On Books & Reading: A Trifecta of Trump-Themed Tomes

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Hi there! It’s late morning here in New Hometown, Florida on Wednesday, July 28, 2021. Presently, the temperature is 83˚F (28˚C) under sunny skies. With the wind blowing at 1 MPH and humidity at 69%, the heat index is 90˚F (32˚C). Today’s forecast calls for scattered rain showers and a high of 89˚F (32˚C). Tonight, thunderstorms will move across our area and the low will be 76˚F (24˚C). The Air Quality Index (AQI) is 75 or Moderate.

As you know, this week I ordered a few books from Amazon with a common theme – the failed Presidency of one Donald J. Trump. I expect to get one – MacTrump: A Shakespearean Tragicomedy of the Trump Administration, Part I by Ian Doescher and Jacopo della Quercia – sometime today.

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I also ordered the current non-fiction bestseller I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Yearby Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philp Rucker. Published just eight days ago, it’s already #1 on the Amazon Charts and high on the New York Times Bestsellers list. It has not been shipped yet, so I probably won’t be getting it until Saturday.

And as if that weren’t enough about The Donald, this morning I added a new title to this month’s haul of books – And the Last Trump Shall Sound: A Future History of America, a three-novella anthology written by Harry Turtledove, Cat Rambo, and James Morrow.

What’s And the Last Trump Shall Sound: A Future History of America about?

Here’s its Amazon product description:

The most relevant science fiction release of 2020 by three award-winning authors

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”― First Corinthians 15:52

From New York Times bestselling author, Harry Turtledove, critically-acclaimed novelist, James Morrow, and Nebula Award finalist, Cat Rambo, comes a masterful anthology of three sensational novellas depicting a dark fictional future of the United States.

And the Last Trump Shall Sound is a prophetic warning about where we, as a nation, may be headed. Mike Pence is President of the United States after years of divisive, dogmatic control by Donald Trump. The country is in turmoil as the Republicans have strengthened their stronghold on Congress, increasing their dominance. And with the support of the Supreme Court, more conservative than ever, State governments become more marginalized by the authoritarian rule of the Federal government.

There are those who cannot abide by what they view as a betrayal of the nation’s founding principles. Once united communities break down and the unthinkable suddenly becomes the only possible solution: the end of the Union.

The authors’ depiction of a country that is both unfamiliar and yet unnervingly all too realistic, make you realize the frightening possible consequences of our increased polarization―a dire warning to all of us of where we may be headed unless we can learn to come together again.

And, of course, the film project I’m working on – albeit at a slower pace than I would like – is Trump-centric as well.

It never ceases to amaze me that someone as crass, unethical, and outrageously immoral as Donald John Trump could get elected to the highest elective office in the United States of America. I mean, seriously. The man’s entire history of racism, failed business ventures (Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, the New Jersey Generals – a USFL football team Trump owned in the 1980s – and Trump University), and his bad habit of cheating subcontractors and students of the now-closed Trump University were out there for the public to see, yet he still won the 2016 Presidential election.

Worse, even after his defeat in the 2020 Presidential election and the closely-related assault on the U.S. Capitol by thousands of angry pro-Trump agitators (including members of right wing militias such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers), Trump is still the de facto leader of the Republican Party and is adored by millions of conservatives, especially among whites who identify as Christian (especially Evangelicals), Republican, and live in the Midwest, the South, and parts of the West.

If Sigmund Freud were around today, he would say that Trump still has avid supporters because as inept and unpresidential as he is, he knows how to tap into America’s Id.

You know, exactly how a failed artist from Vienna became a German politician and rose to the pinnacle of power in 1930s Germany by promising that he, and he alone could fix that nation’s ills and “Make Deutschland Great Again.”

Well, Dear Reader, it seems that the weather has taken a turn for the worse; the skies are now dark overhead, and those scattered showers that were predicted have morphed into thunderstorms, so I must post this and be off. So…stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.