Over at Good Reports I just posted a quick review of the final part of Jonathan Karl’s trilogy on the (first) Trump presidency: Tired of Winning. (The two previous instalments were Front Row at the Trump Show and Betrayal.)

As I mentioned in my wrap-up post on the 2024 presidential election a few days ago, I read and reviewed a lot of books about American politics in the previous eight years. I don’t have an index to just these reviews, but for a couple of lengthy omnibus essays you can read about the long and short road to Trump here and Trump and the religious right here. I’ve recently been moving these books onto the shelves in my new library and even after tossing out a lot of them out (or donating them to book sales), what’s left still takes up a lot of space. Here’s a couple of shelves.

As I also said in that wrap-up post, I wasn’t sure if I was up to reading about Trump this much again. I really don’t think there’s much new to say. Everyone has known who Trump is for a while now, and what he’s all about. All that’s left is to see how the dance of corruption and appeasement plays out, at least for the next couple of years. And that’s depressing stuff.

I think the best thing to do would be to unplug entirely, but I’m not (quite) ready to do that yet. So I’ve got another shelf set aside for the next chapter in America’s long national nightmare. It’s right next to the fireplace.