3.75 stars- Christopher Buckley was one of my favorite writers in my 20's. Post college I read almost everything he had published. He does a mix of current satire so well- his stories are outrageous and fun yet timely and accessible.
The only problem with this book is that the topic- President Trump and his staff and relationships with Russia- is already so outlandish that it makes this seem more like a nonfiction book. Such crazy things are happening in real life that it makes it hard to fictionalize it while amping up the absurd. This book is funny and loony and has some great zingers (in the tradition of all of Buckley's books) but what would once have been so extreme is now not that hard to imagine as reality. Still an enjoyable, funny political book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

It's hard to lampoon a buffoon. This is a good effort, but there are some sub-Mad Magazine level puns. VP Mike Pants? Really? Sadly, none of the action seems implausible.

It’s not an easy thing to write political satire about Donald Trump. How do you outdo what we’re actually living through? Still Buckley, decided to give it the old college try.
While this isn’t great literature by any stretch, it’s good for a few big laughs and lots of chuckles.
The premise is that Putin manages to lose an election to a real communist. And that he lost because our AI hacked the Russian Election in retaliation for their hacking of our 2016 one.
Buckley makes no efforts to hide who each character is meant to be. He lands a few bullseyes, including this description “Katie was sexy in a - I don’t want to say creepy - certain kind of way, as if you might discover after sleeping with her that she was in fact an android… She had no specific function at the White House other than to seek out the nearest camera or microphone and declaim defiantly support of whatever the president had said or done.”
Some of the best humor seemed to be of the throw away variety, almost hidden in the footnotes (literally). Like this footnote: “The origins of the Electoral College are obscure, but some scholars hold that it was intended to annoy the more populous states.”
This is an easy, fun read good for a day or two. Buckley does have a way with words. I recommend it for those who like their humor dark. If you liked Thank You for Smoking, you’ll enjoy this.
My thanks to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book.

Buckley sets himself the challenge of seeing if it’s possible to satirize the Trump administration. His setup is good, telling the story in the voice of Herb Nutterman, Trump’s “favorite Jew,” retired hospitality director for Trump’s “Farrago sur Mar” and, as the story begins, Trump’s seventh White House Chief of Staff.

Buckley manages to make Nutterman appealing at the start because of his extreme reluctance to take the job. But of course he is steamrollered by Trump, who tweets that Nutterman has been appointed before poor Herb has agreed to accept the position.

There are many clever fictional names for individuals you will quickly recognize, such as Kellyanne Conway, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Steven Miller, Senator Jeff Sessions, and more. But there’s more to it than cheap laughs. The plot is dizzying, but at the same time not far off from reality—or events you can easily imagine happening with this bunch..

Is Buckley’s experiment successful? Is it possible to satirize the Trump administration? Well, not really. As Buckley himself has said, American politics is self-satirizing. But the book is clever, and funny if you’re in the right mood—totally depressing if you’re not. But if it’s true that comedy = tragedy + time, it could become hilarious. Who knows, maybe just a few months from now.

Bravo! Christopher Buckley reminds us once again he is a worthy heir to Kurt Vonnegut and Art Buchwald with Make Russia Great Again. Buckley's rapier wit is as sharp as it has ever been and, frankly, this is the political satire this country has needed. The laughs keep coming because Buckley fully recognizes the foibles of those who populate the current political landscape in America and abroad. Make Russia Great Again is a treasure trove of memorable passages which will have you laughing out loud from start to finish. It's one of the best books from a writer who has gifted us with many great reads over the years. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy! #MakeRussiaGreatAgain #NetGalley

Hits too close to the truth to be really enjoyable.
The main character, Herb Butterman, is a former chief of staff of President Trump. In the book, he is currently serving a sentence in Federal Prison. The book entails his experiences dealing with Trump, his minions, and the people who are influencing his decisions.
Many times I wanted to laugh out loud while reading the book. But then I would catch myself, and realize that no matter how absurd some of the situations were, you would have to think.....well, maybe?
It's an excellent book. It flows along very nicely, and keeps the reader engaged.
It's just that.....one doesn't really dare laugh, because it seems like it might be really happening. And that's terrifying!

I’m having a hard time deciding how to review “Make Russia Great Again” by Christopher Buckley without making this too political, but that’s kind of impossible. But I guess if you’re a huge supporter of the current administration then you wouldn’t be reading this book anyway.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Buckley, reading just about everything he’s put out. Ever since the first time I read “Thank You For Smoking” on a flight and got strange looks for laughing out loud, I have been a fan of everything he has written. His books have often taken a real situation and exaggerated it for comedic effect, or poked fun with his biting satire at what was going on in Washington and beyond.

But the issue I have with this novel is that you can very easily imagine this being a real memoir: our political reality has veered so far into buffoonery that this book reads like non-fiction. It’s hard to laugh at the outrageous antics, preening idiots, and manipulation of facts when these sort of situations take place on a daily basis.

But none of this should be taken as a critique of Mr. Buckley or his work. The story is written as a memoir of an incarcerated former President Trump chief of staff, a retired food and beverage manager from one of Trump’s properties who gets called back to serve the president (his outstanding qualification being his loyalty). The plot centers around a US government program that automatically retaliates against Russia for interfering in our last elections by interfering in kind – Putin loses the election to an upstart Communist challenger.

But the plot is besides the point here – it’s just an excuse for the satirizing of our current administration. We see the manipulation of the facts, the slavish following of certain media personalities (who really are setting the policies), the handling of the president behind the scenes, the hiding of facts to prevent knee-jerk responses, the fawning, the (potential) blackmailing of our leader, the politicians trying to curry favor, and so much more. Mr. Buckley very thinly disguises his characters, but anyone who has watched anything over the last several years could very easily figure out exactly who he’s talking about.

I think this is a well-written, humorous book. And many years from now, I hope to read this again and really enjoy laughing at the ridiculousness of this situation. But until things improve, I am laughing with a very uneasy feeling that this hits closer to the truth than anything we see on the news.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. It is due to be published on July 14, 2020.

Wow! This is an interesting, funny and thought-provoking book. It is about Donald Trump's 4th year of his first (and perhaps only) term as President. A work of fiction, the author thinly disguises the main characters of the book, though not disguising Donald Trump at all. History through Trump's impeachment and subsequent Senate acquittal is held true by the author. But the fictional part picks up immediately after the impeachment became yesterday's news. In real life, that's when the coronavirus pandemic hit, which has completely taken over the news cycle and will likely dominate Trump's legacy. The pandemic has no part in this book. This makes the book, albeit a comedic piece of fiction, far less relevant. Thus, the release of this book faces unfortunate timing.

As I began the book, my first impression was that a book like this would be quite a challenge. How does one pen a farce about a reality that is already so farcical? Later, I read that author Christopher Buckley had renounced political satire for many years on the grounds that American politics had become "self-satirizing."

The fictional narrator of this book is Herb Nutterman, Trump's 7th chief of staff in four years. He writes this book from his prison cell. Most of the action revolves around the United States interfering with election results in Russia, perhaps causing Putin to be voted out of office. Along the way, the author unfavorably portrays many of characters in American politics. Author Buckley has a fabulous sense of humor. But, at times like these in May of 2020, it is very hard to laugh at the country's political leaders. So there is quite a bit of bite in the humor.

I always enjoy Christopher Buckley's books. This is the 5th book of his that I have read. It's not his fault that the world completely changed probably just moments after completing what I just read.

Everyone has heard the allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, but suppose it appears the US Trump administration may have interfered in the Russian election, causing a highly improbable result? This is the premise of Christopher Buckley’s clever satirical novel that takes us into the inner workings of the White House through the eyes of Herb Nutterman, former general manager of the Trump Bloody Run Golf Course and now the White House Chief of Staff.
Make Russia Great Again takes this unlikely (or is it?) premise and develops it into a hilarious picture of the Trump Administration. It captures Trump’s flamboyance beautifully, especially his distinctive speech mannerisms, and riffs on his management style with great skill. In the midst of the laughs, though, I felt there was sympathy for the people on the White House staff, who may be dedicated to the principles that Trump espouses at the same time that they are aghast at the way he operates.
My biggest reservation about Buckley’s work in the past is that sometimes it can exceed my tolerance for the off-color, a characteristic not that uncommon in humor and satire in general. I would not give Make Russia Great Again a G-rating, but it is relatively restrained for Buckley, and it is really funny, like when Herb mentions some of the things guests leave behind in their hotel rooms.
In addition to provoking laughs, Buckley is very clever with words, especially memorable turns of phrase. I will avoid anything topical that might spoil the story, but I have to admire passages like when Herb wants the National Security Advisor to come with him to see the President. The man suggests he should meet with the President alone because “’ you two have history.’ Yes. And doubtless more ‘history’ in the future.” More “history” in the future! I love it and will save it to use in the future myself!
Buckley shows a lot of imagination in Make Russia Great Again, but he is also careful to get the small details right, like locating the US Cyber Command at Ft. Meade, MD, and taking note of the DEFCON level indicator in the White House Situation Room that shows “how close the world is to blowing up”. It helps paint the setting for the reader, but it can be a little scary when I encounter something that seems a bit bizarre. Is this part of the fiction, or could it possibly be real? I discovered, for example, that there really was a proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow before Mr. Trump became President, but for the most part, I try to remind myself I am reading fiction. At least, I guess it is. To be certain, we’ll just have to wait for the results of Russia’s next election.

It's not possible to satirize Trump. How could this be funny when it isn't any more outrageous than what is actually happening?

Christopher Buckley is the award-winning writer of "Thank You for Smoking" and one of the nation's most acclaimed political satirists. A former writer for National Review, a publication founded by his father, Buckley shocked everyone by supporting former President Barack Obama in 2008 and is noted for his willingness to approach his satire from the full spectrum of political truths including from his own experiences as chief speechwriter for then Vice President George H.W. Bush in the book "The White House Mess."

"Make Russia Great Again," due to be released in July 2020 by Simon & Schuster, finds Buckley at it again and dealing with the political universe of current President Donald J. Trump and one Herb Nutterman, a longtime loyal employee of the Trump Organization who gets pulled out of retirement by Trump to serve as his seventh chief of staff.

Nutterman, who served Trump in a variety of roles including food and beverage manager at the Trump Magnifica and as the first general manager of the Trump Bloody Run Golf Course, soon finds that being chief of staff is an entirely different beast no matter his familiarity with Trump's often eccentric, volatile, and unpredictable ways. From deflecting rumors about the Vice President's high school involvement in a Satanic cult to full-on immersion in Russian political controversies, Nutterman's world may never be the same.

As one might expect, Nutterman's experiences range from incredibly bizarre to completely unbelievable and everything in-between. In other words, everything here that reads as completely impossible seems more than a little likely given the political world of 2020. Buckley takes jabs with a Trump-like subtlety at a host of political figures, most of whom you'll immediately recognize and many of whom Buckley doesn't even try to disguise.

"Make Russia Great Again" is jarring, disturbing, often laugh out loud funny, incredibly insightful, and filled to the brim with Buckley's trademark intelligence and understanding of what lies on the surface and beneath the surface of the political scene.

If there's a downside to "Make Russia Great Again," it's simply that it's a little hard to enjoy what is essentially a parody when you're still living in that parody. There's an uncomfortable timeliness to everything that unfolds here and you bet your sweet bumpkiss that Buckley knows it.

If you're hoping for a light read that just pokes fun at Trump, it's worth noting that Buckley's far too intelligent for that and "Make Russia Great Again" is far too pointed a satire to aim that low. Buckley aims his satirical arrows at the entire political scene, perhaps mostly focusing on the Trump administration but far from letting everyone else off the hook.

I mean, seriously. Think about it. Our two most likely major candidates for President of the United States both have credible sexual assault allegations against them.

Maybe, just maybe, there's a systemic issue going on. Ya' know?

The character of Nutterman is vividly realized, so incredibly well developed that you can practically visualize him alongside Trump or any of the other key players here. You'll laugh. You'll cringe. You'll curl up in a fetal position.

You'll vote. You'll wonder if your vote matters.

"Make Russia Great Again" may not land all its barbs at quite the same level as some of Buckley's masterworks but, once again, there's a timeliness here that makes this book that much more jarring, devastating, and maybe a little bit more difficult to laugh at along the way.

A political satire for the true connoisseur of American politics, "Make Russia Great Again" proves once again that Buckley is one of America's finest political satirists and he's still got a lot to say.