Regime Change

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan are excellent journalists, so they know how to write a compelling story that fills in the gaps about what I have suspected is happening "behind the scenes" in our government. I have recommended the book to several friends.

This book was very helpful for me to better understand Trump. I hated him so much and his actions made me lose faith in my country. These authors helped clear up the picture and get into his mind without being overly rude. They stated the facts and I have a better understanding of why Washington lets trump get away with so much.

I just started reading this book and I find it to be very insightful, especially from a standpoint of bipartisan just being unbiased in general. It really takes a deep dive into the second Trump presidency obviously the first Trump presidency still has some relevance so it makes references, but not only does it do a deep dive into his presidency and him as a person, but also his cabinet, even from the way they were selected, and it goes in depth I would highly recommend this book for somebody that is just trying to get a grasp and understanding for what is going on and you want unbiased opinion .

The reporters/ authors could have done more to associate the meetings and convesations they "uncovered" with widely known events at or around that time to bring in stark relief the corrupt nature of the regime. Example: much is made of Trump's meeting with the oil company executives principally on the topic of Venezula, but the previous statement by Trump if those executives would contribute one billion dollars to his reelection campaign and then his inauguration fund, he would take care of them by doing away with environmental regulations, is not brought to bear on Trump's meeting with them. As it turns out, funds collectively in the hundreds of millions of dollars were forthcoming from oil industry executives on the promise of Trump's "pay for play" approach to governing. Bringing in the 'big picture" by referencing Trump's promise to them would make for more compelling reporting.

Amazing read! Really dives into the mind set and craziness that is the current Trump administration’s second term in office. These journalists really got in depth and in deep with some of the key players which really gives you a fascinating perspective…also a scary perspective. What is America coming to?!?!….happy 250th

Very readable, interesting, inside reporting of a truly norm-shattering, horrifying administration.

While I think this is an important book, I think it’s way too “weedy.” It could have been trimmed to about 350 pages if much of the unneeded detail were eliminated. Things like the menu for meals at the White House. Or where every person was seated at meetings. My guess is this was Haberman and Swan’s way to saying to Trump, “See how many of your ’loyal’ people leaked information to us, Mr. President?” With each Trump book that comes out, I swear it will be my last because they wear me out. I’ve decided I can’t read them at night before I go to bed because I’m just too riled to get to sleep. But, I do as I did with “Regime Change”: I order my Kindle copy right after it’s released. The saddest part of this sad story that the two respected journalists lay out here isn’t so much in the further completion of the picture of what an inept, immoral, and corrupt man the president is. The saddest part of “Regime Change” is that the very people who should read it and need to read it won’t.” Thank goodness for term limits, though.

I purchased this as an audio book. It is so well written and a real eye opener into the Government during Trump’s time in office. Also very concerning regarding where the US is headed.Highly recommend it and on audio the reader is very good and makes it easy to listen to.

I don't normally write reviews on political books. Because after reading them, you just sit back and say, "that's what I figured." But the writing in this book is straight forward. Sure, you can tell the authors are smiling in the background when they state some events or issues. But they are backed by facts and details. Besides, anyone with common sense would too. I found this very refreshing as not all things done by the Trump Administration are written as crazy. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to look deep into the first third of Trump's second term.

This book is factual, detailed and documented in full. The prose is totally “newsworthy.” There is not a wasted word; there is no throw away personal commentary; there are only the facts as the journalists found them. Refreshing!

In Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump , The New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Axios' Jonathan Swan deliver a chilling, real-time historical chronicle of the early days of Donald Trump's unconstrained second term .The Transformation of the PresidencyThe book’s central thesis is a historical irony: the legal indictments, convictions, and assassination attempts failed to weaken Trump, instead rendering him more powerful, vengeful, and emboldened than in his first term . Haberman and Swan document how the presidency has morphed into a fundamentally different, almost imperial institution. Bypassing traditional congressional checks and ignoring court orders, Trump wields unprecedented command over his party in Congress .The Mechanics of PowerGrounded in over 1,000 interviews, the authors provide a blunt, behind-the-scenes look at an administration defined by improvisational and authoritarian impulses. The text details harrowing moments in the Situation Room—from discussions regarding going to war with Iran to managing the fallout from the Epstein files scandal. Furthermore, Haberman and Swan reveal a darker psychological landscape, noting that Trump draws inspiration and openly compares himself to historical strongmen like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and Napoleon.Literary and Narrative StyleNarrative Journalism: Written in a stark, journalistic style, the book reads like a modern political thriller set in distant capitals, applied directly to the American context .Vignette-Driven Structure: Haberman and Swan masterfully weave macroscopic geopolitical shifts (such as US-Iranian tensions and Venezuelan operations) with bizarre, microscopic details of White House life—such as Trump engaging in petty,competitive battles over bedroom decor with First Lady Melania Trump .Source-heavy Authority: The book leans heavily on deep-background sources, contemporaneous notes, transcripts, and secret focus-group polling data to corroborate its claims about the administration’s insularity and financial corruption.The Core Critical PerspectiveUltimately, the authors present Regime Change as a definitive testament to the dangers posed by the new administration . They portray a White House completely stripped of internal guardrails or traditional military and legal advisors willing to say no . The underlying literary exhortation is a warning about the fragility of institutional norms, chronicling how one man’s willingness to break the rules has fundamentally altered the global understanding of American power .

This book is truly a masterpiece on the backstories that we only hear what is reported for the masses. This gives a peek into a distressing time, a man, driven by ego using corruption like anyone else would use their integrity. Stunning portrayal of a sad state of our union. And, of the man and his enablers in the Cabinet and in the Congress should be held accountable for all of the grifting of America. Shame on all of them. Thank you to the brave journalists and their contacts to get this regimes work documented.

I could not help but think while reading this horrifying yet mesmerizing book (the house-fire kind of unable-to-look-away) that the facts are laid out with enough rigor to serve as a litigation guide for prosecutors against the atrocities the Trump administration has committed.Haberman and Swan report that close to seventy percent of people held in ICE custody had never been convicted of a crime, some waiting months in detention while judges ordered their habeas corpus petitions heard. One official recalled the surreal experience of discussing Trump and abused nipples in the White House Situation Room during an Epstein crisis meeting. And the strike on Iran was "an air and naval campaign against a major regional power, launched without a vote in Congress, without the support of NATO," carried out over private objections from the vice president, the chief of staff, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.This is a documentary account of a presidency at war with its own guardrails.

So far it is fascinating and eye opening. To get a sense of how so many decisions are made, not just by the current regime but politicians in general. The lack of morals. The lies perpetrated against the American people. Victimizing Ukraine while publicly condemning Putin’s actions. Outright violence against American citizens. Putin lavishing our president with gifts to fuel his narcissism. And Biden, exposed as a bumbling figurehead. The amount of money absolutely thrown away to appease the president’s whims. This is a superbly researched look behind the curtain of American politics, and it is ugly. The authors clearly have reliable sources recounting actual quotes land discussions of policy. Conversations between world leaders. This book cites very specific events and conversations and names names. It spares no one. The most relevant book I’ve read in years.

A terrific and very comprehensive review of the inept administration led by our 47th president. Although many of the well-researched anecdotes were already publicly available, both Haberman and Swan reveal some extraordinary new insights into a terribly corrupt administration. This includes using the WH Situation Room as a crisis center on how to deal with the fact that the president, his family and Mar a Lago appear over 38,000 times in the Epstein files. There are so many descriptions of ineptitude, ego-driven decision making and sycophantic behavior to be exhausting, and I recommend reading the book in spurts. It's really that discouraging to understand how awful our present leadership is. The best review: our virtually illiterate president excoriated Haberman on Truth Social (not her male counterpart, however) for spreading lies. Hilarious response from the liar-in-chief.

Note the one bad review this book has was given on the exact same day the book was released, leading me to believe there is no way they read a 400 page book in a few hours. MAGA hates it, but Democracy lovers LOVE it. I'm not as eloquent a writer as I once was, so I will simply say this won't just be the book of the Year in America, the whole world is reading this book. Friends, to make sure they aren't revealed as enablers. The rest of the world, to figure how Trumps weak points and how to take him down.

The book fills gaps unknown to the public about the ultra-secretive mercurial and unprincipled decision-making process of the Trump administration. It exposes the arrogance and intellectual sloth that is the Trump brand and the problem for our Republic. We're taken inside of the fawning court of jesters and strap hangers. It is a must read for anyone wanting to understand how misguided and muddle minded Trump's administration is. For example, appointments of cabinet heads was based on their appearance and most importantly loyalty to the leader of MAGA. Competence and experience was irrelevant. We learn how Trump transformed American political culture with his extremism and dishonesty, how his family makes money off of his presidency, and how the GOP morally collapsed with its Faustian bargain. I highly recommend it and hope it's in every library in the US to educate the bamboozled who still believe Trump is operating in good faith and cares about the American people who wear the MAGA hat.

I liked this book even though it is part of the problem.Essentially, if you are still stuck in the uni-party, you might think these revelations are explosive. But if you’re too addicted to X and podcasts like me, there are no surprises.Even so, in “Regime Change,” you get lovely characterizations of many people, including Trump, Vance, Rubio, Susie Wiles, Stephen Miller, and many others. And it reads very quickly; the writing is propulsive. Before you know it, you’re on page 50, and you can’t wait to get back to it. It’s like a bag of chips laden with toxic chemicals: you can’t eat just one, and when you finish, you ask, “What is wrong with me on the deepest level that I just consumed a whole bag of poison?”There are multiple problems.It was beyond terrible that the authors refer to the geno---- in G-za in quotes, as in “geno----.” Hey, it’s uncontested; look it up. All she really says is that “it shocked the conscience of world.” Talk about minimizing and trivializing! I can’t express how appalling I found this. Just like I found the idea of Trump wanting to take the land and build a French Riviera there, with zero plans for the reduced population to have a good life. Insane; inhumane; revolting.And there’s lots of contested or false information about Iran, Russia, and other places. For example, she endlessly repeats all of the nonsense about Iran seeking a nuclear weapon, but doesn’t mention that a certain belligerent prime minister has been endlessly saying “They’re two weeks away,” since at least 1996, or that former Iran’s Ayatollah had issued a religious proclamation against building one, because nuclear weapons are inherently evil, because they always k-ll innocent people) and thus can’t be used. The authors of “Regime Change” should read “Going to Tehran.”The authors also downplay the Epstein Files, which is another Kafkaesque thing to do, because the Epstein Files raise the question of just how many of our leaders are depraved, blackmailed, and/or bribed, controlled, and just how illusionary our whole system is. The truth is: no one ever really gets what they voted for (peace and prosperity). The authors don’t wonder why no one (Democrat, Republican, or Independent) except the neocons ever get what they voted for.And there’s no sense of just how dire our situation is in America, with most of America being a lot poorer than it was five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty years ago. Our population is physically unhealthy, in debt, anxious, and propagandized. The authors don’t acknowledge any of this.And there are pointless digs at Alex Jones, MTG, Charlie Kirk, and Candace Owens. I suppose that is to show where the authors’ sympathies lie. But, like everything else in “Regime Change,” the authors’ unquestioned assumptions are presented as facts.But despite the book doing its best to maintain the illusion that we have any kind of a choice between the two parties, when in fact they are identical on war (they’re in favor) and the economy (give more money to oligarchs, run up the national debt, and gut the middle and lower class), I liked “Regime Change,” regardless of the fact that there are no surprises. It is the junk food that you can’t stop eating, even if it wrecks your metabolism and gives you chronic disease.You get a picture of Trump as a dark magician, who casts spells on people, who uses: repetition, divide and conquer language, threats, disorientation, distractions, tribalism, and attempting to speak things into existence. Even so, DJT makes impulsive decisions, and gets his news from TV, whose business model isn’t news, but: fear, anger, one-sidedness, fake “debates” (usually two ideologues detached from reality who scream at each other for three minutes before a commercial break for drugs), shallowness, divide & conquer language. Fox, CNN, etc. never met a war they didn’t like, and they never have a robust discussion of how to help our beleaguered population, where—every year—the bottom 80% of the country is worse off than it was before.Trump, of course, is obsessed with power, money, fame, and sex. It appears that he has no personal life. He used to inspire half of the population, and he reached out to independents, many minorities, and many others in 2024, but now he appears utterly detached from anyone but his owners.Does Trump really have any control? This is the problem with the book not getting into the Epstein, JFK, RFK, MLK, or 9/11 Files. Who among our “leaders” is free of bribes or blackmail? There is no discussion of how people like Miriam Adelson donated almost a quarter of billion dollars to Trump. Who owns Trump?Another good thing to add would be: what atrocious negotiators all of our politicians are, with Trump being Exhibit A. They are good at bullying people, but when they run into peers like Vladimir Putin, Xi, the Iranians, or even the pope (who won’t deviate from his emphasis on human dignity, regardless who criticizes him), they only respond by trying to hit people hard...

Unlike the first term, where insiders leaked details on a weekly, if not daily, basis and tell-all books were emerging consistently, the second Trump term has been remarkably tighter-lipped. This is the first real insider account of the second term, and it’s an indispensable read, filled with fascinating details from thousands of interviews.Until this book, I didn’t know that Elon Musk camped out in his DOGE-era office in a sleeping bag with his only brought-in belongings a gaming PC and monitor, nor did I know the reactions of other staffers to the “move fast and break things” ethos Musk brought to DOGE cuts. I’d never heard how Benjamin Netanyahu gifted his way back into Trump’s good graces or the grisly, golden gift he presented Trump with. And I definitely had no idea Stephen Miller was so heavily involved in writing policy, going so far as to suggest he could grant oil CEOs the authority to bypass the laws of physics if it only meant they’d drill during the Trump term.This account is by no means a hit piece; it’s just as prone to point out failings and oversights in the Obama and Biden administrations, such as Obama hiring Homan and deporting people en masse. The book’s subject focuses on the second Trump term, of course, so the criticism of other administrators is provided as context.Altogether, this book is an essential read to better understand what’s going on and to better appreciate the key players of this second term, from billionaire real estate buddies brokering peace deals to a four-year-old sitting in on top-level meetings.

While I have not had time to read the actual book yet (it arrived today), I did watch the engaging interview conducted by John Stewart on The Daily Show with the authors. These two journalists (as well as one of my favorite interviewers) are talented, professional, pragmatic, and relentless, and instead of being derided by the president of the United States, they should be celebrated. I love the title, and the cover is Trump Garish Gold! What more could be wish for! Can't wait to read it.