03/12/2018
Carpenter, a former congressional staffer and self-declared “never Trump” conservative, scathingly revisits the 2016 presidential election and first year of Donald Trump’s presidency in a convincing attempt to pinpoint the methods behind Trump’s rise to power. Calling the methods gaslighting, after Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 melodrama Gas Light, in which a man’s lies gradually convince his wife that she is going insane, Carpenter identifies five distinct gaslighting steps: “stake a claim”; “advance and deny”; “create suspense” by announcing forthcoming evidence; “discredit the opponent” with personal attacks; and “win” by self-proclamation. The author uses a plethora of examples to build her case, from Trump’s famous public questioning of the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate, to a personally relevant episode in which Trump and his campaign pushed an unsubstantiated National Enquirer story rumoring an affair between Carpenter and her former boss, Sen. Ted Cruz. As a counter to these tactics, the author closes with tips to avoid succumbing to Trump’s strategy (“try to add some substance to your media diet”) and a plea for politicians to take back the narrative with more positive, truthful versions of gaslighting tactics, such as to “get people talking.” For right-leaning readers aghast at the current state of politics, Carpenter’s book will serve as a beacon of hope. (May)
A convincing attempt to pinpoint the methods behind Trump’s rise to power… For right-leaning readers aghast at the current state of politics, Carpenter’s book will serve as a beacon of hope.” — Publishers Weekly
“A patriot’s guide to parsing the president’s lies and disinformation.” — Kirkus Reviews
“The word ‘gaslighting’ is not yet in the Oxford English Dictionary (American or British editions) but that may change with Amanda Carpenter’s timely explanation of Donald Trump’s personification of such deviant behavior. Amanda has nicely, and concisely, cataloged Trump’s troubling conduct along with the methods employed with his endless mendacity. By comparison, and of interest to me, she finds Richard Nixon was a mere dabbler in this dark art. Suffice it to say, if you don’t understand gaslighting, you have no idea what Trump is doing—and these are not times to be uninformed. Her warnings are not those of a partisan; rather, this is a principled analysis of another horrific situation accompanying the Trump presidency. Thank you, Amanda, for putting a spotlight on it.” — John W. Dean, Author, Columnist, Commentator, and Former Nixon White House Counsel
“Carpenter, a tough veteran of GOP politics and herself a target of Trump smears, shrewdly analyzes the methods by which this unworthy president and his scummy team insert their malicious fictions into the U.S. media ecosystem.” — David Frum, author Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
“We live in dangerous political times, when untruth on all sides seems to prevail over decency. Read Amanda’s book and get armed against the ‘gaslighting’ strategy that’s sure to dominate our politics for years to come.” — Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire and host of The Ben Shapiro Show
“Amanda Carpenter offers a forceful and compelling take on how Trump’s manipulation of the truth, aided by plentiful enablers in media and politics, fueled his political ascension and now maintains it.” — Elise Jordan, political analyst, NBC/MSNBC
“Riveting. I covered the 2016 campaign from the front row, and Carpenter still manages to surprise with her vivid, raw, and bold storytelling. Her hard-hitting analysis pulls no punches and puts a crazy year into sharp perspective.” — S. E. Cupp, CNN host, author of Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity
“The hallmark of a true autocrat is the ability to harness the potency of a lie and use it to alter the citizens’ perception of what is truth. Donald Trump is a master at using the shock value of lies, spin, and disinformation to challenge the very existence of observable reality. Amanda Carpenter’s Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us brilliantly threads the needle to explain how Trump exploits the media and the voters’ emotions to weave his own presidential tapestry through a withering litany of lies. The 2020 election is coming, and in this book, Carpenter shows exactly how Trump will try to deceive, distract, and delude America again.” — Malcolm Nance, Author of The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies Tried to Steal the 2016 Election and Counterterrorism Analyst for NBC News/MSNBC
Carpenter, a tough veteran of GOP politics and herself a target of Trump smears, shrewdly analyzes the methods by which this unworthy president and his scummy team insert their malicious fictions into the U.S. media ecosystem.
Amanda Carpenter offers a forceful and compelling take on how Trump’s manipulation of the truth, aided by plentiful enablers in media and politics, fueled his political ascension and now maintains it.
Riveting. I covered the 2016 campaign from the front row, and Carpenter still manages to surprise with her vivid, raw, and bold storytelling. Her hard-hitting analysis pulls no punches and puts a crazy year into sharp perspective.”
We live in dangerous political times, when untruth on all sides seems to prevail over decency. Read Amanda’s book and get armed against the ‘gaslighting’ strategy that’s sure to dominate our politics for years to come.
The hallmark of a true autocrat is the ability to harness the potency of a lie and use it to alter the citizens’ perception of what is truth. Donald Trump is a master at using the shock value of lies, spin, and disinformation to challenge the very existence of observable reality. Amanda Carpenter’s Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us brilliantly threads the needle to explain how Trump exploits the media and the voters’ emotions to weave his own presidential tapestry through a withering litany of lies. The 2020 election is coming, and in this book, Carpenter shows exactly how Trump will try to deceive, distract, and delude America again.
The word ‘gaslighting’ is not yet in the Oxford English Dictionary (American or British editions) but that may change with Amanda Carpenter’s timely explanation of Donald Trump’s personification of such deviant behavior. Amanda has nicely, and concisely, cataloged Trump’s troubling conduct along with the methods employed with his endless mendacity. By comparison, and of interest to me, she finds Richard Nixon was a mere dabbler in this dark art. Suffice it to say, if you don’t understand gaslighting, you have no idea what Trump is doing—and these are not times to be uninformed. Her warnings are not those of a partisan; rather, this is a principled analysis of another horrific situation accompanying the Trump presidency. Thank you, Amanda, for putting a spotlight on it.
Amanda Carpenter is a former aide to Ted Cruz and Jim DeMint, and I couldn’t disagree more with her right-wing political views. But her analysis in Gaslighting America of how Donald Trump systematically manipulates all of us to achieve his self-serving ends is hands-down the most trenchant and important analysis yet of this deeply dangerous man.
2018-03-05
A conservative pundit tries to analyze and predict the bad behavior of the sitting president.Carpenter (The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy's Dossier on Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2006) is a former staffer to Republicans Jim DeMint and Ted Cruz, a staple on CNN, and, as she notes on her Twitter bio, "conservative, not a party cheerleader." The author uses her media knowledge and keen insight to try to apply some logic to the ghastly conduct of Donald Trump. Her preferred label is "gaslighting," a once-antiquated term for a specific form of manipulation intended to make a targeted group question their memory, perception, and sanity. Carpenter outlines the steps in Trump's approach, which include taking a strong (if often ill-considered) stance on a hot-button political issue or scandal, casting the issue into the public realm ("People say…"), creating suspense ("We'll see or you'll find out"), discrediting the opponent ("Sad!") and declaring victory. The author then applies this logic to a variety of Trump targets: Cruz, Jeb Bush, the media, women, and even Carpenter herself, who got the gaslighting treatment from the candidate on live TV. That's not to mention the candidate's treatment of his opponent Hillary Clinton, which turned out to be a bulletproof way to attack her through a strategy heavily reliant on a willingness to lie at will and an absolute lack of shame. Carpenter's analysis is clearly written and thankfully light on partisan politics, and she offers concise and proactive advice for both citizens and candidates on how to "fireproof" themselves against the president's gaslighting. Toward the end, Carpenter comes to some depressing conclusions: "There is no way, short of a straitjacket, ball gag, and padded room, that Trump is giving up the power and influence he has gained since becoming president."A patriot's guide to parsing the president's lies and disinformation.
