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"A fast-paced, rollicking account of how paranoia and conspiracy theories have long been major elements within the GOP and how these forces came to triumph under Donald Trump, AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS offers readers a brisk, can-you-believe-this journey through this netherworld of far-right irrationality and explores its interactions with the GOP. It tells the tale of how the Republican Party has turned into a conspiracy cult, kicking ideology and policy principles to the curb in support of a president who embraced and exploited-and stirred-the most bizarre and craziest extremism of the right. The Trump-incited insurrectionist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was no aberration. AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS reveals it was a continuation of a long and deep-rooted tradition within the party, the result of a derangement on the right that has been accepted and often nurtured by the GOP. AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS entertains and enlightens even as it horrifies, and will be a crucial part of the roiling conversation under way in the run-up to the first post-Trump election. The story told in AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS covers the last half-century; from McCarthyism to the Birchers to segregationists to the religious right to the militia movement to Rush Limbaugh to the tea party and to Donald Trump, the Republican Party has encouraged and exploited right-wing fear and loathing that has been dangerously fueled by conspiracy theories, and now holds the entire United States political process in its grip"--… (more)
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First, since you'll see people make asinine complaints, the history here is of
The history is intriguing, especially the early history of the GOP. Almost from the beginning, they took what politicians and those seeking to either rule or govern have always done and taken it to unethical extremes. If an issue is deemed important, some level of fear about what might happen is a part of making people act. While there has been rational reasons for curbing the climate change, it wasn't until some level of fear finally sank in that we have even considered doing anything. Though less obvious, fear is a part of why we may vote one way rather than another. The problem is when that fear is overblown and/or generated around known falsehoods. Gingrich is largely responsible for how the GOP now regularly creates a lie, spreads it, then blows it up into a full-fledged catastrophe. In a nutshell, that has always been the GOP.
There were a lot of things I didn't realize about their history, and, like a lot of people, even the things I knew I hadn't put together in a chronological narrative but saw them simply as isolated incidents. They largely weren't so isolated.
While I would recommend this to anyone who cares about this country remaining a democracy, I know that would leave out the GOP readers, since they have long since sold their souls. But, I do highly recommend it for the rest of us with functioning brain cells and some compassion for our fellow human beings.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.