For all the chaos the drip, drip of norm-shattering headlines represented during Trump's four years in office, this book condenses into one eminently readable volume that almost feels like fiction. The biggest unanswered question that this book prompted for me was how much closer even the nation would have been to crisis after crisis had the "adults" in the administration not been in the room, even though many of them did not last long — and how to trade this off with the fact that most all of those same "adults" were power-hungry officials looking to capitalize in the moment, and that they stood by and supported other objectively bad/inhumane/borderline illegal policies only to draw an arbitrary line later on.

Trump's plans with Schedule F for the civil service and a more unapologetic approach enabled by yes-men staff has me ever more concerned about a potential second term, with no moderating factors at all. Hopefully this book does not require a sequel.

Thanks Jordan for visiting in DC and bringing me to a book talk on this!