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FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE PRESIDENT TRUMP’S NEXT OUTBURST WILL BE THE ONE THAT FINALLY BRINGS HIM DOWN. IN FACT, THE EXACT OPPOSITE IS TRUE: HIS OUTRAGEOUS ANTICS AND WILD LIES ARE HIS BIGGEST STRENGTH.
This may drive you a little crazy. Amanda Carpenter says: That’s the point. Over the years, Trump has developed a winning formula that forces anyone who stands in his way into a discombobulated state of weakness and confusion.
In Gaslighting America, Carpenter breaks down Trump’s playbook, showing why it’s practically foolproof, manipulating all the major players—the Republicans, the Democrats, the media, and the victims of his method—perfectly. She traces how this tactic started with Nixon, gained traction with Bill Clinton, and exploded under Trump.
Carpenter explains that when Trump seizes control over the political narrative, he always follows the same steps. First, he stakes out political territory no one else would dare occupy, taking over the news cycle. Next, he denies responsibility while simultaneously advancing the story. His third step may be his most maddening: he creates suspense for his story by saying more information is coming soon. His fourth step is carefully selecting a detractor to attack, often finding the weakest opponent or someone who will be severely damaged by taking a roll in the mud with him. If he’s successful, and sometimes even when he’s not, he’ll proceed to the fifth step: declaring victory under any circumstance.
As a former communications staffer to Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter witnessed firsthand how her fellow Republicans fell in line behind Trump. As a political commentator, she was publicly smeared by one of his supporters on live television without a shred of evidence supporting the allegations. Slowly, she watched her entire party succumb to Trump and become defenders of his tactics. In this lively and thorough book, Carpenter skillfully gives Republicans and Democrats the information they need to counter President Trump’s most valuable weapon.
About the author
Amanda Carpenter (aka Thea Harrison) resides in northern California. She wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter. She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She's back with her paranormal Elder Races series under the pseudonym Thea Harrison.
Summary
A CNN contributor, former Ted Cruz staffer, and "Never Trump" adherent reveals a shocking truth: Donald Trump’s lies and fabrications don’t horrify America—they enthrall us—and explains how we can avoid falling for them.
"Can you believe what Donald Trump said?"
In Gaslighting America, Carpenter breaks down Trump’s formula, showing why it’s practically foolproof, playing his victims, the media, the Democrats, and the Republican fence-sitters perfectly. She traces how this tactic started with Nixon, gained traction with Bill Clinton, and exploded under Trump. If you think Trump is driving you crazy, it’s because he is. Now, in this urgent book, she explains how to withstand the fire.
Where some people see lies, Trump’s fierce followers see something different. A commitment to winning at all costs; there is nothing he could say that would erode their support at long as it’s in the name of taking down his political enemies.
His opponents on the left and right continue to act as if his fake narratives and conspiracy theories will bring him down, when in fact, they are the ruses that raised him up.
As a conservative former staffer to a competing presidential campaign, Amanda Carpenter witnessed her fellow Republicans fall in line behind Trump. As a political commentator, she was publicly smeared by one of his supporters on live television without a shred of evidence supporting the allegations. Slowly, she watched her entire party succumb to Trump and become defenders of his tactics, and Gaslighting America may be the only hope to bring them back to reality.
Additional text
“The hallmark of a true autocrat is the ability to harness the potency of a lie and use it to alter the citizens’ perception of what is truth. Donald Trump is a master at using the shock value of lies, spin, and disinformation to challenge the very existence of observable reality. Amanda Carpenter’s Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us brilliantly threads the needle to explain how Trump exploits the media and the voters’ emotions to weave his own presidential tapestry through a withering litany of lies. The 2020 election is coming, and in this book, Carpenter shows exactly how Trump will try to deceive, distract, and delude America again.”
