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I like remember early in the year? I was talking about how I was reading that book Rise and Kill First about running about the about the the early days of Israel the Masada days to what it gets up to like 2012

Yeah, but once it got morally ambivalent I got out right right when they were hunting Nazis

I was fucking in but by the time it got to the part where oh, this is a deeply deeply troubling situation I was like fuck it. It's time for some fiction. You know what I mean?

Even reading this book for a year now, it's a slow go. It's so long. It's so long. I've heard this discussion.

The first 50 pages, it's Holocaust survivors hunting Nazis around the world. Couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Ten out of ten. No notes.

Oh, they drop the Hungarian to say in German, be quiet or I'll kill you to a fucking Nazi who killed their family. Yes.

The nonfiction book I'm reading is called Rise and Kill First. Great book. It's fascinating about the Mossad and targeted assassinations in the early days of the founding of Israel.

Even reading this book for a year now, it's a slow go. It's so long. It's so long.

The first 50 pages, it's Holocaust survivors hunting Nazis around the world. Couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Ten out of ten. No notes.

The nonfiction book I'm reading is called Rise and Kill First. Great book. It's fascinating about the Mossad and targeted assassinations in the early days of the founding of Israel.

joining us today writer at large at the Bulwark author of the best-selling book Why We Did It a travelogue from the Republican road to hell friend of the pod Tim Miller

You wrote this fantastic book. It is about why so many of your Republican friends and colleagues ended up going full MAGA, which we will get to, but you were pretty tough on yourself and I would argue more self-reflective and self-critical than most people in professional politics.

I felt like I had to do it if I was gonna write about them in the first part.

I did something good in 2016, which was I said, fuck this. I'm not going to vote for Donald Trump. I'm going to support Hillary Clinton.

I think that that part was like looking at my... Explaining my own actions was so important.

The book is Why We Did It, a travelogue from the Republican road to hell. Everyone go read it.

joining us today writer at large at the Bulwark author of the best-selling book Why We Did It a travelogue from the Republican road to hell friend of the pod Tim Miller

You wrote this fantastic book. It is about why so many of your Republican friends and colleagues ended up going full MAGA, which we will get to, but you were pretty tough on yourself and I would argue more self-reflective and self-critical than most people in professional politics.

I felt like I had to do it if I was gonna write about them in the first part.

And I felt like by exploring that in the book, hopefully it shined more of a light on the rationalizations that these other folks used to go along with Donald Trump.

It's an incredible examination of all the ways people compartmentalize their support for Trump or I guess their political lives versus the things they essentially believe in.

I think the book is really good and it's really worth reading and it is dark at times.

I know Dan, you and Tommy both read this, which is why I am. Nixonland by Rick Perlstein.

And a long book, long book for me.

I don't think we need to send mail out copies of How Democracies End by those two professors.

Levitan, Steven, something... Yeah, a couple of fucking nerds... one of those anti-semitic institutions up north... to which one... oh boy... wow... coming out hot. It's a great book.

It's a great book. But long on problems, short on solutions. But still pretty good. I like that I came on... they came on Love it or Leave it. They were good.

Look at what's happening in Hungary, right? Ben wrote about this in his book.

This is the point they make that next time round, Republican politicians won't be saying, well, what do I do to speak out against this?

I don't think we need to send mail out copies of How Democracies Die by those two professors.

It's a great book. Uh, it's a great book but long on problems, short on solutions, but still pretty good.

This is the point they make that next time round, Republican politicians won't be saying, well, what do I do to speak out against this?

Grace is about 10 days in June 2015 that are bookended by the massacre in Charleston in a black church and Barack Obama's eulogy in Charleston where he sang Amazing Grace.

And in between, you also had this kind of extraordinary series of events where the Supreme Court was going to decide on Obamacare and whether or not millions of people got to keep their insurance and marriage equality, whether or not millions of people would be deemed second class citizens or be able to get married like the rest of us.

After the shooting, the Confederate flag starts coming down over public spaces in the south.

And all this happens over a span of 10 days. And it was like all these kind of great unanswered questions about America were coming to the fore in this exhausting and exhilarating way.

And you were in there just writing so many versions of all of these. That's my favorite part. Like five speeches about one Supreme Court case, given all the different possibilities.

Grace by Cody Keenan. Yeah, that's important. I know.

Uh, cody keaton made author of Grace and a amazing work. You should all buy.

Grace is about 10 days in June 2015 that are bookended by the massacre in Charleston in a black church and Barack Obama's eulogy in Charleston where he sang Amazing Grace.

And in between, you also had this kind of extraordinary series of events where the Supreme Court was going to decide on Obamacare and whether or not millions of people got to keep their insurance and marriage equality, whether or not millions of people would be deemed second class citizens or be able to get married like the rest of us.

After the shooting, the Confederate flag starts coming down over public spaces in the south.

And all this happens over a span of 10 days. And it was like all these kind of great unanswered questions about America were coming to the fore in this exhausting and exhilarating way.

And you were in there just writing so many versions of all of these. That's my favorite part. Like five speeches about one Supreme Court case, given all the different possibilities.

I read The Candy House by Jennifer Egan over the 4th of July when we were on vacation. Six months ago.

The last novel I read. I've already said this on the podcast. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan is fantastic.

I read The Candy House by Jennifer Egan. You did? Great. I love that book. It's a good book.

I read The Candy House by Jennifer Egan. You did? Great.

So you just wrote about the latest developments around the richest man in the world buying one of the world's most politically influential social media platforms, unfortunately.

Mike Isaac was the one arguing us using that branding. He's like super fun. He wrote Super Pumped, that great Uber book that everyone loved.

I cannot recommend your book enough. It is an amazing read. It's just like the reporting details you have are amazing. It tells a really compelling story.

It tells a really compelling story. But I think it also tells a broader story about business in Silicon Valley in particular.

Please check out his book, Super Pumped, The Battle for Uber. It is a phenomenal read. It would make a great holiday gift.

It's an Uber book, but I like to say it's not really just about Uber.

Mike Isaac was the one arguing us using that branding. He's like super fun. He wrote Super Pumped, that great Uber book that everyone loved.

I believe it's coming out in paperback soon, so I'm worried I'm gonna get brutalized here in this day.

Joining us now, he is the host of The Mehdi Hassan Show and author of the new book, Win Every Argument, the art of debating, persuading and public speaking.

I believe it's coming out in paperback soon, so I'm worried I'm gonna get brutalized here in this day.

When the view and I have a rocket about anything, don't be.

Joining us now, he is the host of The Mehdi Hassan Show and author of the new book, Win Every Argument, the art of debating, persuading and public speaking.

I have a chapter on concessions in the book.

I also held up the hands in the wrong order.

I read every goddamn word.

I won't say that your co-host told me to rhetorically beat you up because that would be true.

I'm Roman Mars, and I'm here to talk about the book by former New York City planner Robert Moses. So I'm breaking it down 100 pages at a time and talking to special guests about why this book matters, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

I actually think if it wasn't for Robert Moses, I probably wouldn't have run for Congress.

I love the book The Power Broker, the epic biography of former New York City planner Robert Moses.

I love the book, The Power Broker, the epic biography of former New York City planner, Robert Moses.

I actually think if it wasn't for Robert Moses, I probably wouldn't have run for Congress.

I actually think if it wasn't for Robert Moses, I probably wouldn't have run for Congress.

God, go read Robert Caro. Lyndon Johnson was so corrupt. He was so unbelievably, unfathomably corrupt.

Democracy Awakening, Heather Cox Richardson... I was naming books... Stolen Focus.

So I just did a show on my own podcast with Johan Hari about his new book, Stolen Focus about attention.

Democracy Awakening, Heather Cox Richardson, I was naming books, Stolen Focus.

So I just did a show on my own podcast with Johan Hari about his new book, Stolen Focus about attention.

This book is like a tour of a once majestic 18th-century wooden house now burned to its foundations. The focus is solely on and rejoices in what's left amid the ashes: the two cinched bathtubs, the gravel driveway, and the mailbox.

Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog's eye goo.

Jared's a genius. I've been in Washington a long time, and I must say Jared is one of the best lobbyists I've ever seen.

A therapist might call these cries for help.

He's a pair of dimples without a demographic.

He's got a he's got a new book out. Fantastic review in The New York Times. If everybody hasn't read it yet.

This book is like a tour of a once majestic 18th century wooden house now burned to its foundations. The focus is solely on and rejoices in what's left amid the ashes: the two cinched bathtubs, the gravel driveway, and the mailbox.

Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog's eye goo.

He recalls every drop of praise he's ever received.

A therapist might call these cries for help.

He's a pair of dimples without a demographic.

He's got a he's got a new book out. Fantastic review in The New York Times.

In Ezra Klein's book, Why We're Polarized, he talks about how - remember those BuzzFeed quizzes that are like 37 ways you're from Ohio or 37 ways you went to high school in the mid-90s?

Pick up his book, Why We're Polarized, outstanding book.

I read your book over the weekend. It really caused me to Think deeply about a lot of things Confirm some of my biases made me question a lot about things. I've thought about politics

Why is the topic of polarization the one you wanted to explore?

So I should say that Bill Clinton was in his time the most polarizing president in in polling history

It is an incredibly smart book that will help you understand What has happened in politics and I think really help you understand what is at stake? In this upcoming election in 2020.

So go check out the book everyone I really appreciate it.

In Ezra Klein's book, Why We're Polarized, he talks about how - remember those BuzzFeed quizzes that are like 37 ways you're from Ohio or 37 ways you went to high school in the mid-90s?

I don't know if you could work that out as well. Oh, Reganland. I'm still working through that one. I jumped over to the Facebook book, which is very good. It's quite good.

I don't know if you could work that out as well. Oh, Reganland. I'm still working through that one.

I just finished last night, Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

I just finished last night, Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

The team worked very hard to make sure no one has to actually purchase John Bolton's book to learn what he had to say about Trump. You just have to listen to Tommy and Ben.

You described the president as erratic, foolish, behaved irrationally, bizarrely, you can't leave him alone for a minute. He saw conspiracies behind rocks. He couldn't tell the difference between his personal interests and the country's interests. I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job.

I haven't read the full book, but the excerpts in that interview...Pretty much confirmed the worst case scenario about Trump. Like there is no foreign policy vision, all of his decisions revolve around whether or not they'll help him get reelected.

Bolton paints a picture of a president who has no interest in learning even basic facts. He doesn't read. He only gets his intelligence briefing maybe once or twice a week and in that briefing he spends most of the time talking, which is not how it's supposed to work.

Bolton quotes Trump telling Xi Jinping...that he should build these camps and that it's the right thing to do.

What an asshole

the revolution will be monetized

John Bolton thinks we deserve the truth if and only if he gets paid for it in the Form of a book or a corporate speech and it's just outrageous

the New York Times described it as dozens of pages describing the Ukraine extortion plot

Everyone that we thought would be in on the fix Mike Pompeo Mick Mulvaney other shady idiots. They're all in on the thing

Bolton has a special place on Trump's enemies list after Bolton published a book about his time serving as Trump's national security advisor. Wasn't favorable.

He called his book The Room Where It Happened. After Hamilton.

My laptop is balanced on a copy of Hillary Clinton's Hard Choices.

And that was, it's an amazing book and it's about basically like the rush for Caspian oil reserves after the collapse of the Soviet Union and like specifically Chevron and BP kind of like duking it out.

And I read a book called The Oil and the Glory by the former Wall Street Journal journalist, Steve Levine.

And I read a book called The Oil and the Glory by the former Wall Street Journal journalist, Steve Levine.

And I read a book called The Oil and the Glory by the former Wall Street Journal journalist, Steve Levine.

So I just read a wonderful novel called Enter Ghost by Isabella Hamad.

So I just read a wonderful novel called Enter Ghost by Isabella Hamad.

So I just read a wonderful novel called Enter Ghost by Isabella Hamad.

She also wrote a novel called The Parisian, which is a wonderful novel.

She also wrote a novel called The Parisian, which is a wonderful novel.

She also wrote a novel called The Parisian, which is a wonderful novel.

my book comes out on August 1st and so does Eden Lepucky. Her novel is called Time's Mouth and it's amazing.

And so does Eden Lepucky. Her novel is called Time's Mouth and it's amazing.

my book comes out on August 1st and so does Eden Lepucky. Her novel is called Time's Mouth and it's amazing.