From bestselling progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann comes an urgent autopsy of American democracy, showing how plutocrats, political cowardice, and systemic rot built the perfect runway for Trump''s authoritarian ascent. Hartmann uncovers the unholy alliance between Trump''s damaged psyche and America''s rotted institutions. From Fred Trump''s brutal parenting to Roy Cohn''s lessons in shamelessness, from a Republican Party that traded principles for power to billionaire donors who treated democracy as a profit center, this book exposes the assembly line that manufactured an authoritarian. But this is about more than Trump''s past--it''s about America''s future. As climate catastrophe accelerates and fascism spreads globally, Hartmann reveals the nightmare scenario: a second Trump term that doesn''t just end American democracy but also triggers irreversible planetary damage. Through meticulous research and unflinching analysis, he shows how political cowardice and corporate greed created the perfect storm that could extinguish humanity''s last chance at survival. This isn''t just political commentary--it''s a last-minute alarm sounding before the point of no return.

Autorentext

Thom Hartmann

Klappentext

Trump didn't break American democracy—he revealed how broken it already was.

In this urgent, deeply researched book, four-time Project Censored Award–winning, New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann argues that Trump is a symptom, not the disease. The real story is the ecosystem that built him: a childhood defined by cruelty, a mentor who weaponized shamelessness, a political party that sold its principles for power, and a donor class that used him to dismantle the guardrails on their own greed.

Inside, you'll find

• a psychological portrait of how Trump was made—not born;
• a clear-eyed account of how the Republican Party and billionaire networks enabled his rise;
• global comparisons to Hungary, Venezuela, and Weimar Germany—because this pattern has a name; and
• 7 proven, history-backed strategies for defeating authoritarianism before it becomes permanent.
  This is not a book about despair. It is a book about recognition—and resistance.

For readers of How Democracies Die and On Tyranny who are ready to move from understanding the crisis to doing something about it.

The choice, as always, is ours.