American psychosis : an investigation of how the Republican Party went crazy

Title:

Author:

Corn, David, author.

ISBN:

9781538723050

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Information:

New York : Twelve, 2022.

Physical Description:

388 pages ; 24 cm

Bibliography note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:

Introduction: two mobs -- Backstory I: The rise and decline of the Grand Old Party -- Backstory II: Fear and loathing in America -- The general and the scoundrel -- No good Birchers -- In your heart -- Keeping the kooks quiet -- "Bring us together" -- Ratfucking America -- "Make them angry" -- Onward Christian soldiers -- Let's make America great again -- Reaganland -- Morning (and Nazis) in America -- Not kinder or gentler -- Spiritual warfare -- The Clinton chronicles -- A vast right-wing conspiracy -- Fortunate son -- What we deserve -- Going rogue -- Feed the beast -- The fever doesn't break -- "I am your voice" -- Very fine people -- Epilogue: The aftermath.

Summary:

"A fast-paced, rollicking account of how paranoia and conspiracy theories have long been major elements within the GOP and how these forces came to triumph under Donald Trump, AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS offers readers a brisk, can-you-believe-this journey through this netherworld of far-right irrationality and explores its interactions with the GOP. It tells the tale of how the Republican Party has turned into a conspiracy cult, kicking ideology and policy principles to the curb in support of a president who embraced and exploited-and stirred-the most bizarre and craziest extremism of the right. The Trump-incited insurrectionist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was no aberration. AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS reveals it was a continuation of a long and deep-rooted tradition within the party, the result of a derangement on the right that has been accepted and often nurtured by the GOP. AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS entertains and enlightens even as it horrifies, and will be a crucial part of the roiling conversation under way in the run-up to the first post-Trump election. The story told in AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS covers the last half-century; from McCarthyism to the Birchers to segregationists to the religious right to the militia movement to Rush Limbaugh to the tea party and to Donald Trump, the Republican Party has encouraged and exploited right-wing fear and loathing that has been dangerously fueled by conspiracy theories, and now holds the entire United States political process in its grip." --

Subject:

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )

Conspiracy theories -- Psychological aspects -- United States.

Conspiracy theories -- Political aspects -- United States.

Right-wing extremists -- United States.

United States -- Politics and government.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Call Number	Status
Searching... Anderson - Anderson Main Library	Book	22960002402278	324.2734 CORN DAVID	Searching... Unknown
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Summary

#1 New York Times bestselling author and investigative reporter David Corn tells the wild and harrowing story of the Republican Party's decades-long relationship with far-right extremism, bigotry, and paranoia.

A fast-paced, rollicking, behind-the-scenes account of how the GOP since the 1950s has encouraged and exploited extremism, bigotry, and paranoia to gain power, American Psychosis offers readers a brisk, can-you-believe-it journey through the netherworld of far-right irrationality and the Republican Party's interactions with the darkest forces in America. In a compelling and thoroughly-researched narrative, Corn reveals the hidden history of how the Party of Lincoln forged alliances with extremists, kooks, racists, and conspiracy-mongers and fostered fear, anger, and resentment to win elections--and how this led to Donald Trump's triumph and the transformation of the GOP into a Trump personality cult that foments and bolsters the crazy and dangerous excesses of the right.

The Trump-incited insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was no aberration. American Psychosis shows it was a continuation of the long and deep-rooted Republican practice of boosting and weaponizing the rage and derangement of the right.

The gripping tale in American Psychosis covers the last seven decades. From McCarthyism to the John Birch Society to segregationists to the New Right to the religious right to Rush Limbaugh to Newt Gingrich to the militia movement to Fox News to Sarah Palin to the Tea Party to Trumpism, the Republican Party has deliberately nurtured and exploited rightwing fear and loathing fueled by paranoia, grievance, and tribalism. This powerful and important account explains how one political party has harnessed the worst elements in politics to poison the nation's discourse and threaten American democracy.

"[Corn is] a great journalist. I love the way he thinks. I love the way he writes. I'm so glad he's done a super-readable, modern history of the right...We just need smart, digestible history about this stuff right now...[ American Psychosis ] is perfectly timed...Relevant history for where we are right now." --Rachel Maddow, host, The Rachel Maddow Show

"With American Psychosis , David Corn 'did the full homework to take us all the way back to where it really begins.'" --Lawrence O'Donnell, host, The Last Word

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Corn (Russian Roulette), the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for Mother Jones, documents in this colorful and persuasive treatise "the Republican Party's decades-long relationship with extremism." After sketching the party's abolitionist origins, Corn details the rise of McCarthyism and President Dwight Eisenhower's decision--out of fear it would cost him votes--to omit from a 1952 speech a paragraph defending Marshall Plan architect George C. Marshall from McCarthy's attacks. Subsequent Republican presidents similarly sacrificed principle for political expediency, Corn argues, including Ronald Reagan, "an amiable vessel for a message of fear" who refused to repudiate the ultraconservative John Birch Society; George H.W. Bush, who "flirted with racism and nativism" during the 1988 presidential campaign; and his son George W. Bush, who responded to John McCain's victory in the 2000 New Hampshire primary by speaking at Bob Jones University, "the citadel of extremist fundamentalism," in order to attract the evangelical Christian vote. Throughout, Corn draws incisive profiles of Stuart Spencer, Lee Atwater, Roger Ailes, and other Republican operatives who "encouraged and cashed in on extremist paranoia, bigotry, and conspiracy theory," and draws a clear through line from the rise of Barry Goldwater to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Though it covers familiar ground, this incisive political history persuades. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

The veteran political journalist connects the authoritarianism and White supremacism of yore with the Trumpism of today. At the 1964 Republican National Convention, liberal Republicans tried to introduce a resolution to condemn the extremism of the John Birch Society and Ku Klux Klan and were shouted down by supporters of Barry Goldwater, who said that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." Corn's vivid narrative starts there, but it goes back much further, to the anti-immigrant Know-Nothingism of the 1850s, where the author locates the beginnings of a recurrent theme: Just as Abraham Lincoln could not disavow the nationalists because he needed their vote, Richard Nixon had to ally with racist Southerners, and George W. Bush had to pal around with Christian fundamentalists to win the 2000 primary against a more principled John McCain. In turn, McCain turned to Sarah Palin to placate far-right, tea party supporters, a group that morphed into the Trumpists of today. It's a zigzag line indeed, but Corn makes important connections. "Nixon attained the presidency by exploiting the paramount divisive force in American society--racism--and the sense of fear and dread spreading through much of the nation," he writes, and substituting Trump for Nixon makes that sentence scan without a hitch. Much of the "psychosis" of recent years has hinged on a long pattern of lies. While the author makes clear that Trump is master of the form, he had plenty of predecessors, from Joseph McCarthy to Palin's winking insinuations that Barack Obama was a Muslim, the latter yielding what Corn calls Palinism, "a combination of smear politics, conspiracism, and know-nothingism." Since then, it's only gotten worse. "Formed 168 years earlier to save the nation from the expansion of slavery," writes the author, "the Republican Party, now infected with a political madness, [is] a threat to the republic." A sobering look at the ideological destruction, born of cynicism and opportunism, of a once-principled party. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Introduction: Two Mobs	p. 1
Chapter 1 Backstory I: The Rise and Decline of the Grand Old Party	p. 11
Chapter 2 Backstory II: Fear and Loathing in America	p. 24
Chapter 3 The General and the Scoundrel	p. 39
Chapter 4 No Good Birchers	p. 50
Chapter 5 In Your Heart	p. 63
Chapter 6 Keeping the Kooks Quiet	p. 77
Chapter 7 "Bring Us Together"	p. 90
Chapter 8 Ratfucking America	p. 101
Chapter 9 "Make Them Angry"	p. 114
Chapter 10 Onward Christian Soldiers	p. 125
Chapter 11 Let's Make America Great Again	p. 136
Chapter 12 Reaganland	p. 146
Chapter 13 Morning (and Nazis) in America	p. 157
Chapter 14 Not Kinder or Gentler	p. 168
Chapter 15 Spiritual Warfare	p. 175
Chapter 16 The Clinton Chronicles	p. 192
Chapter 17 A Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy	p. 203
Chapter 18 Fortunate Son	p. 218
Chapter 19 What We Deserve	p. 230
Chapter 20 Going Rogue	p. 245
Chapter 21 Feed the Beast	p. 257
Chapter 22 The Fever Doesn't Break	p. 275
Chapter 23 "I Am Your Voice"	p. 289
Chapter 24 Very Fine People	p. 305
Epilogue: The Aftermath	p. 324
Acknowledgments	p. 339
Source Notes	p. 343
Bibliography	p. 357
Index	p. 371

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Table of Contents