The book is “Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell” by Tim Miller.  Many of us may recognize the author fr0m his TV appearances as a commentator.

I liked it.  For those of you who like a short summary you could stop there but please don’t.

Tim Miller was a political operative and strategist for the Republican party.  There were many things he loved about his party but as a gay man he had to do considerable mental gymnastics to justify helping the party despite its homophobic stance.

The rise of Donald Trump as the party leader and presidential nominee finally made him break with the party.  Tim tells a story of his mental turmoil that led to this break and then his attempts to understand how many of his colleagues and others could stick with the party and Donald Trump.  He is very hard on himself, only slightly kinder to some, and somewhat more understanding toward others.

I enjoyed the book but did not get around to writing a review until I got a reminder in my email. I subscribe to The Atlantic and get several newsletters as emails.  Some newsletters are subscriber only but they do add a link that I can share.  I hope they work for you.

 

I read the book because I read David French’s review in this newsletter Tim Miller Asks the Question Every Conservative Must Answer:  Who are you, really? by David French

 

And then I decided to write a review after reading Selling Their Souls: A conversation with Tim Miller by Tom Nichols
 

So Tim Miller, David French, and Tom Nichols are 3 former Republicans that led me to this review.

It just occurred to be that there are so many former Republicans and that they may be playing a major role as we try to fix our democracy and politics that I should start a new tag.