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Midnight in Washington : how we almost lost our democracy and still could  Cover Image Book Book

Midnight in Washington : how we almost lost our democracy and still could / Adam Schiff.

Schiff, Adam B., (author.).

Summary:

"From the congressman who led the first impeachment of Donald J. Trump, the vital inside account of American democracy in its darkest hour, and a warning that the forces of autocracy unleashed by Trump remain as potent as ever. In the years leading up to the election of Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff had already been sounding the alarm over the resurgence of autocracy around the world, and the threat this posed to the United States. But as he led the probe into Donald Trump's Russia and Ukraine-related abuses of presidential power, Schiff came to the terrible conclusion that the principal threat to American democracy now came from within. In Midnight in Washington, Schiff argues that the Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years, requiring unprecedented vigilance against the growing and dangerous appeal of authoritarianism. The congressman chronicles step by step just how our democracy was put at such risk, and traces his own path to meeting the crisis--from serious prosecutor, to congressman with an expertise in national security and a reputation for bipartisanship, to liberal lightning rod, scourge of the right, and archenemy of a president. Schiff takes us inside his team of impeachment managers and their desperate defense of the constitution amid the rise of a distinctly American brand of autocracy. Deepening our understanding of prominent public moments, Schiff reveals the private struggles, the internal conflicts, and the triumphs of courage that came with defending the republic against a lawless president--but also the slow surrender of people that he had worked with and admired to the dangerous immorality of a president engaged in an historic betrayal of his office. Schiff's fight for democracy is one of the great dramas of our time, told by the man who became the president's principal antagonist. It is a story that began with Trump but does not end with him, taking us through the disastrous culmination of the presidency and Schiff's account of January 6, 2021, and how the anti-democratic forces Trump unleashed continue to define his party, making the future of democracy in America more uncertain than ever."--Publisher's website.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780593231524
  • ISBN: 059323152X
  • Physical Description: xvi, 510 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Random House, [2021]

Content descriptions

General Note:
Includes index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Prologue: why should I? -- part 1. Against our will comes wisdom. Insurrection ; The one thing they can never take away ; Take out your Rolodex ; A man may change his clothes, but he is still the same man ; You know how it goes -- part 2. Truth isn't truth. Two stories ; The midnight run ; Keep doing what you're doing ; If I could only speak to a couple hundred million people ; The Barr deception ; You might think it's okay -- part 3. Impeached for life, impeached forever. Crossing the Rubicon ; I would like you to do us a favor, though ; You need to come home on the next plane ; This for that ; Here, right matters ; Everyone was in the loop -- part 4. Impartial justice. The four and the forty million ; Does he really need to be removed? ; One man had said "enough" -- part 5. Someone's going to get killed. Heads on pikes ; Right would have to wait -- Epilogue: He is not who you are.
Subject: Trump, Donald, 1946- > Influence.
Democracy > United States.
Democracy > United States > History > 21st century.
Authoritarianism > United States.
Political culture > United States.
Political culture > United States > History > 21st century.
United States > Politics and government > 2017-2021.

Available copies

  • 27 of 27 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Cass County.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 27 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Cass County Library-Northern Resource Center 973.933 SCH 2021 (Text) 0002205507045 Adult Non-Fiction Available -

Syndetic Solutions - Kirkus Review for ISBN Number 9780593231524
Midnight in Washington : How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could
Midnight in Washington : How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could
by Schiff, Adam
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Kirkus Review

Midnight in Washington : How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

Kirkus Reviews


Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A full-throated denunciation of Donald Trump and his congressional enablers. Every small-d democratic institution in America was threatened during Trump's years in the White House. But as Schiff notes, "no institution suffered more under the Trump presidency than Congress, which saw its oversight powers emasculated and its impeachment power rendered obsolete." The problem was that much of the damage was "self-inflicted" by members of the GOP, a party that has "become an antitruth, antidemocratic cult organized around the former president." That Schiff was a leading Trump critic and manager of the first impeachment did not endear him to the president. Though Trump sent an odd signal of admiration by way of Jared Kushner, whom Schiff pegs as a "smooth operator," the former president spent most of his energies in infantile calumniation, calling the author "Shifty Schiff" and the like. Schiff repaid the attention by assembling a careful case against Trump, one that, Schiff avers, proved the president's guilt but did not convince enough Republicans that there was a good answer to the questions, "Why should I be the one to remove him? Why should I risk my seat, my position of power and influence, my career and future?...Why should I?" Most of this book, bracketed by horrific scenes from the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol--of which Trump, Schiff insists, was the prime mover--is a long, densely detailed account of the discovery process in the first impeachment trial. It would threaten to become tedious reading, due to all the minutiae, were it not for Schiff's skill as a storyteller, a skill useful for a trial attorney to have, and for his habit of peppering his narrative with withering assaults on McConnell, Gosar, Barr, et. al. He also offers the revelation that many leading Republicans have urged him in private (while publicly disavowing having said any such thing), "Keep doing what you're doing." For those wondering what happened to America between 2017 and 2021, Schiff offers a key firsthand account. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


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