I think I need to stop reading all of these books about the Trump presidency - I keep hoping that there will be some new information, but that rarely happens. This one was well written, but the author tends to get too much into the weeds on certain topics, which quickly becomes boring. Other than some interviews with Trump mega-supporters, there is little to distinguish this book from any other. ( )

The Donald Gaslights Himself
Review of the Grand Central Publishing hardcover (2021)

One of the truisms in Trump World held that the constant chaos and plot twists were always surprising but never shocking. The absurdity of it all always seemed to make sense. And Trump's insurrection was the ultimate coda - a horrifying but inevitable finale. He'd spent four years insisting that the media was lying, that elected officials weren't to be believed, and that the courts weren't to be trusted. He'd spent his entire presidency gaslighting the country with a version of reality in which he'd never lost, he'd never be convicted and he'd never really go away. ... He vowed to keep fighting to deliver "American greatness" across the country. He described the MAGA movement as "historic, patriotic and beautiful."
"There has never been anything like it." Trump said, offering a rare understatement. - a selection from the concluding paragraphs of Frankly, We Did Win This Election

At this point I think I've read a few too many of the Trump post-mortem books and this one took me the full 3 weeks of library loan time to get through it. In comparison, the Michael Wolff Landslide and the Bob Woodward Peril were a breeze. Leonnig/Rucker's I Alone Can Fix It was also a bit of a slog, but at 592 pages most anything would be.

I didn't get the sense that there was anything much new in this one. Its one unique feature was several interviews with various so-called "Front Row Joes", Trump mega-fans who attended as many Trump election rallies as possible during the campaign i.e. dozens and in States all across the country. The fact that they were so deluded by the huckster isn't exactly new information though, but they are at least a representation of the 75 Million others. One quote really stood out though.

"It just looked so neat,” she said. “We weren’t there to steal things. We weren’t there to do damage. We were just there to overthrow the government” - 'Front Row Joe' Saundra about the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capital.

The other standout is minor, but it is the single acknowledgement by Trump that he had lost the election that I have ever seen. It wasn't public however, but was mentioned in what was likely a national security briefing which was attended by General Mark A. Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump apparently asked to skip over one item in the meeting's agenda and the reason given was:

"We'll leave that for the next guy," Trump said.

Similar to the conclusions of Wolff's Landslide and Leonnig & Rucker's I Alone..., Bender interviews Trump at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort for his Epilogue. He also finds him basking in the glow of the attention of his associates and still defiant.

It is a fairly recent entry, so Frankly, We Did Win This Election currently (as of mid December 2021) does not yet appear on the Trump Tell-Alls Listopia (251 books and counting) or the Books About, By or Involving Donald Trump Listopia (497 books and counting) on Goodreads.

I read Frankly, We Did Win this Election as part of my reading survey of various books in relation to the 2020 American Election and ongoing events. As a Canadian I’ve generally ignored American politics and elections in past years, but the drama of the situation in 2020 and 2021 has heightened my interest. ( )

The best thing about this now-oft-told tale is the time spent on the Front Row Joes. There's scarcely a diner left that hasn't been invaded by curious journalists trying to understand Trump-mania but Bender gently visits the faithful to uncover the obvious: an almost crushing need to belong. This, more than anything else, was (and still is) Trump's secret sauce. ( )

Great (and disturbing) insight into both Trumps White House and his hard core supporters. ( )

Michael C. Bender's Frankly We Did Win This Election is an engrossing explanation as to why Trump actually didn't win the election. For me, the crafting of this detailed analysis around the personal experiences and reaction of "the 'Front Row Joes,' a group of more than 1,500 Trump diehards who routinely traveled to see the president perform and were almost always among the first few people in line for a rally," gave the story a human touch. I could recognize in them some of my family and friends who are also caught up in the alternate reality of Trumpery. I am aware that they will not be able to bear a reading of this today, but I live in hope that one day the shingles will fall off their eyes and they can see then what they are too dazed to perceive today.