Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse

  Part I: Wicked Messengers

  Henry Wallace’s essay “The Danger of American Fascism” appeared in the New York Times, April 9, 1944. John Dean spoke to the Atlantic’s McKay Coppins for the January 17, 2017, piece “‘He Is Going to Test Our Democracy as It Has Never Been Tested’: Why Nixon’s former lawyer John Dean worries Trump could be one of the most corrupt presidents ever—and get away with it.” I have written a great deal about the actual breakdown of the 2016 presidential vote and the attempts to spin it by Donald Trump and his associates; a good sum-up can be found in “Donald Trump Has No Mandate—Sad! He pretends to be a strongman to compensate for his weaknesses,” the Nation, January 19, 2017. The full exchange between Peter Alexander and Trump can be found in “Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference,” made available February 16, 2017. The Cuomo-Spicer clash aired on CNN, December 15, 2016. Bannon’s most revealing discussion of Trump and Trumpism was at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference, and it was summed up well by the New York Times piece “Stephen K. Bannon’s CPAC Comments, Annotated and Explained,” February 24, 2017. Evan McMullin’s piece “Trump’s Threat to the Constitution” appeared in the New York Times, December 6, 2016. Dean’s comments are from his “Inauguration Day 2017—Trump’s Dangerous Ego Trip” piece.

  The Investors: The New York Daily News wrote up the Mercer party: “President-elect Donald Trump suits himself by not dressing up for extravagant Long Island costume party,” December 4, 2016. A fine Bloomberg Politics review, published December 1, 2016, was titled “Trump ‘Villains and Heroes’ to Mingle at Annual Mercer Costume Party.” The always brilliant Jane Mayer’s assessment appeared in the New Yorker as “The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency: How Robert Mercer exploited America’s populist insurgency,” March 27, 2017. David M. Magerman’s piece “The Oligarchy of the 0.001 Percenters” appeared on the philly.com website March 1, 2017. The Campaign Legal Center summed up its concerns in a December 2, 2016, statement: “New Evidence of Illegal Compensation to Steve Bannon by Mercer-Backed Super PAC.” Matea Gold’s excellent piece “The Mercers and Stephen Bannon: How a populist power base was funded and built: The wealthy GOP donors and Trump’s chief strategist collaborated on at least five ventures” appeared in the Washington Post, March 17, 2017. Philip Bump’s “The rise of GOP mega-donor Rebekah Mercer,” another fine piece by the Post’s Philip Bump, was published September 14, 2016. I also spoke with a number of GOP fund-raising specialists for insights regarding the Mercers.

  The Jacksonian Democrat: Michael Wolff’s revealing Hollywood Reporter interview appeared November 18, 2016, as “Ringside with Steve Bannon at Trump Tower as the President-Elect’s Strategist Plots ‘An Entirely New Political Movement.’” Juan Cole’s commentary “Translating Trump’s inaugural Speech from the original German” was published January 21, 2017, on his Informed Comment (www.juancole.com) website. The Post’s Robert Costa published “Bannon calls Trump’s speech ‘Jacksonian’” on January 20, 2017. The Asawin Suebsaeng piece “Steve Bannon Pushed Trump to Go Full Andrew Jackson” was published March 16, 2017, by the Daily Beast. The Trump interview with Fox’s Tucker Carlson took place March 15, 2017. A long piece on Bannon and Evola was published February 10, 2017, by the New York Times: “Steve Bannon Cited Italian Thinker Who Inspired Fascists.” AlterNet writer Ben Norton’s assessment, “President Trump’s right-hand man Steve Bannon called for Christian holy war: Now he’s on the National Security Council,” appeared January 30, 2017. “Indian-Killer Andrew Jackson Deserves Top Spot on List of Worst US Presidents” was published February 20, 2017, by the Indian Country Media Network. Dylan Matthews’s “Andrew Jackson was a slaver, ethnic cleanser, and tyrant. He deserves no place on our money” appeared on the Vox site, April 20, 2016. The Hermitage’s reflection on Jackson and slavery is found at http://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/slavery/. The USA Today piece “Change in $20 bill feels like a slight to some in Andrew Jackson’s home state” was published April 24, 2016. Trump’s remarks at the Hermitage were delivered on March 15, 2017, and like all official addresses by the president referenced in this book can be found at www.whitehouse.gov.

  The Spinster: The detailed Washington Post review of the Access Hollywood tape was published October 8, 2016, as “Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005.” Huffington Post’s Daniel Marans wrote about the Melania Trump timeline the same day. Paul Farhi wrote about Conway and other pundits for the Washington Post in the May 27, 2000, piece “The Voice of Experience? Um, Not Exactly Television.” Ryan Lizza wrote for the New Yorker about George and Kellyanne Conway in the October 17, 2016, piece “Kellyanne Conway’s Political Machinations: Can the first woman to run a Republican Presidential campaign reform Donald Trump?” Conway’s What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live, written with Celinda Lake, was published in 2010 by Atria Books. Conway’s interview with Chris Matthews appeared on MSNBC on October 9, 2016. Dana Bash and Abigail Crutchfield reported on Conway’s contortions on October 25, 2016, in a CNN piece: “How the GOP’s first female presidential campaign manager manages Donald Trump.” Bannon spoke about Conway’s contribution with Molly Ball for the piece “Kellyanne’s Alternative Universe,” which appeared in the April 2017, issue of the Atlantic, as did Frank Luntz. Conway’s interview with Chuck Todd took place on January 22, 2017. It was one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency, in that it contributed the term “alternative fact” to the lexicon.

  He Who Will Not Be Questioned: Stephen Miller’s jarring appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation took place on February 12, 2017, the same day that he appeared on the other Sunday morning talk shows referenced here. Senator Coons made his comments about Miller on the MSNBC show Morning Joe, where Joe Scarborough also discussed the White House aide’s appearances. The Chicago Tribune ran a fine piece, “Stephen Miller, teleprompters and journalistic credibility,” by Brendan M. Lynch, a lecturer at the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, on February 21, 2017. Lisa Mascaro wrote a profile of Miller, “How a liberal Santa Monica high school produced a top Trump advisor and speechwriter,” for the Los Angeles Times on January 17, 2017. That piece provides tremendous insight and detail regarding Miller’s high school days, while a Charlotte Observer piece from February 14, 2017, “Relishing a fight: Stephen Miller’s meteoric rise from Duke to the Trump White House,” provides insights regarding his Duke days. “The rise of Stephen Miller: From Sessions’ aide to Trump’s inner circle” is the Howard Koplowitz piece, published January 19, 2017 on AL.com, that provides so much background and insight regarding the Sessions-Miller connection. Politico magazine profiled Miller as “The Believer” on June 27, 2016, and began to draw out the Bannon connection, as did the Atlantic’s February 4, 2017, piece “How Stephen Miller’s Rise Explains the Trump White House: The young policy adviser became the public face of Trump’s controversial travel ban—and is paying the price for it.” Jared Taylor’s article “I Was There” appeared January 21, 2017, on his American Renaissance website. The New York Times piece “Stephen Miller Is a ‘True Believer’ Behind Core Trump Policies” appeared February 11, 2017.

  The Jihad Whisperer: The Forward, one of my favorite publications since I was a youth, has done groundbreaking reporting on Sebastian Gorka, as it has on many aspects of the Trump administration that relate to the concerns of Jewish Americans. The Forward has done dozens of pieces and several have influenced the discussion significantly, including Dan Friedman’s “Top White House Adviser Wears Nazi Collaborator Medal” on February 13, 2017, and the exclusive March 16, 2017, report by Lili Bayer and Larry Cohler-Esses: “Nazi-Allied Group Claims Top Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka as Sworn Member.” An important background piece was Keno Verseck’s June 6, 2012, essay for Der Spiegel: “Hungary Rehabilitates Far-Right Figures: Hungary’s right-wing extremists are becoming increasi
ngly self-confident. They are now openly paying tribute to Miklós Horthy, Hungary’s anti-Semitic regent during the interwar period, erecting a statue and renaming a town square in his honor. Even some members of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party support the new trend.” So, too, does Raphael Patai’s The Jews of Hungary (Wayne State University Press, 1996) and a November 1, 2006, Jerusalem Post piece: “Nazi-linked flag surfaces in Hungary: The red-and-white striped Arpad flag may best capture the aggressive mood of Hungarian politics today.” BuzzFeed added detail to the Gorka–Vitézi Rend controversy with a March 17, 2017, article: “Top Trump Adviser Sebastian Gorka Denied a Report That He Belongs to a Nazi-Allied Group.” That same day, USA Today reported: “Organizations call for Sebastian Gorka’s resignation for ties to far-right group.” Gorka’s responses to charges of anti-Semitism in the Trump White House were the subject of a February 7, 2017, Jewish Telegraphic Agency article, “Trump aide: Holocaust statement criticism is ‘asinine,’” and he spoke about the Vitézi Rend controversy for a March 16, 2017, piece in the Tablet magazine: “Sebastian Gorka denies a report of his affiliations with Vitézi Rend.” Gorka’s writing for Breitbart is archived at http://www.breitbart.com/author/

  sebastian-gorka/. Newsweek’s Jeff Stein summed up Gorka’s background and views, and his style, in a February 23, 2017, piece titled “Listen to Controversial White House Terrorism Adviser Sebastian Gorka’s Angry Call to a Critic.” Stein’s piece highlighted questions being asked about Gorka’s training and skills by experts in the field of counterterrorism. Historian and soldier Adrian Weale has written a good deal about questions regarding Gorka at adrianweale.com.

  The Leopard That Did Not Change His Spots: President Trump announced the selection of Sessions to serve as attorney general in a November 18, 2016, statement: “President-Elect Donald J. Trump Selects U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.” David Duke is very active on social media. His initial statements on the Sessions pick came in the form of tweets from his @DrDavidDuke account, which encourages visits to his www.davidduke.com website and features the slogan “Fight for Western Civilization.” He tweeted about the Sessions pick and his admiration for Sessions, Flynn and Bannon on November 18, 2016, and regularly tweeted and posted messages on his website about Sessions during the confirmation process. He wrote a web editorial: “Trump appoints men who will take America back!” Media Matters for America followed the Duke reaction closely, with pieces such as “‘Great News!’: White Nationalists See Sessions’ Attorney General Confirmation As Major Step Toward Achieving Their Racist Goals,” on February 9, 2017. On January 30, 2017, Mother Jones published “White Nationalists on Twitter Sure Do Love Jeff Sessions: He’s their favorite Senator, by a long shot.” The Los Angeles Times examined the “Klan without robes” in a March 1, 2016, article: “Ku Klux Klan ‘without robes’ makes headlines, but influence fading, anti-hate group says.” The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks white nationalist and neo-Nazi extremism and has, of late, kept a close watch on connections between extremists and Trump aides and allies, with pieces such as the March 1, 2017, analysis: “Breitbart Under Bannon: How Breitbart Became a Favorite News Source for Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists.” The SPLC has watched the rise of new social-media projects and websites such as the Daily Stormer, with pieces such as “Blog Wars: The Daily Stormer and Its Racist Frenemies” (March 10, 2015) and “Eye of the Stormer: Propelled by the Trump campaign and a new focus on the ‘alt-right,’ the Daily Stormer is now the top hate site in America” (February 9, 2017). The Daily Stormer piece “Jeff Sessions Confirmed: We are One Step Closer to Complete Control” appeared February 9, 2017. The Washington Post did a good sum-up of how Sessions responds to race issues on December 2, 2016: “Jeff Sessions’s comments on race: For the record.” Adam Serwer’s Atlantic piece “What Jeff Sessions’s Role in Prosecuting the Klan Reveals About His Civil-Rights Record: Defenders of Trump’s choice for attorney general have cited an Alabama lynching case as evidence of his commitment to racial equality. The real story is more complicated” appeared January 9, 2017. The Grio has the Coretta Scott King letter at http://thegrio.com/2017/01/11/coretta

  -scott-king-opposed-jeff-sessions-in-1986-letter-to-congress/. The New York Times obituary of Albert Turner, “Albert Turner Is Dead at 64; Strove for Civil Rights in South,” appeared on April 15, 2000, and included a number of quotes from prominent Alabamans reflecting on his epic struggles for civil rights and voting rights. The New York Times article on the rejection of the Sessions nomination for federal judge, “Senate Panel Hands Reagan First Defeat on Nominee for Judgeship,” appeared June 6, 1986. For details on opposition to the 1986 nomination, see the Times story “Senator Urges Withdrawal of Judicial Nomination,” March 20, 1986. For details of opposition by pro-choice groups to the Sessions nomination for AG, see “Planned Parenthood Urges Full Senate to Reject Sessions’ Nomination,” February 8, 2017. For details of concerns expressed to the LGBTQ community, see “Antigay, Right-Wing Jeff Sessions Will Sail Through Atty. Gen. Confirmation,” the Advocate, January 9, 2017. A telling Politico story on Sessions opposing Obama judicial nominees, “Sessions questions Kagan’s ‘honesty,’” appeared June 29, 2010. I covered Sessions a good deal during the 2016 Trump campaign, and spoke with him after he delivered the nominating speech at the RNC. The Washington Post reported on the controversy of Sessions’s Senate testimony, “Top Republicans call on Sessions to recuse himself; Dems call for resignation,” on March 2, 2017. Reid Cherlin’s excellent VICE News article “‘The world is on fire’: At a 2014 party at the ‘Breitbart Embassy,’ Steve Bannon promised a remaking of America” appeared February 15, 2017. The New York Times piece “Jeff Sessions, as Attorney General, Could Overhaul Department He’s Skewered” appeared November 18, 2016. Evelyn Turner wrote a powerful opinion piece, which appeared February 7, 2017, in USA Today: “I tried to help black people vote. Jeff Sessions tried to put me in jail.” The Alabama Conference of the NAACP issued many statements opposing the Sessions nomination, beginning on November 19, 2016, and continuing through his confirmation; they are archived at http://www.alnaacp.org. There were a number of good stories on Sessions blocking African American judicial picks, including “Did Jeff Sessions block integration of south Alabama federal courts?” (Birmingham News, January 6, 2017), “Jeff Sessions Has a History of Blocking Black Judges” (Mother Jones, January 9, 2017) and “5 Reasons Why Jeff Sessions’ Confirmation Matters to the Black Community” (Essence, January 10, 2017). The “Statement of SPLC President Richard Cohen on the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general,” issued November 18, 2016, was one of many statements and articles produced by the group opposing the nomination. For a good summary of opposition to the Sessions nomination, see “Advocates Delver 1 Million Petition Signatures to the Senate to Stop Jeff Sessions,” issued February 7, 2017, by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. I wrote about the Susan Collins defense of Jeff Sessions for the Nation on January 10, 2017: “Susan Collins Just Disgraced Herself at Jeff Sessions’s Confirmation Hearing.” Evelyn Turner spoke to CNN for a powerful January 9, 2017, piece, “Woman prosecuted by Jeff Sessions can’t forgive.” Salon reported February 27, 2017: “Jeff Sessions drops DOJ lawsuit against discriminatory Texas voter ID case, reverses 6 years of litigation.”

  The Lawman Who Forgot Which Side He Was On: Sessions appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2017. A video of the critical questioning by Senator Franken was posted by the New York Times on March 2, 2017, as “Jeff Sessions’s Testimony on Russia Contacts.” It can be found at https://www.ny

  times.com/video/us/politics/100000004967157/sessions-i-have-recused-myself

  .html. The Washington Post story “Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose” was published on March 1, 2017. The Hill did a
good sum-up of the ensuing controversy on March 7, 2017: “Franken: Sessions ‘perjured himself.’” I wrote on the firing of Comey for the Nation on May 10 in a piece headlined “Trump Fires Comey, Putting the Country ‘On the Verge of a Constitutional Crisis.’” Abby Phillip’s Washington Post piece “Trump met in the Oval Office with Sessions and Rosenstein about Comey on Monday” appeared May 10, 2017, as did the NBC News piece “Who Is Rod Rosenstein, the Man Who Swung the Ax on Comey?” Background on Rosenstein and insights from Marylanders can be found in the fine reporting of the Baltimore Sun, especially in pieces such as the April 25, 2017, article “With bipartisan support, Maryland’s Rosenstein heads to Washington as No. 2 in Justice Department.” The Sun also did the best coverage of the Senate’s questioning of Rosenstein, in pieces such as “Democrats grill Rod Rosenstein on Russia,” published March 7, 2017. An interview with Elizabeth Warren on the Comey firing and related issues was broadcast May 10, 2017; the transcript can be found online at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1705/10/cnr.07.html. ABC News chief White House correspondent John Karl reported May 11, 2017, on Rosenstein’s reaction in a piece headlined “Deputy AG Rosenstein was on the verge of resigning, upset over WH pinning Comey firing on him.” Rosenstein’s memo on Comey was widely circulated; an easy online source can be found on the Atlantic’s website at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/rosenstein-letter-annotated/526116/.