Shameless Republicans' deliberate dysfunction and the battle to preserve democracy

Review by Booklist Review

Election year or not, partisan rancor continues to roil at a fever pitch in American politics. As a clarion voice of the progressive movement with six million social media subscribers, Cohen has catapulted his YouTube channel to the forefront by holding political hypocrisy to account. Drawing on a trusted coterie of historians, elected officials, and fellow pundits, from Heather Cox Richardson to Jamie Raskin to Dan Pfeiffer, he distills various analytical viewpoints into on-point and cogent arguments designed to cut through the dis- and misinformation clogging the media ecosystem. Cohen takes special aim at the disparities between Republican and Democratic messaging and traces the origins of the GOP's obstructionist strategies. His goal is to provide readers, online viewers, and podcast listeners with the tools to engage in constructive and persuasive dialogue with the opposition, not through hyperbolic and inflammatory rhetoric but with reasoned discourse and provable positions. As passionate as he is disciplined, Cohen writes with precision and clarity. He should be every political candidate's go-to debate coach, thanks to his mastery of facts, comprehension of politics, and agility at crafting a salient response.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

YouTuber and MSNBC contributor Cohen debuts with a snarky if slightly hackneyed critique of the GOP. Making worn-out arguments about Republican hypocrisy (i.e., they pushed through Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court after denying Merrick Garland a hearing), Cohen mostly preaches to the choir. He touts himself as being "at the forefront of a burgeoning and crucial independent media ecosystem" but states that he needs expert guidance to get "to the heart of this Republican Party's dysfunction." The micro-targeted cross-section of party luminaries he sought out for their expertise--Pete Buttigieg, Marc Elias, Al Franken, Mehdi Hasan, Dan Pfeiffer, Jen Psaki, Jamie Raskin, and Heather Cox Richardson--seem tailored to appeal to Democratic Party superfans ("No one, however, does it more effectively than Pete Buttigieg," Cohen gushes in a chapter praising Democrats who make Fox News appearances). Those fans will undoubtedly find a lot to like--Cohen's dive into GOP history goes surprisingly deep (topics include the Republican embrace of the racist Southern Strategy and Newt Gingrich's tenure as speaker of the House) and his humor occasionally has some bite (the word fact is defined in a footnote as "an antiquated notion that once mattered"). Only Democratic diehards need apply. (Aug.)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A progressive political commentator offers his insights into the dysfunction that characterizes the modern Republican Party. In his debut book, Cohen argues that the "Party of Lincoln" has been hijacked by "a burgeoning extremist faction for whom compromise is unacceptable and chaos is the goal." Furthermore, "this reality is getting exponentially worse year after year--and as citizens, we are becoming dangerously numb to it." The authoritarianism Republicans now represent threatens American democracy, and the assaults on decency and common sense, as made by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, pose grave dangers. Drawing on conversations with historians, constitutional scholars, former senators, attorneys, and Biden administration cabinet members, Cohen suggests that GOP dysfunction comes from a perverse desire to break--rather than reform--a government system they believe is too large to function well. Before Trump became the party's "racist, misogynist, anti-everything narcissist" center of gravity and just after Obama's 2008 election win, Republicans like Newt Gingrich were laying the groundwork for a strategy built on opposition for partisan gain. Others, like Mitch McConnell, would pursue that strategy relentlessly throughout both Obama's and Biden's tenures as president. At the same time, they transformed "human wrecking ball" Donald Trump into the GOP standard-bearer who gave them license to "openly court white supremacists and neo-Nazis, who now march proudly down our streets." However dismal the current political landscape, Cohen still believes that the situation can be salvaged if Americans recognize the power of their own agency. Rather than take refuge in helplessness, the author suggests that citizens must not only continue to participate in democracy, but they must also actively persuade those who have lost faith--and who now constitute the margins on which modern "elections are won or lost"--to participate as well. A refreshingly bold and candid voice. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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