The Corrosion of Conservatism

August 27, 2018
In this memoir-manifesto, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Boot (The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam) frankly explores his tumultuous relationship with the Republican Party, likening it to “a tale of first love, marriage, growing disenchantment, and, eventually, a heartbreaking divorce.” Boot, a Jewish immigrant from the Soviet Union, describes the journey from the beginnings of his career at the Wall Street Journal through positions at the Weekly Standard and Commentary to his current role as a loud Trump critic at the Washington Post and on CNN. Due to his moral horror at the rhetoric and policies of Donald Trump and his supporters, the author has finally turned his back on the only political party he ever identified with, as well as on many of the conservative beliefs he first formulated as a young reader of National Review in the 1980s. While he considers the Democratic Party as a necessary buffer to Trump in the next few elections, Boot refuses to completely give up on conservatism. Instead, he envisions a future for American politics that includes a centrist party led by an Eisenhower-like figure for disillusioned center-left and center-right voters alienated by the extremists in power. Boot’s passionate and principled stand against alleged tyranny will resonate with many readers disillusioned with the state of contemporary politics.

September 15, 2018
Washington Post columnist and CNN global affairs analyst Boot (The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, 2018, etc.) contemplates the collapse of the GOP under the poisonous influence of Donald Trump.The author is convinced that the Republican Party will suffer repeated and devastating defeats for its embrace of extremism, conspiracymongering, ignorance, isolationism, and white nationalism. He feels those events will be necessary in order to rebuild as a center-right party. As much autobiography of a conservative as a political book, the narrative discusses Boot's arrival in Los Angeles from the Soviet Union at age 7 and his early awakenings to politics. His intellectual heroes were William F. Buckley and George Will, and his political hero was Ronald Reagan. He went to college in Berkeley, "a town that never seemed to have left the sixties behind," in the days of rallies and sit-ins. After writing editorials for a while, Boot joined the staff of the Christian Science Monitor. That neutral line, between opinion and news, has now been destroyed by the likes of Fox News, Infowars, and Breitbart. Added to that, the "alternative media" has become a massive phenomenon, giving rise to the populism proffered by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others. The author's move to the Wall Street Journal and the Council on Foreign Relations cemented his role as an uncompromising conservative. As readers follow the GOP fall through Boot's eyes, many may wonder why it took him so long to leave. He states that the dark underside was always there. With Barry Goldwater in 1964, the GOP became a party of Southern whites, and the concept of states' rights was nothing more than a euphemism for racism. Furthermore, the party's refusal to support Barack Obama in his confrontation with the Kremlin contributed to the proliferation of Russian hacking. The Trump administration's complete lack of ethics, sheer incompetence, and Cabinet toadyism are driving home the final nail.Republicans particularly need to read this book; it's not really news to the Democrats.

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October 1, 2018
Boot (The Road Not Taken, 2018) ended his affiliation with the Republican Party the day after Trump was elected president. He now tells the story of his political journey from conservative poster child to disillusioned independent. As a Jewish Russian refugee, Boot grew up in a virulently anticommunist household and found an intellectual home in the conservative worldview of the National Review and Ronald Reagan. Initially a print journalist, since 2002 he has worked for the think tank Council on Foreign Relations and authored numerous articles and books. He has detractors on both sides of the political spectrum. More recently, he has changed his tune about the conservative movement he once professed allegiance to because of its support of Trump, whom Boot describes as hostile to his principles and embodying the opposite of stances conservatives have championed since WWII. He lays out his beliefs and asks which party represents him. His conclusion is none as currently constituted, but he hopes a new center right will emerge from the ashes of today's Republican Party. Readers across the political spectrum will appreciate Boot's thoughtful personal and political analysis.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)