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Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission
a book by Mark Leibovich
(our site's book review)
Thank You for Your Servitude—now BOW, scum!
The Amazon blurb says that The #1 New York Times Bestseller
“He’s one of the best chroniclers of politics today.” –Jake Tapper
“This is a really funny book.” –Kara Swisher
“His writing is so damn good.” –John Berman
“Really fascinating...There are so many revelations.” –Anderson Cooper
“The new must read summer book.” –Stephanie Ruhle
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller This Town, the eyewitness account of how the GOP collaborated with Donald Trump to transform Washington’s “swamp” into a gold-plated hot tub—and a onetime party of rugged individualists into a sycophantic personality cult.
Did Trump really drain the swamp, or did he merely convert the onetime party of rugged individualists into a sycophantic personality cult?
In the early months of Trump’s candidacy, the Republican Party’s most important figures, people such as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Lindsey Graham, were united—and loud—in their scorn and contempt. Even more, in their outrage: Trump was a menace and an affront to our democracy. Then, awkwardly, Trump won.
Leibovich’s new book ingeniously shifts the focus from the White House to the Trump International Hotel, the president’s “flagship payola palace”
Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission is Mark Leibovich’s unflinching account of the moral rout of a major American political party, tracking the transformation of Rubio, Cruz, Graham, and their ilk into the administration’s chief enablers, and the swamp’s lesser lights into frantic chasers of the grift. What would these politicos do to preserve their place in the sun, or at least the orbit of the spray tan? What would they do to preserve their “relevance”? Almost anything, it turns out."
Many of the most alpha of the lapdogs happily conceded to Mark Leibovich that they were in on the joke (the culture of submission to Trump in the Republican Party)
"Trump’s savage bullying of everyone in his circle, along with his singular command of his political base, created a dangerous culture of submission in the Republican Party. Meanwhile, many of the most alpha of the lapdogs happily conceded to Mark Leibovich that they were “in on the joke.” As Lindsey Graham told the author, his supporters in South Carolina generally don’t read The New York Times, and they won’t read this book, either. All that cynicism, shading into nihilism, led to a country truly unhinged from reality, and to the events of January 6, 2021. It’s a vista that makes the Washington of This Town seem like a comedy of manners in comparison.
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All that cynicism, shading into nihilism, led to a country truly unhinged from reality, and to the events of January 6, 2021
When the Obama swamp creatures were replaced with the Trump swamp creatures, was it a step up or a step down? Leibovich says down
“The author couldn’t repeat the formula he used to such entertaining effect in his 2013 book, This Town . . . Instead, Leibovich’s new book ingeniously shifts the focus . . . extremely funny in spots, although much of the humor has a whistling-past-the-graveyard quality. Like the Comedian in Alan Moore’s graphic novel Watchmen, Leibovich was shocked out of his previous cynicism and absurdism (to some extent at least) by the enormity of Trump’s threat.” —New York Times Book Review
Much of the humor in Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission has a whistling-past-the-graveyard quality
“[Leibovich is] just so good at this. He is a world-class ranter, continuing an American tradition that includes such dyspeptic luminaries as H.L. Mencken, Hunter S. Thompson and P.J. O’Rourke . . . [He is] a brilliant interviewer able to wheedle not-quite-admissions from his subjects, who give him all the access in the world.” —Washington Post
“The main attraction to Leibovich's work is his wicked satirical talent. He comes at his interviewees with a skewer in one hand, a scalpel in the other and a glint in his eye. His frequent eviscerations of major figures range from subtle to scabrous . . . [T]he material in Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission is new, much of it from interviews done since the 2020 election . . . Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission should not be mistaken for a ‘fun read’—as This Town was often described . . . Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission is on another plane of warning and foreboding. There are many laughs, to be sure, but with bitter aftertaste. And the message here, the final word, is anything but fun.” —NPR.org
“A fascinating account . . . The greatest value of Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission is Leibovich’s ability to understand the startling motivations of members of the House and Senate and many White House advisers and aides.” —The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign, was a participant in the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol
"Leibovich’s new book ingeniously shifts the focus to the Trump International Hotel, the president’s “flagship payola palace” that operated from 2016 to 2022 just a few blocks from the White House. . . . Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission concentrates less on the MAGA true believers — the likes of Steve Bannon and Marjorie Taylor Greene — than on the twisted and tormented souls in the Republican establishment who could have prevented Trump’s hostile takeover of the party but didn’t. Such Republicans, in Leibovich’s assessment, “made Trump possible” and they “refused to stop him even after the U.S. Capitol fell under the control of some madman in a Viking hat.
The subtext of a MAGA hat is the real message: Make Trump Great Again
"It was always rationalization followed by capitulation and then full surrender. The routine was always numbingly the same, and so was the sad truth at the heart of it: They all knew better. . . . Leibovich’s new account has heroes: Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney and the late Senator John McCain. McCain’s courage and integrity in standing up to Trump posed a stark contrast to what Leibovich calls “everything the White House and its saps and weaklings had become under the 45th president.”" (Source: Review: “Thank You for Your Servitude,” by Mark Leibovich, Geoffrey Kabaservice, NY Times)
"Leibovich ably captures this milieu, and he's cleareyed about Trump’s dangers. However, that awareness sometimes clashes with his breezy, Twitter-dunk-style delivery, which emphasizes the sideshow at the expense of the crisis. Now that the GOP is more cult than political party, one former Republican congressman noted that its main approach to Trump is “just waiting for him to die,” a strategy more pathetic than funny. . . . A thorough if sometimes glib account of a disastrous presidency." (Source:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVITUDE: DONALD TRUMP'S WASHINGTON AND THE PRICE OF SUBMISSION, Kirkus Reviews)
"I mean, I think — yes, the working title of this, in my own head at least, was they all knew better. And there's this sort of chicken and egg question at the root of all of this. And everyone says one of Donald Trump's superpowers is that he has the unyielding support of his base. And even now, he probably has the support of maybe 70, 80 percent, at least approval ratings-wise, among Republicans.
"I think the reason for that largely is not so much that he has this magic touch over his voters. I mean, he does to some degree, but, ultimately, the white flag has been raised by other putative leaders of the party. They have not taken him on. There were several points, especially after the election, after January 6, where they could have had this off-ramp and really sort of broken free.
"And, yes, it would have caused all kinds of short-term pain and discomfort with the nominee, but, ultimately, they probably would be in a very different place right now, and I think probably in the longer term a better place." (Source: ‘Thank You for Your Servitude’ explores the powerful Republicans who back Trump, PBS, Judy Woodruff and Mark Leibovich)
"To be fair, Leibovich is remarkably up front about his lack of originality. As early as page 11 he warns the reader that “you will almost certainly recall many of the episodes described in the chapters ahead”. But it is still remarkable that he is unable to tell us almost anything new about the greatest hits of the Trump administration.
"Sadly, Leibovich has almost nothing fresh to tell us. Instead of new information, we get a recycled account of “the dirt that Trump tracked in, the people he broke, and the swamp he did not drain”.
Leibovich has almost nothing fresh to tell us. Instead of new information, we get a recycled account of “the dirt that Trump tracked in, the people he broke, and the swamp he did not drain”
(Source: Thank You For Your Servitude review – disappointing tale of Trump’s town, Charles Kaiser, the Guardian)
Trump's Team of Vipers (As former Clinton adviser William Galston once noted, 'every President gets the White House he deserves.')
"In short, he has a byline that arouses expectations of thoroughness and thoughtfulness. So one might assume that his new 304-page tome (before the acknowledgments, the notes and the index) would include some new facts or several new insights about his subjects, the Trump sycophants who enabled the most disastrous presidency of modern times.
It was always rationalization followed by capitulation and then full surrender. The routine was always numbingly the same, and so was the sad truth at the heart of it: They all knew better—but Trump needs you to respect his 'authoritah,' as Eric Cartman of South Park says
The framing image for Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission is not the White House but the lobby of the Trump Hotel, the true citadel of the Trump administration a few blocks away down Pennsylvania Avenue
"The framing image for Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission is not the White House but the lobby of the Trump Hotel, the true citadel of the Trump administration a few blocks away down Pennsylvania Avenue. The scene is regularly crowded with acolytes of varying status, all anticipating a chance to see Trump and be seen by him and by others waiting to see him. . . . If Leibovich can be occasionally brutal in his assessments, Trump brings out the worst: 'Trump has a way of wearing you down,' the author observes. 'He invades your habitat, like the opossum that gets into the attic, dies, stinks and attracts derivative nuisances.'
Trump has a way of wearing you down,' the author observes. 'He invades your habitat, like the opossum that gets into the attic, dies, stinks and attracts derivative nuisances
"I couldn't help contemplating Rubio's sad slide into slavish devotion to someone he previously called 'the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency',' writes Leibovich, summing up how the Florida senator Trump had derided as 'Liddle Markoe' on Twitter had transfigured himself as 'a fully co-opted minion.' . . . He strongly suggests that what was once the party of Abraham Lincoln is now willing to do and believe in anything to maintain its hold on power — whether it involves utter fealty to Donald Trump or a similar embrace of one of the figures now maneuvering to be his successor." (Source: 'Thank You for Your Servitude' casts harsh light on GOP's shift and its motives, Ron Elving, NPR)
Senator Marco Rubio: I couldn't help contemplating Rubio's sad slide into slavish devotion to someone he previously called 'the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency',' writes Leibovich
This is a funny yet serious book that exposes the G.O.P. as opportunist, corrupt cowards that needed to shed themselves of Trumpocracy burdens en masse. Admittedly that's a tough ask given that Trump has cultivated his 74,000,000 followers as a formidable force to reckon with. It should not be forgotten that Trump has plenty of accomplishments to brag about, whereas Biden and the Democrats have the worst record in modern history, a record whose main feature is wrecking all the good things that Trump did for this country.