Thom Hartmann Barrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2025 Thom Hartmann’s latest book is important for all of us watching American history unfold and asking, “Why is this happening?” The Making of Donald Trump Since 1532, Niccolò Machiavelli’s book “The Prince” has been a guide for would-be and successful tyrants. Thom Hartmann takes us through the biography of Donald Trump to show the people and circumstances that formed his character and make him another example of an aspiring Machiavelli prince, a person who uses strategic manipulation, deceitfulness, and a focus on personal gain. Trump’s early influences were his demanding father and distant mother. But the final touches on the formation of his worldview and strategies for living came from the influence of a lawyer. Roy Cohn molded Trump’s character into that of a psychopath. “For in Roy Cohn, Donald Trump found more than just a lawyer. He found a template, a model for how to wield power ruthlessly, how to manipulate media shamelessly, and how to crush opponents mercilessly” (Pg. 18) It was Cohn who taught Trump “that institutions can be bent and broken if one is shameless enough, aggressive enough, and persistent enough.” (Pg. 24) His parents gifted him with Machiavellianism, and Cohn added psychopathy: emotional coldness, impulsiveness, and lack of empathy. Republicans Go for the Money The second part of the book describes an “interconnected system that not only enabled Trump but will outlast him.” (Pg. 40) This is the well-documented way that wealthy individuals have used the system of global extraction capitalism over the years to corrupt democratic institutions. Hartmann starts with a discussion of how the Republican Party “Sold Itself Out.” It was an amazing run from Nixon to Trump that took almost half a century. He points to the Southern (racist) strategy: focus on crime, welfare, and immigration; creating an alliance of plutocracy and theocracy; and developing techniques of propaganda. While this was happening, the wealthy class invested wisely in politicians who would deliver what they wanted, which was the use of government power to concentrate wealth at the top. “The GOP spent decades feeding the beast of white resentment, oligarchic power, and media manipulation. Trump put a new face on it and branded it with his name and gold letters.” (Pg. 53) America is in trouble in 2025 because of the way the Republicans are governing. As Hartmann points out, “The greatest threat American democracy faces today isn’t any single leader, political party, or even ideology. Instead, it’s the systematic subordination of democracy to market forces by a nakedly corrupt administration that views our constitutional system as quaint but archaic.” (Pg. 79) Most of his examples are well known, like the climate disaster being accelerated by Trump, while owners of oil, gas, and coal companies reap huge profits. (Pg. 74-75) Another example is the way people in the Trump administration and Trump himself lie. “Trump used lies as a central governing tool to shape reality itself.” (Pg 83) Part IV, about what we can do, would stand on stronger ground if Hartmann had added a chapter in Part II about Democrats. How did they abandon democracy in their search to obtain or hold on to electoral success? They followed some of the worst Republican strategies, like using racist coding and dog-whistles. Carter and Obama were particularly strategic in attempting to convince racist white voters that they would not be abandoned. The Democrats sometimes criticized the role of money in politics, but when in office, they did little to address the problem. Mostly, they followed the Republicans in attempting to find their own wealthy contributors. Democrats saw themselves in a competition to get money from the wealthy rather than as reformers fighting against the corruption of the system. Because of their dependence on wealthy donors, Democrats did not aggressively oppose the injustice in the extractive capitalist system or work to stem the concentrations of wealth, nor the destruction of the middle class. While the Republicans discussed their motives, goals, and actions in public, Democrats did not offer a vision for an alternative. Their strategy was to promote democracy and the American way without addressing systemic failures. Then they claimed that people should vote for them because each election was the “most important election in the nation’s history.” The defects in the Constitution, such as the inequity built into the Electoral College, the presidential power to veto or threaten to veto, the undemocratic makeup of the Senate, and the potential for politicalization of the Supreme Court, were obvious during the 50 years that Republicans executed their plans to capture the government for the wealthy. But rather than discuss and propose changes that would make America more democratic, Democrats presented themselves as defenders of the Constitution. So Many Intentional Consequences In the third part of the book, Hartmann discusses additional problems with what the Republican government is doing under Trump. For example, he describes how Republicans intentionally manipulate voting, resulting in Trump’s election to a second term. S,o the results did not represent the will of Americans. Since the book was written, the Republicans have taken decisive steps in Texas to redistrict so that more Republicans will go to Congress in 2027. Today, the proposal Hartmann makes to stop the Republicans from stealing elections seems less likely to succeed than when he wrote, “We need to organize now to end the purges, the vigilante challenges, the ballot rejections, and the attitude that this is somehow acceptable in a true democracy.” (Pg. 103) The obvious problem with DOGE’s approach to dismantling government is another case where things are worse just weeks after the book came out. At this writing, there is a government shutdown, which is causing chaos as Trump uses the shutdown to fire government workers. As Hartmann points out, the issue here is whether “we’ll have a government of laws or a government of men?” It is an important point because, in establishing a government that is a tyranny, the Republicans need to destroy the structures and culture of the existing government. Only then can the tyrant rule fully by edict. The third part ends with a discussion of Trump’s international relations with foreign autocrats and the climate collapse. These chapters are important in establishing the foundation of power claimed by the Republican Party and the installation of Trump as a dictator. The details change every day, but the Republican goals remain the same. What to Do? The first three parts build the case for Part IV, the final section. The foundation for his specific suggestions is simple: “History shows that the fatal weakness of dictators and those who want to become dictators is their dependence on our silence, our compliance, and their ability to throw people into despair and silence.” (Pg. 127) The chapter on the empathy deficit is the most important in the book. It discusses, in a larger context, Trump’s psychopathy, described in the first part of the book. Although fewer than 4 percent, and maybe fewer than 1 percent, of Americans are psychopaths and lack a sense of empathy, Trump is part of the “approximately 21 percent of all corporate CEOs” who are psychopaths. (Pg. 142) Hartmann makes a case that the American government has been taken over by psychopaths. As we look ahead to create an American society where no individual has greater barriers to achieving personal goals than any other person and all identity groups participate equally in a government where all groups support the common good, we will need to create structures that protect us from psychopaths. The struggle to resist and eventually replace tyranny needs to be based on commitments to empathy. Empathy is the antidote to psychopathology. It is the essential foundation for a society that is governed by empathetic, altruistic people--a true democracy. A nation based on citizens with empathy is the America that the founders desired when they talked about “General Welfare.” It was the concern that George Washington addressed in his farewell address. He warned of the dangers that political factions could lead to despotism because they weaken the commitment to national unity. Although Hartmann’s primary interest is in explaining our current situation and proposing ways to resist, his analysis is an important starting point for the necessary discussions about how we can structure our government and create institutions that result in a society dedicated to the common good. Washington had strong intuitions about the danger that faced America if leaders and citizens adopted the characteristics of Machiavellianism, strategic manipulation, deceitfulness, and a focus on personal gain. Washington also feared psychopathy: emotional coldness, impulsiveness, and lack of empathy. He could not imagine a nation that spanned the North American continent with citizens from many religions and cultures. But the opportunity we have today is to establish a new America based on empathy for each other, and that is not based on a focus on personal gain. Hartmann gets us started on the road to a new America with his first proposal of “strategies that work.” We need to unite across traditional divides. Uniting requires that we intentionally develop our empathy. In this, we are not only resisting tyranny, but we are also creating a society united by our empathy with the people who are victimized and people who are different from us.