"A specter is haunting America--the specter of socialism. Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, we encounter a melange od strange characters---Alexandria Ocasio--Cortez, Rashada Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Bernie Sanders---and a whole political party that seems to be magnetically drawn toward the socialist camp."

Modern polemicist Dinesh D'Souza explains why the push for socialism in the United States is bound to fail, with what seem to be reasonably steelmanned explanations of what American socialists believe. After the first third of the book, he takes some detours into memoirish reflections on the unjustness of the Deep State for bringing felony charges against him (career civil servants prosecuted his illegal campaign contributions in 2014 -- he pled guilty) and unctious flattery for Trump (Trump pardoned him). D'Souza concludes the book with a call to unceasingly confront the other side.

My reaction is twofold. First, D'Souza seems like a total prick. He aggressively ascribes selfish and lazy motivations to literally everyone he disagrees with. (I find ascribed motivations of all sorts to cast a bright light onto the speaker's worldview, as well as any listeners' who unthinkingly agree -- I read a lot into this.) Near the end, his passage celebrating Trump's willingness to kick other people in the shins and imploring "harder! kick him again harder!" was so graphically violent that I had to turn the audio volume down until it was over. I'm sure he'd deride me for that squeamishness. Regardless, these are not the words of someone I'd consider a good man.

On the other hand, he makes a very cogent criticism of modern leftist discourse being muddled. The only socialism that has ever worked, he notes, has been Nordic socialism that is deployed with a consistent ecumenical "we're all in this together" message. That message is in stark contrast to the divisive narrative currently being reinforced by American socialists, which leads many people to feel vilified by their peers for characteristics they never chose: their maleness, their whiteness, their straightness, their cisgenderness, their ablebodiedness, and so on. It's a legitimate and thought-provoking criticism, and it's exactly this kind of valuable take-away I was hoping to find.

If you'll enjoy 2020 American rightwing polemics, this book is for you. For others, though, this book will quickly become dated, and I doubt it's worth much time. ( )

I'm no expert on American politics and had no idea who the author was so was taken by surprise when critique of socialism turned into a love letter to Donald Trump. Probably the most sympathetic description of Trump presidency. Interestingly proffers the only explanation of the meltdown Americans are having over Trump I have ever seen. Otherwise it makes no sense, you had Bush for 4 terms and you didn't complain that much. ( )