Thursday, August 17, 2017

Book Review: Insane Clown President

TITLE: Insane Clown President-Dispatches From the 2016 Circus
AUTHOR: Matt Taibbi
PUBLISHED: January 17th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Articles/Essays
PREMISE: A collection of articles that the author wrote during his time covering the 2016 Presidential campaign.
MY REVIEW: There's not really much to say about this one. If you kept track of the 2016 election, you likely read at least one of these articles, especially if you're a Rolling Stone magazine reader. It turned out I had read one or two of them when they had been released.
If there is one takeaway from all of these articles it is this: the 2016 election was like no other election I've seen. I mean, I've seen some nutty ones. The last election was pretty bad. I also can tell you stories about the Bush vs. Gore election (the first election I actually paid attention too, but sadly was not old enough to vote in at the time). But even those don't compare to this last one. If there's one thing I appreciate about Taibbi, it is that he calls out the BS on all sides of the aisle. Much as I voted for Clinton, there were several missteps in that campaign (as well as with Sanders, who I also voted for. Sorry Bernie Bros, he was not the perfect candidate you all make him out to be). It's sad to me that an entertainment magazine has some better reporters writing articles on politics then papers like the New York Times do.
I wouldn't really call this entertainment reading. The things that happened during that time and after are just frankly too depressing for me to enjoy remembering it. But there are some important insights here that I think are well worth reading. And worth remembering come next election cycle.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rolling Stone magazine fans, those who want a recap of the election
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five insightful articles

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