Most of us know by now that Mary Trump’s book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, set a record for first-day sales of any book.
I’m sure her book is a fascinating case study of a mentally unfit man who should not be president of the United States, full of details that has sent the news media into a titillating tizzy of “reporting.”
But as far as being a book of facts and significance that should have us all fearing for our future as a democratic republic, Mary Trump’s book pales in comparison to the books I just finished reading: Seth Abramson’s Proof of Collusion and Proof of Conspiracy. These books deal with facts about crimes and corruption, not psychology or mental illness. While I know those two might be related, to me, Trump's psychology matters not.
I know I'm in the minority, but I'm not interested in how Trump's family created the world's most dangerous man. In other words, I'm not interested figuring out the why; the why doesn't matter. I'm interested in looking at the what: his policies, his actions, and his crimes during his presidency. In a practical sense, I’m more interested in the dangers Trump poses to our lives NOW than the background reasons for those dangers.
For those who haven't heard of him or read his books, Abramson, among other things, is a curatorial journalist, meaning that he pulls together stories done by reporters over time---sometimes very long periods of time---and is able to provide a more complete picture or pattern. He, himself, is not a reporter.
He doesn't use rumor, opinion, psychology, or personality traits; he uses facts that are in the public domain but that have either been glossed over, abandoned by the media after 5 seconds, or simply not connected due to time constraints faced by daily reporters.
Proof of Collusion
Proof of Collusion lays out all of the details regarding Donald Trump's many ties to Russia, connecting the dots from 30-plus years ago to all of the corrupt and illegal activities of today, and it’s based on 100% fact, with thousands of citations.
- Note: This author is fully aware that the Democrats in Congress decided that publicly investigating Trump’s Russia connections is too difficult and complicated for Americans to be concerned with; however, the details are all available in this book.
Proof of Conspiracy
Proof of Conspiracy lays out many of the details (some are still coming to light today) related to “The Grand Bargain,” which is how the leaders of Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt worked in 2016 (and there’s no reason to think 2020 will be different) to do whatever was necessary to get Trump elected so that Trump could provide political favors to those countries. This has implications about a possible Middle East/U.S. war against Iran.
Proof of Corruption
Abramson’s next book, Proof of Corruption, will not include any anecdotes from Trump’s childhood---only facts about his corruption and his danger to democracy.
According to Amazon, “This stunning third entry in Seth Abramson's epic, New York Times best-selling Proof series reveals the harrowing scope of Trump bribery schemes involving COVID-19, the 2020 presidential election, and collusion with foreign officials in China, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Venezuela, Hungary, and Russia.”
I understand the fascination with Mary Trump’s book about how her toxic family influenced the development of her uncle’s dangerous character, but his dark history doesn't trouble me nearly as much as what his policies and political corruption might portend for our future.