Will Byrnes's Reviews > Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

Why this Book? To paraphrase the political scientist Liam Neeson: “I have a very particular set of skills. Skills that I acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.”
…I no longer use those skills to serve the party I once loved. That party is gone…I’m telling you this because Democrats are going to lose to Donald Trump in 2020 unless they understand what my former team is about to do.

…Think of it this way: When a senior KGB officer who decided he’d had enough of throwing people into the gulag or supporting a corrupt kleptocracy walked into an American embassy during the Cold War, the right response wasn’t “Fuck you.” The correct response was “Hey, we’d LOVE to check out this boatload of intel, plans, strategies, and data you’ve collected while you’ve been kicking our asses.” It was “Oh, so that’s how you did it.”
I’m coming in from the cold, whether you like it or not. I have a low tolerance for stupidity, and by God I will overcome your stubborn resistance to the truth.

Rick Wilson - image from Fast Company – photo credit - Celine Grouard

Rick Wilson is the Don Rickles (Mister Warmth) of political punditry. They are both laugh out loud funny and extremely caustic. Rickles, who died in 2017 after a very long and successful career as a stand-up comedian and actor made his living by making people laugh while saying terrible things about them, to their faces. Wilson could probably have a career in comedy if he wanted one, but he has other ambitions. Thankfully they are not the same as his old ambitions. Wilson has made a career of advising Republican candidates for office, and working as an opinion writer. He advised Rudy Giuliani while he was mayor of New York City, and in his campaign against Hillary Clinton for Senate. He was a field director in George H.W. Bush’s 1988 presidential run. In 2002 he was a media advisor to Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. In that campaign, he attacked Democratic Senator Max Cleland, who had lost three limbs to a grenade in Viet Nam, as soft on defense, dishonestly linking him with Osama bin Laden. He created an ad in the 2008 presidential race that attacked Obama for his association with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. In 2014 he crafted a GOP ad that used hatred of Obama as motivation for voting against other Dems. In 2016 he worked for Carlos Cantera’s unsuccessful campaign for the Senate in Washington, and also worked for Marco Rubio in his successful Senatorial bid. His efforts have been characterized by negativity, delight in going after opponents with whatever weapons work, and a feckless disregard for the truth. In 2016, however, this paragon of virtue was among many Republicans whose tolerance for awfulness was pretty high, who found Donald Trump an unacceptable candidate, and became what we now refer to as a never-Trumper.

Yeah, unfortunately, there was always a dynamic pressure inside the party. The fiscal people and the individual liberty people would keep the social conservatives from getting too out of control. The social conservatives would keep the fiscal people from getting too out of control. The foreign policy people, this tripartite internal, the three-legged stool they used to call it. Well with Trump, that all fell apart. It's all gone. It's all id. It's everything that's in their heads. They're told, "You can have whatever you want, we're going to burn it all down." And that's what they're doing. - from the Salon interview

There are many who fit that description, Republicans who will never support Trump. Of course, these days, while some such folks remain Republican, a growing number have abandoned the GOP, as the party they loved has become the party of Trump, a cult-like organization that bears little resemblance, in their minds, to its predecessor. (See the link in EXTRA STUFF to The Lincoln Project, an organization of erstwhile Republican Never-Trumpers that seeks to help end the Reign of the Suntan King) These folks still support a host of policy positions that I, and most of my fellow and sister Democrats, find unacceptable, appalling, and often inhuman. Nevertheless, while we may flip birds and scream epithets at each other across a river, we share a common cause in not allowing that river to rise up like the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and destroy us all. Donald Jessica Trump (name variant courtesy of Randy Rainbow) is that flood and we need to make common cause with some of those awful people on the other side to prevent an existential catastrophe. While merrily hurling insults at Democrats, Rick Wilson, former GOP mischief-maker, current Never-Trumper, and really funny guy, now offers his acquired wisdom to Democrats.

I recognize that the next two paragraphs (about 450 words) constitute an aside, so am tucking them under a spoiler tag to spare those who object to my leisurely pace. There is nothing remotely spoilerish here.(view spoiler)[I read this book in an unusual manner. Typically, I take in my primary read each week, whether paper or e-book, at my iMac, entering notes as I go along. My secondary book I read at bedtime, upstairs, anywhere from ten to twenty pages a night, most of the time, entering notes into a laptop or paper notebook. I had Wilson’s book on my radar, and on the family stack, but there was no certainty I would review it at all. It so happened that a long-awaited front door was being delivered on February 10. Had to get up early in order to take up guard duty. The work entailed required that the existing front door be removed, and would mean a serious security risk for the several hours the installers needed to complete the installation. Not a big deal for most of us. A bit chilly, perhaps, but putting on a few layers takes care of that. No concerns about home invasions. But we had considerable concern about one or more of our four-legged family members giving in to their native curiosity and making a dash for the exit. While it is possible to wrangle most herd members into rooms with doors that close with cat treats, there are always a few who are not so easily suckered. Thus, guard duty.

I firmly planted my bottom on a chair near the front door, trying my best not to pay any attention to the oral garbage being spewed by the workmen’s radio. It was tuned to Rush Limbaugh’s show, and others of that ilk. The work took about six hours. Instead, I did my best to bury my consciousness in Wilson’s book. It was not hard. Wilson may still give off the brimstone aroma of a Republican political operative, but he is LOL funny. As much as he may insult members of my Democratic tribe, justifiably, regarding our campaigning skills, he saves most of his ordnance for Trump and his minions. Couldn’t help myself. Every now and again, I would begin laughing out loud, literally. My wife, working in the living room at the time, would pipe up “Rick?” To which I would respond, “Yep.” And then read her the passage of the moment. No note taking, digital or pen and notebook. I was just reading this to read it. It would be one of about ten to fifteen books I read each year with no intention of writing a review. But that changed. I managed to read all but one chapter during my protracted sit-down. Finished the final bit the next day. Knew I had to let folks know about this one. Now, counting heads…98, 99, 100, 101. Yep, they’re all accounted for. (hide spoiler)]

The core can be distilled down to a few nuggets. Donald Trump is a menace to the nation we love, and we need to work together to remove him from the White House. Wilson can help, and he knows what he is talking about. The only real issue in the 2020 presidential race is Donald Trump, keep him or dump him. Those who are in his camp are not worth your time and energy. Ditto for those who are firmly against him. It boils down to fifteen states where the outcome is not already assured. Focus almost all your campaigning energy there. Wilson goes into detail about the best ways to attack Trump, both in the content of one’s media approach and in the need to tailor that approach to each locale. There is a lot to learn here about the details of the campaigning craft. Of particular interest was a breakdown of voters into “hidden tribes within the electorate.” Identifying where people fall in this sorting helps define how candidates might try to reach them.

Q - If you were advising on the economy to these Democrats, what would you recommend?
A - First off, I would talk about the stories of real people in the swing states. "I'm farmer X, I am a soybean farmer in Iowa. Donald Trump said that this trade war was going to help me. My farm is in foreclosure now." And we do have record farm foreclosures in Wisconsin and Iowa right now. "I'm a steelworker in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump promised his trade war was going to help me. Instead, our plant is closed." - from the Salon interview

He talks about the horrific downside of a second Trump term, including the grooming of Ivanka and Don Jr to take over in 2024, the expansive corruption of all that is not already corrupt, the further degradation of the planet, and our remaining civil liberties, the jailing of his opponents, and more, none of it pretty.

Wilson offers a list of Trumpian issues to focus on, depending on the location, corruption, misogyny and sexual aggression, paying off porn stars, kids in cages, alienating our allies while cozying up to authoritarians, and so much more. Hammer his ego, his declining mental capacity, weight, tiny hands, his actual net worth, his enslavement by Putin. And now his ongoing corruption of the Justice Department.

Rick's theory is not (yet) endorsed by any Gallup poll. But it makes sense. So how would Rick hit Trump? "I'd hit him on his mental instability, because he thinks he's smart and sane and he's not. He thinks he's a remarkable communicator ... he's not, he's a 70-year-old asshole from Queens." Then Rick would go after his "reputation for wealth, which is unfounded in large measure, and that's a soft spot for him ..." A billionaire client of Rick's once said: "I'm a billionaire. Trump is a clown living on credit." So having real billionaires like Mark Cuban attack Trump in an ad would be an effective tactic. - from Cracked interview

Wilson also offers advice that is fairly useless, urging Dems to start, before they can really turn their attention and their remaining funds to, going after the cheating Cheeto President. Not everyone is Michael Bloomburg, with, essentially, endless funds. (Mayor Mike entered the race too late to be considered in the book.) He urges Dems to minimize talk of policy. Again, this ignores the primary season. An ability to kick Trump in the nuts as needed is a talent to be admired, but there still needs to be some policy vetting by Democratic voters. I expect the central party is hurting for funds, (pure guesswork on my part) as most available contributions are probably going to candidates, so even the Democratic Party itself likely lacks the means to implement an attack-early-and-often strategy as soon as would be desirable.

The book is divided into Six Parts. Within each part the chapters are introduced by what are frequently LOL short comedic pieces. Part One chapter intros are Tweets From Donald Trump’s Second Term, Part Two chapter intros are from White House Diaries: Melania Trump, and so on. A sample from Part One:

@realDonaldTrump: some lying liberal media who are DFAILING BADLY and will soon be bankrupt like the Bezos Washington Post are reporting that Stephen Miller was arrested for making a suit from a woman’s skin and eating her. FAKE NEWS. He did NOT EAT HER! Stephen is doing a GRATE job!

@PressSec: Correction: Mr Miller did not eat the woman in question raw. Unlike degenerate migrants, Mr. Miller cooks his food.

There are plenty of well-deserved shots taken at Democratic campaigners and some less-deserved snark directed at Democratic values and programs, but that is part of the package. Overall, this is one of those books that anyone involved in politics in any way should read. It is funny, profane, and wildly insightful and useful. Every Democratic political operative should have a copy and I expect to see those copies heavily dog-eared. For the rest of us, if you enjoy a good dose of laughter and cynicism with your political writings, this is the book for you. Wilson may be the demon spawn of Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater, but he is one funny, smart sulfur-scented writer. His book not only explains what has gone wrong before but offers the tools to see why the political ads that bombard your TV and other screens are working or failing. We cannot afford four more years of the Turd Reich. Read this book!

He will always be with us, to the end of our days, either as a warning or as a boot stomping on our faces, forever.

Review first posted – February 21, 2020

Publication date – January 14, 2020

==========In the summer of 2019 GR reduced the allowable review size by 25%, from 20,000 to 15,000 characters. In order to accommodate the text beyond that I have moved it to the comments section directly below, in comment #1