The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party

Dana Milbank

Aug 2022 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Dana Milbank

About this audiobook

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A scalding history of twenty-five years of Republican attempts to hold on to political power by any means necessary, by a hugely popular Washington Post political columnist

"A thorough and scathing account of how the Republican Party fell prey to Trumpism."—The New York Times Book Review

In 1994, more than 300 Republicans under the command of obstructionist and rabble-rouser Congressman Newt Gingrich stood outside the U.S. Capitol to sign the Contract with America and put bipartisanship on notice. Twenty-five years later, on January 6, 2021, a bloodthirsty mob incited by President Trump invaded the Capitol.

Dana Milbank sees a clear line from the Contract with America to the coup attempt. In the quarter century in between, Americans have witnessed the crackup of the party of Lincoln and Reagan, to its current iteration as a haven for white supremacists, political violence, conspiracy theories and authoritarianism.

Following the questionable careers of party heavyweights Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, and Rudy Giuliani, and those of many lesser known lowlights, Milbank recounts the shocking lengths the Republican Party has gone to to maintain its grip on the American people.

Ratings and reviews

An in depth look at the process that turned a major political party from one of caring for the United States into one that cares just for power. It charts the journey of Newt's "Contract with America" with it's inflammatory verbiage, the lies of the Swift boat blatant falsehoods to the Trump's inability to tell the truth to the attack on the Capitol.

laughable

About the author

DANA MILBANK is a nationally syndicated op-ed columnist for the Washington Post. He has also been a contributor to CNN and MSNBC and is the author of the national bestseller Homo Politicus, Tears of a Clown, O Is for Obama, and Smashmouth. He lives in Washington, DC.