BLOWBACK by Miles Taylor is a quite strident "Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump." Taylor is a national security expert who previously served as chief of staff at the US Department of Homeland Security and he makes sure everyone knows that, beginning the book with a rather paranoid chase scene due to his fears of being attacked for opposing Trump. Throughout the text, he expresses strong opinions such as "Donald Trump introduced a new brand of extremism to the Republican Party, and the thuggish populism has grown beyond his control." Crediting then House Speaker Paul Ryan with "wanting a Trump inoculation plan" in 2016, Taylor goes on to describe threats to the "guardrails" of democracy: our judicial system, radicalization of the Republican Party, security breaches damaging international alliances, and so on. Taylor clearly has a great deal of material from which to choose, coupled with insider perspective. His notes and bibliography, however, consist of one short paragraph saying his analysis is based on "interviews with dozens of current and former U.S. government officials, personal recollections, contemporaneous notes, emails and text messages, public records, and other sources" – no other specific details are offered.

Miles Taylor worked in the Trump White House, and was so appalled that he published an earlier book as “Anonymous.” When he outed himself as the author, his life began … difficult, to say the least. 

To write this book, Taylor interviewed dozens of former Trump aides and came away even more appalled…at the prospect of Donald Trump 2.0.

It is shocking, entertaining, educational, and totally terrifying. It is basically a warning to the voting public as to what could happen. TBH, it is amazing although scary AF. 

It sounds  like a political thriller, but it is all too real. Taylor is unflinchingly honest and self-critical. And it was too scary to read carefully, so I may have missed some important points. But OMG, it should be widely read. Thanks to Atria books and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review. Five stars.

Scary premise for an opinion piece that is a little long. Miles Taylor was complicent for far too long, so this book does illuminate what it was like working for a person no one should have worked for. There was no mystery here. Anyone paying attention knew who Trump was. It was easy for Taylor to continue working for him because of an R following his name. It all got real when finally. Now he is warning of it happening again. Find the new you and stop it.

Reads like a political thriller, but in real life. Scary that we are living through this and grateful for those that speak up and tell their stories.