Books about former President Donald Trump could fill the presidential library he will probably never build. Lately, they’ve embraced narrow aspects of his career, such as his followers, his Tweets, impeachments one and two, and his final, calamitous year in office. What’s refreshing about Stump Connolly’s book, I TOLD YOU SO! DONALD TRUMP: THE AWFUL YEARS, is its scope, which encompasses the “full Trump” (the book’s prologue, in fact, delves into Trump antiquity, including his 2012 acceptance of the Statesman of the Year Award from the Sarasota County Republican Party). As chief political correspondent of The Week Behind he wrote many columns about Trump, from the 2016 Republican National Convention to the 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Connolly also covered the 2016 Democratic National Convention, and it’s interesting to reflect on how Trump has haunted the Democrats even as they, like much of the nation, pooh-poohed his candidacy. This book is a compilation of those columns.
Trump has been the most written-about individual in the world for the last half-decade. During his presidency, thousands of articles appeared about him daily. Even now, he monopolizes news cycles. Connolly is, in his words, a “tip of the feathers right-wing Republican.” Yet he is no fan of the former President. Many Republicans have spent the last five years cowing to Trump’s whims. A conservative taking him to task is a breath of fresh air. That said, a writer wanting to stand out as Trump chronicler have to offer fresh insights or relay the information in a unique voice, which Connolly fails to do here. Discussing Trump’s ruination of the GOP, he writes, “Like a skunk at a garden party, he left his stink all over the place. And you can’t just sweep up a stink.” Most of Connolly’s columns are just the recitations of facts, with a little outrage mixed in. That’s a useful service: Trump’s election feels like Season 1 of a long-running show, so it’s good to be reminded of those early days. Compared, however, to the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Trump by the Washington Post and the closer, first-hand accounts (by Bob Woodward, Michael Wolff), most of Connolly’s columns feel frustratingly familiar and anodyne.
I TOLD YOU SO! DONALD TRUMP: THE AWFUL YEARS is an informative look back at Donald Trump’s campaign, presidency, and post-presidency.
~Anthony Aycock for IndieReader