A Year At The Circus: Inside Trump's White House

A YEAR AT THE CIRCUS – Inside Trump’s White House : Jon SopelBooks on how Trump is messing up is an industry in itself. Probably one book comes out every week in the US….giving all the gory details of how he is screwing up right royal – the institutions, the revolving door syndrome of his direct staff, the scandals, the Russian interference, his bellicose attitude towards NATO…Ad Infinitum…..I read one of the books written by the very respected Bob Woodward…’FEAR’ last year….thought it was too one sided…..most of it must be true but it seems to exaggerate the shenanigans…and make him look like a monster….my other sources of news / information on USA…CNN news, TIME magazine and what my desi friends in the States say ( mostly Pro-Democrats) also doesn’t help….if one were to go by this….one would think that America is headed towards irretrievable doom….So when a well respected Brit who is the head of BBC services in Washington comes up with a book, I thought possibly this will be a little more balanced as he does not have too many axes to grind as an outsider….and Jon Sopel writes and speaks well….with his low key sarcasm and dry humor.A Year at the Circus has an unusual format. Sopel takes us thru the various parts rooms of the White House…the Oval office, the office of the VP, the Cabinet Room,,the Residence etc., and highlights the unhinged operations and situations. Throws in a bit of history of the various rooms and its previous occupants….and takes us into great detail on how things have been in the White House in the first year of Trump’s presidency. It is funny at times….and sometimes it gets you worried also…that the World’s oldest democracy has come to such a pass…..and things happen now as if it is a Reality Show.The constant need to be on top of everything, his uncontrolled tweeting, senior staff getting fired on Twitter, scandals around most of his senior appointments, his off the record comments on World leaders that get leaked invariably, the family members being center stage…..at times what you read seems unbelievable…..and even assuming that things have been hyped up a little…the reality on the ground leaves you worried…..it is OK if the President of Norway or Greece behaves erratically – it doesn’t affect us but what US does – affects the whole world….which is a worrisome thought.In spite of a wayward president not schooled in politics most of his life (unlike most of his predecessors) …what is surprising is that the country is doing fine…if not better than when more ‘conventional’ politicians were in the hot seat…..this is a consolation….and some lessons too in this phenomenon.Since there must be a 100 books already on Trump and if you have to read one, read A YEAR AT THE CIRCUS…..thoroughly enjoyable…..now I will order IF ONLY THEY DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH – Notes from Trump’s America by the same author.My rating: 4/5

If 'A Year at the Circus' were a novel, you'd probably conclude that the story was silly and far-fetched. But this is a serious and very well documented account of the Trump White House written by the BBC's distinguished North America Editor, Jon Sopel. Although his writing is brilliant - witty, entertaining and at times very, very funny - the picture he paints of the Trump Presidency is alarming, even terrifying. He writes in the introduction: "The chaos, the dysfunction, the totally unexpected, the endless bareknuckle fights and the unorthodox behaviour are what is the norm". He describes how Trump's more cautious advisers and critics quickly get sacked and the sycophants promoted as the White House is "gutted of all the so-called grown-ups". Words such as 'impetuous', 'instinctive', 'unpredictable', 'chaotic', 'bizarre', 'unprecedented', 'obsessive' and 'toxic' litter the text. Key policy decisions are often based on little more than instinct, whim and 'gut reaction' and are announced to the nation by tweet. Of course it couldn't happen here. Or could it?

A good read

Kept me interested with a clear writing style. Not much new information other that what BBC White House corespondents have to go through to make a report. More of a summary.

The Stitching/Fixing of pages XV to XV11of the introduction has failed and these pages are now loose.A replacement publication would be appreciated.