This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our supporters at patreon.com and by Verso Books,

which has loads of great left-wing titles, perfect for dig listeners like you.

One that you might like is American Breakdown, the Trump years and how they befell us, by David Bromwich.

Donald Trump's residency in the White House is not an accident of American history,

and it can't be blamed on a single cause.

In American breakdown, David Bromwich provides an essential analysis of the forces in play

beneath the surface of our political system. His portraits

of political leaders and overarching narrative bring to life the events and machinations that have

led America to a collective breakdown. The political conditions of the present crisis were put in

place over 50 years ago, with the expansion of the

Vietnam War and the lies and cover-ups that brought down Nixon. Since then, every presidency

has further centralized and strengthened executive power. The truly catastrophic event was the

invention by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney of

The War on Terror, designed to last for generations. Barack Obama's practice of

reconciliation without truth sparing CIA torturers and Wall Street bankers deepened the distrust

and anger of voters who rallied around Trump.

An unsparing account of the degradation of U.S. democracy, American breakdown is essential

to our evaluation of its prospects. Arguing that Trump's re-election seems just as likely as

impeachment, Bromwich turns its attention to the new struggles

within the Democratic Party on immigration, foreign policy, and the Green New Deal.

American breakdown will be a crucial reference point in the political debate around the

upcoming presidential election, a contest in which the forces that created Donald Trump

...