This spooky, scary season is a good time to read Leibovich’s spooky, scary book.  Mostly anecdotal, it portrays otherwise sane people who descended into “servitude as they made their deals and swallowed their pride.” Truly scary.

 

A long-time Washington correspondent for major publications, Leibovich writes “from the view of the Trump Hotel, if not always physically,” as he describes the many Republican politicians who despised Trump, but became his lackeys.  The Trump Hotel refers to the Old Post Office Building at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. which opened as the Trump International Hotel in September of 2016.  A few months later the owner of “DJT Holdings, LLC” began his “side hustle.”

 

In snappy language with prodigious puns, Leibovich paints a picture of King Trump and his Servants.  Or were they Nannies, charged with keeping the Royal Toddler happy, while cleaning up his messes?  Leibovich describes a particularly revealing Cabinet meeting a few months into 2017, where the  “Alpha Lapdogs” competed to pay homage to the boss.  Mike Pence “was the unquestioned maestro of this top-level symphony of sycophancy” showing that DJT had chosen “the perfect doormat” when he asked Pence to be his VP.  Pence “stood by his man in the most nakedly servile of ways.”  Only one Secretary said something else; it wasn’t negative (heaven forbid!) but Trump was noticeably unhappy.

 

Not all the Trumpsters were elected officials needing a pat on the head to feel fulfilled.  Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the “master creature of the Trump Swamp.”  Reince Priebus was a “zookeeper”for the six months he was Chief of Staff.  Jeff Sessions gave up a safe Alabama Senate seat he had held for 20 years to become Trump’s first Attorney General.   Trump eventually fired the “dumb Southerner.”

 

Then there are the lies. We’ve all learned that Trump lives in a fantasy world in which he is the biggest and best at everything.  Leibovich describes how he pulled everyone else into that world, over and over again.

 

Having studied politics and politicians for sixty years, I know that they all lie. They lie because they have to lie to get and keep their jobs.  But the normal range of political lies is one Pinocchio.  Normal for Trump was four Pinocchios.  Under his tutelage, that became the norm for those who served him.