Devil's Bargain

August 7, 2017
Veteran journalist Green offers persuasive answers to questions about how Donald Trump won the presidency in this timely book that builds on the serendipitous relationship Green had developed with Trump advisor Steve Bannon since 2011. That access paid off in spades when Bannon was brought aboard a floundering Trump presidential campaign in 2016. It enabled Green to provide dramatic “you are there” scenes, as in the opening section, when, on election eve, an anonymous campaign advisor (whom Bannon guesses is Kellyanne Conway) told CNN that it would take a miracle to win. Beyond those Woodwardesque fly-on-the-wall moments, Green provides insights into Bannon, “a brilliant ideologue from the outer fringe of American politics—and an opportunistic businessman—whose unlikely path happened to intersect with Trump’s at precisely the right moment in history.” His analysis shows how the election’s outcome was shaped both by chance developments, such as Hillary Clinton’s email issue resurfacing in connection with Anthony Weiner, and strategic decisions, such as where the Trump and Clinton campaigns focused their efforts. There will be revelations even for readers who follow the news avidly, such as Trump’s onetime popularity with African-Americans and Latinos during his stint hosting Celebrity Apprentice, but the book’s primary value lies in making Trump’s surprise victory seem unsurprising, and in showing Bannon as more than a one-dimensional caricature.

How a radical conservative with "cult-leader magnetism" became a powerful political force.When Green (co-author: Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture, 2013) first met Steve Bannon in 2011, he "quickly sized him up as a colorful version of a recognizable Washington character type: the political grifter seeking to profit from the latest trend." An investigative reporter, former senior editor of the Atlantic, and weekly political columnist for the Boston Globe, Green spent the next several years immersed in right-wing politics, resulting in a profile of Bannon for Bloomberg Businessweek, where Green is now senior national correspondent. Drawing on his own articles, as well as interviews and abundant media coverage, the author fashions a vivid, fast-paced narrative about the people and events that culminated in "the greatest political upset in modern American history," which even the politically astute Green did not see coming. How did this happen? is the question that drives the book. A crucial piece of the puzzle, writes the author, is Bannon, "a brilliant ideologue" and "opportunistic businessman" who, before meeting Trump, had focused his "populist-nationalist ideas" on supporting Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann and on destroying Hillary Clinton. After seven years in the Navy, Bannon, "intoxicated by the go-go Reagan eighties," set his sights on Wall Street. He got into Harvard Business School, where his working-class roots set him apart from his well-heeled classmates. He excelled academically and was hired by Goldman Sachs, eventually leaving to dabble "in minor Hollywood moguldom," followed by a stint at a Hong Kong video game company. Back in Los Angeles, he met Andrew Breitbart, who became his guru. Green adroitly portrays many other players in the tumultuous 2016 campaign: Robert Mercer, who "resembled the bloodless capitalist hero in an Ayn Rand novel," and his savvy daughter Rebekah, who convinced Trump to hire Bannon and Kellyanne Conway; Paul Manafort; Chris Christie; and a cadre of people working to bring down Hillary Clinton. Behind the scenes and ripped from the headlines, Green's saga exuberantly traces Trump's wild ride to the presidency.

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