wilson (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

A republican who is about to change party affiliation

I wish I discovered this book earlier. I have been a fan of Rick since I first saw him on CNN. I have been voting R since Eisenhower. The 2020 election will be my first D vote ever and Rick has reinforced my belief that I am doing the right thing.

11 people found this helpful

"I laugh, because I must not cry..."

I am proud to stand and be counted among Rick Wilson's fans. Before going any further, a bit of an explanation is in order.
For most of my life, I've considered myself rather right-of-center. I've been a country kid all my life, first in Minnesota and then in Tennessee. I'm a straight white male, in my twenties. I read the Bible often, I love owning guns, I put up with paying taxes, I won't take a dime if I ain't earned it (thank you, Josh Thompson), and I consider it a privilege to have a grandfather, an uncle, a college history professor, and a little brother in the US Marines. In other words, I ought to be the target demographic for the MAGA message. But I am not and never will be, an admirer of the current President. When he said John McCain wasn't a hero, and chose to insult Mr. and Mrs. Khan, I knew I would never, ever warm to this man. While in college, I had the privilege of studying abroad in Vietnam twice, with Dr. Frisby, the aforementioned Marine veteran who was one of my history teachers. Both times, we visited Hoa Lo Prison (the "Hanoi Hilton"). What is more, I saw a monument erected in Hanoi, erected in McCain's honor, on the shores of the lake where he had ejected and was captured during the war. When the POTUS has less respect for one of America's greatest heroes than the same country that imprisoned and tortured him, something is fundamentally, unmistakably wrong.

I relate everything above in an effort to show that I am not your average flag-burning pinko, SJW, or some Antifa whackadoodle chucking Molotov cocktails on the streets of Portland. I love America, and being American, and the more history I read and learn, the more love I have for this country; and the more anger I have towards those on the Left who think that America is somehow What's Wrong with the World, and who ceaselessly carry water for any crackpot tyrant who will slander the United States. For a long time, I would have been proud to be considered a man of the Right.

No longer. From 2016 onward, what should be obvious to everyone is that there is something deeply rotten and foul in the body and mind of the American Right. When the President's most fervent followers constitute a veritable Who's Who of the meanest, craziest, vilest, greediest, most hypocritical, violent, and bigoted people in the nation...anyone with a deep-seated love of this country ought to be taken aback. How did we go so horribly astray? And how do we correct our course?

Enter Rick Wilson. In this book, he gave us (to quote the man himself) the tough love that we never got from talk radio. In a media landscape saturated with self-aggrandizement and algorithm-enforced flattery, Wilson's book, as well as his continued writings in The Daily Beast, function as a bucket of ice water thrown in a drunk's face. Sometimes, we all need to be slapped around a bit before we can regain our senses. What makes Wilson valuable as a commentator is not just his frankness, his acidic sense of humor, his flair for insult comedy that rival's Trump's own (he needs to trademark "The Hucklebeast" before somebody else does!) and his own political savvy after years in the arena. It's his willingness to punch both Right and Left, and his refusal to be anyone's fool. This book is full of harsh (but good) medicine for people on either side of the infantile battle between All the Little Trumps and the Sandernistas. In Rick Wilson's quest for common sense and for patriotism, nobody is safe and no sacred cow is left un-grilled. And the book is all the funnier for it. Sometimes, the truth is so painful it's hilarious.

10 people found this helpful

A Great Listen (No Matter What Your Party Is)!

This is one of those books that you will be apt to feel just a bit guilty about reading (or, listening to). It is brutal, highly judgmental, often sarcastic, and even quite crude, at times. Regardless, it is a frank, unvarnished insider's look at the Trump presidency told by an undeniably well-informed Republican political strategist. Humor is the sugar that makes this bitter political tale palatable. Rick Wilson's narration provides a rare first-hand expression of the emotions attached to the fears, frustrations, regrets, and anxieties surrounding the story.

This is a rare example of a Trump critique from the point of view of a true conservative and there is something for any political partisan in this book. For liberals, there is a rare view of how the rise of Trumpism has damaged the GOP and destabilized the two party system. For conservatives, there is an explanation of how years of political scorched earth tactics sabotaged the future of the party. For those who didn't vote or voted for certain losers, it shows how they became dupes of those who sought to manipulate the election.

This book will ultimately challenge many of the long-held beliefs of partisans of every stripe. After listening to it, even if you maintain your old opinion, you will probably need to rethink it.

54 people found this helpful

Entertaining, masterful roast of Trump's GOP

Rick is a master with the English language. He's an insider and pulls no punches showing the moral rot of what used to be the GOP (and the political ineptitude of the Dems).

If you've followed Trump-Russia, the thread that is noticeably unpulled in this book is the collusion, illegality, and likely layers of dirty dealings and blackmail that have gone into the cartoonish, slobbering public prostrations GOPers give Trump. Rick shows the indefensible positions, mocks the absurdity and moral decrepitude of it all, then essentially shrugs with a "gee, wonder why they did that..?" and moves on.

In a sense, what Rick's book shows is who was and was not on the take. Rick Wilson, for whatever you think of his previous work writing attack ads against Dems, was not on the take.

And about that past work... Rick casually slips in that he helped with the (brilliant) ads that took down (leacherous GOP candidate and odious human) Roy Moore. That fact should chasten Dems who laugh along with Rick's assessment of the Dem's political incompetence, but then think, "yeah, but Trump is so toxic now that he'll take down himself, ...right?" Not true. Just like the 2016 election that was Hillary's to lose (and I'm actually a huge Hillary fan), Dems may lose again if they don't quickly lean on and learn from people like Rick Wilson.

18 people found this helpful

The Author Weilds Humor and Wit Like a Sword!

I've listened to nearly all of the recent books offering critiques of the current administration (a few of which were outstanding) and this one leaves them all in the dust! It simply deserves to be heard by everyone, and it has the advantage of not having been written by a "leftist," for those of you on the "right" who may be tempted to call into question the author's credibility!

In this book, the author takes personal responsibility for the role he played in helping to bring about the dystopian political climate we're currently experiencing in "The United States," by running negative and hyperbolic campaign ads for decades which were carefully crafted to appeal to prejudice and the baser emotions of his constituency rather than providing them with valid reasons to vote for the candidates he was paid to endorse. With the full admission of helping to create the Frankenstein's Monster the GOP has become, his brilliant take-down of weakness, cowardice and the abandonment of principles by those in power looks like a sincere effort to right the ship.

Don't believe reviews that dismiss this book as just another example of unadulterated "Trump-bashing," though there is plenty of bashing to be had where truth makes its demands! In my estimation, this book has much more substance than that, and within its pages can be found a heavy dose of "tough love" for all Americans regardless of where they find themselves on the political spectrum!

The author wields humor and wit like a sword--cutting through the BS from both political extremes! I honestly never imagined that I could find myself in such agreement with a conservative Republican, given my perceptions about what that entails in today's "'Murica," but I found little or nothing with which to disagree (or even be mildly offended by) in this revealing book. Rather than taking offense at his apparent 'prima facie' dismissal of Senator Sanders' progressive policies, for example, I found myself intrigued by what his objections might be, and the underlying arguments they are based on (he doesn't go into it here).

This book makes a strong argument that governing by privilege and power of the "Executive Order" (a feature of the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, as well as the current one) is not "governing" at all, and does not equate to "getting things done" when a successor can just as easily "undo" any and all previous executive orders and initiate his or her own just as arbitrarily as their predecessors did. The book, then, serves as a clarion call to our elected officials to put aside all foolishness and get back to the important business of getting things done in Washington by restoring regular order, and by passing sensible legislation based--not on party of origin--but on how objectively well it serves the interests of the American people.

If you find that you have an insatiable fetish for all things, Donald Trump (like in the way you probably spent much of your free time as a child eating paint chips or lighting ants on fire with a magnifying glass), then you will probably find much of this book very hard to listen to; but of all people, you probably need to hear it more than anyone!

7 people found this helpful

Glad I'm not a Trump fan!

I expected this book to be a blockbuster, but even I could not anticipate how blistering this book would be. Rick Wilson loathes Donald Trump and all those who surround him, and he is happy to let the rest of us in on his insider's story. Love it if you despise Trump; hate it if you love him. And if you're a smug Democrat (as I am), be prepared to hear some unhappy challenges to your intellectual superiority.

77 people found this helpful

Required Reading

This book contains all you need to know but were afraid to ask, and all that you know but didn’t want to believe. Big thanks to Rick Wilson . Blunt -Tough Love- #Salute!

10 people found this helpful

Talking sense and talking trash in perfect sync!

Let's be real, you're here to hear a well-spoken man bash trump. He does so both eloquently and sensibly while remaining entertaining. He definitely has some strong republican views, but as a democrat I found myself respecting his version of republicanism - one that doesn't kowtow to hatred, fear-mongering, and a general sense of nothing-matters-but-the-votes. Definitely worth a listen. Its both enjoyable and thought provoking.

42 people found this helpful

Everything Trump Touches Dies is a hard book to review

Hi all!

This was a funny, irreverent, and steeply unapologetic book about The Trump Presidency. Reading this as a Democrat and Liberal, I can’t help but point out the obvious fallacy of this book: Rick Wilson tries hard to point the blame at Trump for everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. I believe, however, that Trump is a symptom of the deeper Republican problem— not the cause. These issues of racism, bigotry, and prejudice did not just crop up in 2016; they are issues that have plagued the Republican Party for years. Trump may be the antithesis of everything traditional conservatives believe, but their neighbors in the Republican Party were asking for it for a decade or more.

If, like me, you are a Democrat who wishes to read this book, buckle up and prepare to grit your teeth. A lot. But also prepare to laugh and walk away with a deeper understanding of “that other party.”

121 people found this helpful

Gives me hope

The book as written and performed is magnificent. Listing to the POV of a GOP insider gives me hope that Democrats will learn from all of their mistakes and that the GOP as it stands today will be as extinct as the Whigs.

20 people found this helpful