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Why We Did It

A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell

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Why We Did It

Written by: Tim Miller
Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Former Republican political operative Tim Miller answers the question no one else has fully grappled with: Why did normal people go along with the worst of Trumpism?

As one of the strategists behind the famous 2012 RNC “autopsy,” Miller conducts his own forensic study on the pungent carcass of the party he used to love, cutting into all the hubris, ambition, idiocy, desperation, and self-deception for everyone to see. In a bracingly honest reflection on both his own past work for the Republican Party and the contortions of his former peers in the GOP establishment, Miller draws a straight line between the actions of the 2000s GOP to the Republican political class's Trumpian takeover, including the horrors of January 6th.

From ruminations on the mental jujitsu that allowed him as a gay man to justify becoming a hitman for homophobes, to astonishingly raw interviews with former colleagues who jumped on the Trump Train, Miller diagrams the flattering and delusional stories GOP operatives tell themselves so they can sleep at night. With a humorous touch he reveals Reince Priebus' neediness, Sean Spicer's desperation, Elise Stefanik and Chris Christie’s raw ambition, and his close friends’ submission to a MAGA psychosis.

Why We Did It is a vital, darkly satirical warning that all the narcissistic justifications that got us to this place still thrive within the Republican party, which means they will continue to make the same mistakes and political calculations that got us here, with disastrous consequences for the nation.

©2022 Tim Miller (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers
Ideologies & Doctrines Public Policy Social Policy Thought-Provoking Witty
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What listeners say about Why We Did It

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Engrossing

Really good book with new insights on a familiar story. I agree with another commenter that it would have been better if read by the author himself. There’s a lot of hilarious snark here that the narrator does a pretty good job with but it lacks the zing of Miller’s own voice. Still, I’m glad I got around to this book. It gives insight not just into the mindset of Trump’s enablers, but also to the complicated motivations of people in general.

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A glimpse into the tRump world

I must admit that I had no idea what this book was going to be like and, for the first bit considered dropping it and listening to something else. Glad I stayed with it. It provides insight into why people who know tRump is amoral still support him.

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Please let the authors narrate their own work!

I don’t want to diss the narrator. He did a great job. It’s just that he’s not Tim, whose voice and snark is undoubtedly familiar to most people who will purchase the audiobook. The strangeness never improved. Throughout the book I kept imagining how Tim would have voiced the words and emphasized the points being made. I’m glad I bought the audiobook book but I will not recommend it to my friends for this reason.

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funny, informative, and depressing

Tim Miller is deeply honest, funny and insightful. He provides a complex picture of how and why people could work in the Trump administration. He doesn't hold back from self examination and how he too walked down the same path as many of the people in the book before he "veered away from the cliff". Tim doesn't pull any punches exploring how old friends and colleagues ended up working for a repugnant want to be autocrat.

The only drawback is Tim didn't read it himself, it's weird to hear "Tim Millerisms" in someone else's voice

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Well worth the read

This book is part roast part historical retelling of the republican parties recent actions and the key figures involved. For political nerds baffled by a party they dont recognize, the book is very cathartic as the author verbally crushes the Trump team and their beliefs leaving the reader with some ideas of how it all went south. very entertaining

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Musings of an LGBTQ+ traitor

While an interesting glimpse behind the curtains, I don't know how he sleeps at night. He worked on campaigns for some of the most homophobic and hateful politicians, while being gay himself. He did, in his own words, 'axe jobs' on political rivals. America is a disgusting, cynical banana republic and people like Tim Miller got it there. Revolting

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