Hey, Genius!
The single most pervasive theme in the book—one that is exemplified on nearly every single page—is that the only way to attach the label “genius” to Donald J. Trump in anything approaching a literal fashion is to use it ironically, like when you refer to someone who has just done something incredibly stupid with a phrase like “nice going, genius!” Among the most simple elemental knowledge which somehow managed to escape Trump’s apprehension is the story of what makes Pearl Harbor so important in American history, that France has a long history of military engagements, or that the single greatest witch hunt in American history was actually quite literally a hunt for witches which resulted in several non-witches being executed.
The Paul Blart of the Deal
Trump managed to convince millions of Americans to vote for him in large part upon a constructed myth of his ability to negotiate great deals. The fact that Trump somehow actually managed to be one of the few people in history to lose money owning a casino somehow failed to penetrate but the book exposes the real truth behind Trump’s claim to be a great dealmaker: he tries to make everything a transaction over money. The book lays out a thematic trail in which foreign policy in the Trump administration is akin to negotiating for a 15% discount in mid-grade floor tile for a hotel: a tenuous and fragile peace in the Middle East becomes a bargaining chip in an effort to save billions of dollars by stationing US troops in Afghanistan. The security of South Korea from the madness of the Kim dynasty becomes currency for negotiating the cost of conducting war preparedness exercises. And, of course, pressuring the newly elected leader of a country to phony up an investigation into a political rival becomes down payment for weapons to literally keep the Russians from driving tanks down main street. Of course, the "failed casino" deal of the Trump administration would be the inability to deliver on that oft-stated promise that Mexico would pay for a wall that still hadn't even started being constructed more than three years after the inauguration.
Why Nepotism Laws Exist
Another theme which the book cannot help but explore explicates in uncertain terms why there are laws against nepotism in politics. It goes without saying, of course, that Trump ignored these laws even when it became apparent on an almost daily reason that they exist for his own protection. Two of the closest advisors to Trump are his daughter Ivanka and her husband—his son-in-law—Jared Kushner. Almost every professional working on the White House staff viewed the presence and contribution of the two as detrimental to job of running the country. For many, the reasons may be a little less than kind and more to do with the jealousy of kin, but throughout the book is compiled an ever-increasing and ever-intensifying mountain of evidence that Jared Kushner can be duly counted upon to give his father-in-law the worst possible advice which the professionals must then work overtime trying to fix and extricate Trump out of without making Jared look utterly incompetent in the process. From his decision to attend the ill-fated meeting with Russian lawyers promising dirt on Hillary Clinton during the campaign to his bizarrely cushy relationship with the dodgy crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Kushner becomes the poster boy for why nobody should ever hire inexperienced family members—even though who are only family by marriage.
