Unmaking the Presidency

Donald Trump's War on the World's Most Powerful Office

By: Susan Hennessey, Benjamin Wittes

Narrated by: Benjamin Wittes, Susan Hennessey

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

This program is read by the authors.

The definitive account of how Donald Trump has wielded the powers of the American presidency.

The extraordinary authority of the US presidency has no parallel in the democratic world. Today, that authority resides in the hands of one man, Donald J. Trump. But rarely if ever has the nature of a president clashed more profoundly with the nature of the office. Unmaking the Presidency tells the story of the confrontation between a person and the institution he almost wholly embodies.

From the moment of his inauguration, Trump has challenged our deepest expectations of the presidency. But what are those expectations, where did they come from, and how great is the damage? As editors of the "invaluable" (The New York Times) Lawfare website, Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes have attracted a large audience to their hard-hitting and highly informed commentary on the controversies surrounding the Trump administration. In this audiobook, they situate Trump-era scandals and outrages in the deeper context of the presidency itself. How should we understand the oath of office when it is taken by a man who may not know what it means to preserve, protect, and defend something other than himself? What aspects of Trump are radically different from past presidents and what aspects have historical antecedents? When has he simply built on his predecessors’ misdeeds, and when has he invented categories of misrule entirely his own?

By setting Trump in the light of history, Hennessey and Wittes provide a crucial and durable account of a presidency like no other.

©2020 Susan Hennessey, Benjamin Wittes (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Definitely the best book concerning Trump

I highly recommend this book to people debating about this on a daily basis online and elsewhere. The historical perspective and analysis is absolutely first rate. The best book yet regarding this national crisis. To Trump supporters: This book argues against Trump but does so in the most professional and objective way I have seen to date. EXCELLENT BOOK. A must-read for resistance and Trump supporters alike.

synergistically apocryphal

As a simple citizen of this country I like many have struggled to understand how we have gotten to this point in our history. Not all questions are answered but enough are in this book that it succeeds in providing an overarching picture of what has happened. It has not helped me understand how so many of my fellow countrymen and women can accept this president’s behavior, dishonesty and destructive police lies or what we do now.

A GREAT BOOK

This book is great. It could be because I am already so comfortable hearing Ben and Susan on audio because I always listen to Lawfare and the Report but I think their delivery here was captivating.

So why is this book great? It’s great because it satisfies the parts of political junkies that love history. If you read all the biographies of all the presidents you will like this book because it weaves through the times other presidents have used their authority in questionable ways in the past. Of course, never against the nation’s best interests. The book builds up really well to explaining how this “expressive presidency” is a truly new and vapid and explains how BAD it is that there are cabinet members saving us from the president because of how future leaders might lose control of their underlings. It’s very persuasive, well researched, and tightly written, which is basically the only way to make a normal book into a great audio book.

Thanks to the authors for your ongoing service to the country and to my ears!!

Get it and listen!!!

Excellent

This is a book that I believe will stand the test of time and be used by future generations looking back on these turbulent historic times. It’s not like many other of the books about the Trump administration - the shocking behavior isn’t the point. It puts the behavior in context of what is and isn’t a lawful power of the presidency and contrasts it with how previous presidents have wielded their powers while in office. It’s a fascinating breakdown of presidential power in light of the current occupant of the White House.

Also, I’m used to hearing Ben and Susan from their appearances on their Lawfare and Rational Security podcasts, so I loved that they narrated themselves.

Essential reading

Intelligent, analytical, and chilling. The authors dig deeper than most croniclers of this sometimes baffling, always heartbreaking presidency.

Not the best but a good starting point

If you've not read other writing on this criminal administration, this is a decent place to start. But if you are at all familiar with its history then this book falls well short of the mark. I've already read all the works they've referenced, which go into far greater detail on the various subjects this book tries to cover.

It lost me entirely when the authors claimed George W Bush did not lie about WMD because the intelligence agencies told him they existed. The problem was the intelligence agencies told him they were not likely there.

Returning this book for something in more depth.

Clear about what makes a president

An amazing articulation of where our expectations of what a president is originated, and how dare off that important path Trump has strayed.

Loads of real information!

Narrative moves along quickly with riveting anecdotes and historical references. It is reassuring to know that there are many really smart people raising alarms to the administration...or lack of administration.

A Must Read Book to understand the Presidency

This is a terrific book and I highly recommend it for everyone who cares about this country.

PRESCIENT DEMISE OF DEMOCRACY

Astonishing and insightful view of the potential "Expiry" of our "American Dream". Note the historical view of our freedoms , threaten by a contemporary perversion of the fundamental precepts our Constitution. The President, enabled by the GOP, have purposefully abandoned the well-being of the nation and the world, to foster and promote their own self interest, power and wealth.