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Book Review: Donald Trump's Crippled America

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Creative Commons Flickr, pictured Donald Trump

In 2015 when Donald Trump released Crippled America, a 169 page book outlining his political vision and campaign agenda to ‘make America great again’, I felt no great inclination to rush out and buy a copy. The mere idea of Trump maintaining a position of political importance for an amount of time greater than a season of The Apprentice seemed unrealistic.
And yet here we are now with Trump as the front-runner to become the Republican Party’s candidate for the upcoming federal election, set to determine the next president of the United States, and me, rushing to buy this book.
Trump kicks things off with a personal address, letting readers know that above all else he is a man of business with a success story that encapsulates the American dream and reflects the neoliberal underpinnings of the nation. This somehow diverts into an unnecessary explanation of the selection process for the front cover photograph, setting the tone for the rest of the book.
With this important point clarified, we’re able to get to the nitty gritty of American politics as explained by Donald Trump. He brings up some valid points regarding the current state of the American congress and its ineffectiveness, and stresses the dangers of rising unemployment rates. This is all going along quite well until the issue of immigration rears its ugly head and you realise that he really is serious about building a wall.
For those interested a brief summary of Trump’s outlined plans after election include:

  • Reforms for localised education
  • A rework of Obamacare
  • Increased military spending
  • Tax subsidies for suppliers
  • Nation-wide allowances for concealed carry of firearms
  • Overhaul of infrastructure and public transport
  • Strengthening of ties with Israel
  • And an immigration policy revolving around the idea of a really, really long wall along the southern border of the US.

Inter-weaved with this is the narrative that America is no longer a great country and steps must be taken now to reverse this. It’s a scare mongering monologue that blames big government for the issues of today, and perfectly sums up this predicament by stating that America needs to win again, because nobody likes a loser.
It is these claims that he can make America great again, a phrase used 21 times throughout the book, that speaks to the heart of the disenfranchised American middle-class and makes it easy to see how he has risen so rapidly in popularity. This loud-mouthed business man is living out the American dream, going against the stereotype of the Washington DC political machine and being adored for it. At one point Trump himself points out that he can say any outrageous thing and people will love him more for it, and so far this seems to be ringing true.
It’s an engaging read, amusing at times, with the occasional classic Trump contradiction and intermittent brazen claim, which gives insight into what a world with Donald Trump as president would be like.
By Amy Sullivan

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