The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story - Paperback

by Joy-Ann Reid (Author)NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Is Donald Trump running the "longest con" in U.S. history? How did we get here? What will be left of America when he leaves office? Candidate Trump sold Americans a vision that was seemingly at odds with their country's founding principles. Now in office, he's put up a "for sale" sign--on the prestige of the presidency, on America's global stature, and on our national identity. At what cost have these deals come? Joy-Ann Reid's essential new book, The Man Who Sold America, delivers an urgent accounting of our national crisis from one of our foremost political commentators. “Joy Reid masterfully combines the immediacy of news reporting, the intimacy of memoir, and the sweep of a history book―from the anti-immigrant Know Nothing Party of the 1850s to Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid attempt at ‘reconciliation.’ The Man Who Sold America delivers a compelling account of how we got to Trumpism and what will happen next.” - Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell “Passionate, smart, and breathtakingly original, The Man Who Sold America will explain Trump to readers for years to come.” - Michael Tomasky, contributing opinion writer, The New York Times; editor, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas; and author of If We Can Keep It: How the Republic Collapsed and How It Might Be Saved “The political analyst and host of AM Joy on MSNBC argues that President Trump’s administration is characterized by grift and venality that demeans the office and diminishes America.” - New York Times Book Review, “New & Notable” Three years ago, Donald Trump pitched millions of voters on the idea that their country was broken, and that the rest of the world was playing us "for suckers." All we needed to fix this was Donald Trump, who rebranded prejudice as patriotism, presented diversity as our weakness, and promised that money really could make the world go 'round. Trump made the sale to enough Americans in three key swing states to win the Electoral College. As president, Trump's raft of self-dealing, scandal, and corruption has overwhelmed the national conversation. And with prosecutors bearing down on Trump and his family business, the web of criminality is circling closer to the Oval Office. All this while Trump seemingly makes his administration a pawn for the ultimate villain: an autocratic former KGB officer in Russia who found in the untutored and eager forty-fifth president the perfect "apprentice." What is the hidden impact of Trump, beyond the headlines? Through interviews with American and international thought leaders and in-depth analysis, Reid situates the Trump era within the context of modern history, examining the profound social changes that led us to this point. Providing new context and depth to our understanding, The Man Who Sold America reveals the causes and consequences of the Trump presidency and contends with the future that awaits us. About the author JOY-ANN REID is the host of “The ReidOut” on MSNBC. A 1991 Harvard University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual and Environmental Studies with a concentration in documentary film and a 2003 Knight Center for Advanced Journalism fellow, Reid has a longtime interest in politics and elections. During a hiatus from the news business, she worked as a press secretary for the national voter registration and mobilization entity, America Coming Together in 2004 and for the Florida branch of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. Reid has written 4 books: Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Racial Divide, We Are the Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama (with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne), The New York Times best-selling, The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story and her latest: Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America. An honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Reid has received 6 NAACP Image Award nominations and The ReidOut received the award for best talk program in 2020. The documentary she co-Executive Produced: The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show (directed by Yoruba Richen) was nominated for an Emmy Award. And she has received media awards from the Women’s Media Center, the National Action Network, and GLAAD.