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Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump--and Democrats from Themselves Hardcover – January 14, 2020

by Rick Wilson (Author)

4.7 1,442 ratings

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One of the founders of The Lincoln Project, the bestselling author of Everything Trump Touches Dies is back with a guidebook for beating Trump’s tricks, traps, and tweets in 2020.

“If you believe America’s future depends on Donald Trump’s political machine being crushed at the polls next year, then Rick Wilson’s Running Against the Devil is a must-read.”—Joe Scarborough, MSNBC

Donald Trump is exactly the disaster we feared for America. Hated by a majority of Americans, Trump’s administration is rocked by daily scandals, and he’s embarrassed us at home and abroad.

Trump can’t win in 2020, right?

Wrong. As 2016 proved, Trump can’t win, but the Democrats can sure as hell lose. Only one thing can save Trump, and that’s a Democratic candidate who runs the race Trump wants them to run instead of the campaign they must run to win in 2020.

Wilson combines decades of national political experience and insight in his take-no-prisoners analysis, hammering Trump’s destructive and dangerous first term in a case-by-case takedown of the worst president in history and describing the terrifying prospect of four more years of Trump.

Like no one else can, Wilson blows the lid off Trump’s 2020 Republican war machine, showing the exact strategies and tactics they’ll use against the Democratic nominee . . . and how the Democrats can avoid the catastrophe waiting for them if they fall into Trump’s trap.

Running Against the Devil is sharply funny, brutally honest, and infused with Wilson’s biting commentary. It’s a vital indictment of Trump, a no-nonsense, no-holds-barred road map to saving America, and the guide to making Donald Trump a one-term president.

The stakes are too high to do anything less.

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Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Crown Forum
Publication date

January 14, 2020
Dimensions

6.4 x 1.15 x 9.55 inches
ISBN-10

0593137582
ISBN-13

978-0593137581
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Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever

Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever

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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Rick Wilson is one of the best political strategists of our times. He knows the calculus of how to win better than a mathematician. This book is going to give some old-school Democrats a little heartburn. But if we want to win in 2020, Wilson’s analysis is a full stop. Period. Read and get to work.”—Donna Brazile, former interim chair, Democratic National Committee

“‘Florida Man Chooses Country Over Party!’ It appears that the Democratic Party’s 2020 election briefing book has been written by a lifelong Republican strategist, and you’re looking at it.”—Brian Williams, MSNBC

“No one understands the nature of Trumpism better than Rick Wilson. He also knows how the Democrats can blow this election. This may be a hard book for some of them to read, but it is a message they absolutely need to hear if they want to beat Donald Trump. In this passionate, witty, insightful, and often hilarious book, Wilson brings tough love and sharp elbows to his urgent warning about the difficulty of defeating a man with no bottom, no shame, and no limits.”—Charles Sykes, author of How the Right Lost Its Mind

“Wilson brilliantly explains how Democrats could lose to Trump’s ‘racist and blisteringly stupid’ campaign message yet again unless they change course now. Drawing upon Wilson’s insights, Americans can take back their government and send the reality-TV host back to Mar-a-Lago once and for all.”—Joe Scarborough, MSNBC

“Readers who enjoyed [Rick] Wilson’s first book, Everything Trump Touches Dies, will be pleased to know that he is in hilarious form. [The] manuscript is packed with the same punchy, straight-to-the-jugular humour that has made him a sought-after television guest and columnist in the Trump era. . . . It’s a step-by-step guidebook to defeating Donald Trump, written by ‘a Republican who knows how and why the Democrats often lose big elections they should win.’ And Wilson explains it all. Chapter by chapter, he debunks the myths, wishes, and pipe dreams which have led previous Democratic presidential nominees down the garden path to the runner-up’s position. . . . Any Democrat looking to beat Donald Trump—or really, any Democrat looking to beat any Republican—or anyone who enjoys reading and learning more about how politics really works would do well to crack the spine of Wilson’s sophomore effort.” —The Independent

“Running Against the Devil is pugnacious and profane . . . blunt and funny . . . relentlessly irreverent and breathtakingly brutal.” —The Guardian

“Snappy, breezy, entertaining, passionate . . . The book delivers sobering insights that must be heeded.”—Foreign Affairs

About the Author

Rick Wilson is a renowned Republican political strategist, writer, speaker, commentator, ad-maker, and a founder of the Lincoln Project. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Everything Trump Touches Dies. His award-winning column with The Daily Beast is a must-read in the political community. Wilson also writes for The Washington Post, Politico, Rolling Stone, the New York Daily News, The Hill, The Bulwark, and The Spectator. He regularly brings his unique insights to CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He’s a frequent guest on Real Time with Bill Maher. Wilson lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife, four dogs, and a nameless cat. They have two grown children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Election Night, November 3, 2020

Imagine you’re a Democratic strategist, one of the top figures in the 2020 nominee’s campaign. It’s Election Night, and you feel something familiar in the air. It’s a feeling of confidence, of rising joy and anticipation. It’s been a long, tough campaign, but victory is in sight. You’re going to win, and you know it. It’s a certainty. After four years of Trump, the Democrats are poised to claim a sweeping Electoral College and popular-vote victory.

Finally.

The last few weeks of October were a blissful whirl, with polling numbers looking strong across the board and your candidate joyfully working the crowds in swing states. She’s a happy warrior, praised for her political skills and the subject of endless glowing media profiles. Almost every newspaper in the country endorsed her in the final week. America, after so many centuries of right-wing injustice, finally appears to have achieved a state of beautiful progressive wokeness and is ready for its bold socialist future.

After the debates, it was clear your candidate, though occasionally rattled by Trump’s in-your-grill debating presence, had triumphed. She was smart, articulate, and progressive. She’s everything you’ve dreamed about since Obama. Trump has been flailing, angrily tweeting a dozen times a day, stoking the MAGA base at an endless series of campaign rallies, and sounding crazier by the minute. He’s punchy and tired, and looks worn-out.

You and your campaign colleagues have even started those elliptical conversations about what role you might play in a Democratic White House, mostly couched in the faux-modest “Oh, I just want to help the future president in any way I can . . .” tones of people who are already plotting for office space and picking out curtains.

A few of your older, wiser hands don’t seem to share the infectiously optimistic Election Night mood. They lack the same sunny optimism the candidate displayed as she sat in the holding suite after the last long day of campaigning ended. They keep staring nervously at the FiveThirtyEight map and running the same mental calculations over Electoral College numbers they’ve done a thousand times. But hey, you feel really great about this.

The campaign’s social-media metrics were weird the last few days, though, and your data and analytics people were sending increasingly worrying messages about the massive inflows of ads from brand-new super PACs and 501(c)(4) dark-money groups. You convinced yourself these were just the final gasps of the Trumpian grifters making a last buck on the Donald, or perhaps his Russian friends trying an end run. The Trump campaign and the RNC (but I repeat myself) ad buys were scattershot, and on issues that seemed off-kilter. As the night starts, the ballroom is packed to the gills with eager, happy people ready to put Trump and Trumpism in the rearview mirror of history. The media risers, crowded with the A-talent from every network, are jammed. The results are about to come in, and the army of reporters in the back of the ballroom is in a near frenzy.

You didn’t repeat the Hillary mistake of not visiting the states Trump and his Russian allies scored in 2016. Your candidate made the stops, though the crowds were never quite as large or raucous as you wanted. Your state organizers tell you they’ve got armies of volunteers knocking on doors, making calls, and driving turnout.

Hell, none of the final tracking polls showed Trump even close except in Michigan, home of Kid Rock and one of the most stark political divides between the city and suburbs anywhere in the nation. In Michigan, his numbers weren’t just surprising; they were downright terrifying, but your pollster assured you it was an outlier and that you’d still take Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin.

The exit polls were closer than you wanted but still looked good. As the first results were about to roll in, the AP, Washington Post, New York Times, Decision Desk, and Politico analysts started pinging you and the rest of the campaign’s senior staff.

“What’s going on in Michigan? Do you hear this stuff out of Florida?” Something is off the rails, and you don’t quite know what it is yet.

By 9:30, it’s not looking like you expected. Ohio is showing a razor-thin Trump lead. He’s winning Michigan handily. Florida is Florida, and although you had projected a four-point lead, by 10:00 p.m. the vote total shows Trump up by 65,000 . . . and the Panhandle hasn’t even fully reported yet.

Florida’s enormous influx of Puerto Rican voters meant the Democrats were on track for a stunning victory there, right? Wait. Didn’t someone mention in a meeting that the Hispanic turnout operation in Florida was a bit smoke and mirrors?

You post high numbers in South Florida, but everywhere else in the Sunshine State, Trump is tearing you apart. When the Panhandle does report, everything outside of the blue enclave of Tallahassee is posting numbers in the low 60 percent range for Donald Fucking Trump. Your mind flickers to an angry set of emails and Slack messages a few weeks before about avoiding the issue of gun control in North Florida, but your candidate insisted not only on an assault weapons ban but a ban on semiautomatics as well. Metrics show that north of the I-4 corridor you’re losing everywhere except liberal Alachua and Leon counties by double digits.

“What the hell is happening in Wisconsin?” is your next question. With the Democratic gains in 2018, it seemed like a lock that Trump would go down in flames, especially after the disastrous scam of Foxconn left Wisconsin workers holding the bag for a failed deal with China. Wisconsin farmers had suffered terribly from Trump’s trade war. When you see that the race is essentially tied, you think, “What in the actual fuck is going on here?”

A few thousand votes turn the easy layup of Pennsylvania into a disastrous loss. Hell, even Minnesota is closer than you thought. You get destroyed in Ohio, with record rural turnout offsetting the cities.

In nearly every swing state, you’re losing everywhere outside the metros and the most affluent suburbs. Turnout is sky-high, which your models predicted would be great for your candidate, but even then you’re just missing the margins.

That’s why, come midnight, your candidate is in the suite, calling Donald Trump to concede the election. There are tears all around. You can hear Trump on the speakerphone, curt and smug. You dread seeing that first triumphant tweet from the once and future president.

The next morning, you begin to put together the mosaic of data points in your head from the last few weeks. You start to see the messages and strategies Trump and his campaign used that seemed lurid and absurd at the time but now begin to make perfect sense.

They weren’t trying to win big, or swing the nation toward a new ideological polarity, or find the next savior. They were animals, trapped in a win-or-die moment, and they resorted to tooth and claw. You realize as the Electoral College numbers rise for the Republican that your campaign mistook Trump’s sloppy, shambolic, hateful, stream-of-excrescence campaign for what was happening behind the scenes. There, for an army of professional Republican campaigners wedded to Trump out of desperate necessity, it was ride or die.

Suddenly, your candidate’s detailed policy proposals, white papers, and granular knowledge of climate change, reparations for slavery, gun control, Electoral College reform, the Green New Deal, and healthcare reform weren’t assets. Your pride in having the most progressive candidate and campaign since FDR turns to ashes in your mouth. Maybe giving Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders keynote addresses at the convention, where they could declare fraternal communist solidarity with the workers of the world, was a mistake. You understand too late that your race to the left to win the primary and secure the progressive ideological edge blinded you to the reality of largely center-right states on the Electoral College scoreboard. You handed Trump the weapon he used to cut off your head. Sure, Trump’s lowest-common-denominator message was cultish, racist, and blisteringly stupid, but it was simple, constant, and repeated . . . and you kept feeding him issues to use against you. Wall. MAGA. Judges. Socialism. Revenge.

You thought your progressive message was universal and that the swing states have the same political polarity as California, New York, or Massachusetts. You believed you could shame Trump and Trump voters into listening to the better angels of their nature by talking about diversity, inclusion, and liberal values. In reality, you were giving the Trump campaign fodder for the weaponized grievance machine that put him in office in the first place.

Boy (or your preferred gendered interjection), were you ever wrong.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown Forum; First Edition (January 14, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593137582
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593137581
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.24 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.15 x 9.55 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #600,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #373 in Political Parties (Books)
- #583 in Political Corruption & Misconduct
- #657 in Elections

Customer Reviews:
4.7 1,442 ratings

About the author

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Rick Wilson

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Rick Wilson is a renowned Republican political strategist, ad-maker, writer, speaker, and commentator. He is Editor at Large for The Daily Beast, and also writes for The Washington Post, Politico, Rolling Stone, The New York Daily News, The Hill, The Bulwark, and the London Spectator. He's a frequent analyst on CNN, MSNBC, and other national and international networks.

Rick is the author of the 2018 #1 NYT best-selling book Everything Trump Touches Dies. Running Against The Devil is his second book.

Customer reviews

1,442 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book compelling, excellent, and quick. They describe the information as informative, insightful, and well-researched. Readers also find the humor hilarious, witty, and snarky.

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Readability Information quality Humor Intelligence Authenticity

59 customers mention "Readability"55 positive4 negative

Customers find the book compelling, intuitive, and interesting. They describe it as an excellent, quick, powerful read that is entertaining. Readers also appreciate the solid writing and say the book doesn't disappoint.

"...analysis and recommendations are still binding and make for intuitive and interesting reading. His book resonates with compelling political thought." Read more

"As Mr. Wilson notes at the outset, events are moving quickly and, as he predicted, a lot has already happened since this book went to the publisher..." Read more

"...Overall an informative, easy read about both tactics and strategy with great intelligence and insight and a rapid cadence I truly appreciate...." Read more

"...Thank you Rick for another excellent book. You ROCK." Read more

30 customers mention "Information quality"30 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative, insightful, and interesting. They say it's well-researched, makes good points, and is thoughtful. Readers also mention the satire makes it the most important book on politics and Trump they've yet read. Additionally, they appreciate the great advice and humor.

"...Nevertheless, his analysis and recommendations are still binding and make for intuitive and interesting reading...." Read more

"...Overall an informative, easy read about both tactics and strategy with great intelligence and insight and a rapid cadence I truly appreciate...." Read more

"...He gives so much wisdom and information to all...." Read more

"...The other book was, "Everything Trump touches Dies." Insightful, sometimes funny with appropriate amounts of satire...." Read more

27 customers mention "Humor"25 positive2 negative

Customers find the book humorous, witty, and entertaining. They say it's well-written with insight. Readers also mention the conversational text is delightful and serious about what needs to happen.

"...The book is filled with dark humor and would be even more entertaining if the stakes weren’t so high...." Read more

"...RW's writing is quite enjoyable. Witty, entertaining and unabashedly direct. Part of me wishes he were a sci-fi author...." Read more

"...however, has not lost any of his sometimes scathing commentary, biting satire, and his highly developed appreciation for our democracy currently..." Read more

"...The read was quick, funny and very enjoyable. I hope enough people who need to read this book actually do so and take Wilson's advice to heart...." Read more

5 customers mention "Intelligence"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book smart, clever, and fast-paced.

"...easy read about both tactics and strategy with great intelligence and insight and a rapid cadence I truly appreciate. Highly recommended!" Read more

"...I also saw him on CNN and he is hilarious!!! This guy is smart. Book is an easy read. Straight to the point. DEMOCRATS, STAY UNITED...." Read more

"...This book is funny, smart, fast-paced and deadly serious about what needs to happen in order to rid the country of the “Orange Tumor consuming our..." Read more

"Rick Wilson is great, this book, not so much..." Read more

4 customers mention "Authenticity"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the advice in the book valid, painful, and true. They also mention it's snarky and funny.

"...It's frequently crude and vulgar, but Wilson has important, valid and painful advice to offer." Read more

"...This new book is up-to-date (also snarky, true & funny)..." Read more

"Book was well priced, arrived promptly and was in excellent condition." Read more

"Enjoyable read. Funny and so true! Tells it like it is!" Read more

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Down Home Hip to the Jive

2024 His Analysis & Recommendations Still Resonates

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2024

Verified Purchase

Rick Wilson, a former GOP campaign strategist, shares his insights and guidance for how the party of Democrats should conduct their presidential campaign if they hope to win. His advice is the consequence of having fought many successful campaigns for his Republican candidates. What he has learned and knows is the result of his extensive and exhaustive understanding of the political variables that lead to a winning election campaign. His book, although written for the 2020 Presidential campaign, has contemporary value for this year's election. Perhaps his guidance worked like a charm the first time. The "jury is out" as to whether his book will play an important role again. Nevertheless, his analysis and recommendations are still binding and make for intuitive and interesting reading. His book resonates with compelling political thought.

If books were movies, this would be a slasher flick: sometimes funny but horrifying

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

As Mr. Wilson notes at the outset, events are moving quickly and, as he predicted, a lot has already happened since this book went to the publisher (I’m guessing around mid-to-late September, 2019): the initiation of the House Inquiry into the Ukraine Scandal, the betrayal and slaughter of the Kurds, Roger Stone’s convictions, the campaign withdrawals of O’Rourke and Harris, the entry of Bloomberg, McConnell’s Sham Impeachment Trial, and so forth. Who knows what next week will bring?

That said, Wilson’s book is already eerily prophetic and Democrats should really pay attention. Donald Trump is probably the most (justly) reviled individual to ever occupy the oval office and the scandals never stop. But the people working for his re-election are intelligent, better financed than last time, and fighting for their political lives - - and some for their continued freedom from prison.

The book is filled with dark humor and would be even more entertaining if the stakes weren’t so high. Much of Wilson’s advice is common sense: focus on the battleground states, don’t count your chickens, tailor the campaign to the concerns and sensitivities of moderate and even slightly right-of center segments of the local population (or populations, in the case of Florida), don’t depend on the youth vote, don’t expect a nationwide revolution in “wokeness,” and don’t force square pegs into round holes. Don’t beat yourselves with overconfidence, stubbornness or stupidity. Most of all, don’t underestimate the depths to which Trump and his staffers will sink on a relentless basis.

Contrary to some pundits, Wilson advises that the Democrats spend less time on complicated policy issues and more time on the emotional ones: kids in cages, rampant corruption, pervasive racism and misogyny and the long list of broken promises, crony capitalism and foreign policy failures – a referendum on Trump himself.

Maybe we should get into the running car instead of hiding in the cemetary!

A good read and a grim reminder that things can get even worse.

8 people found this helpful

Honest, cogent and concise

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Just read this in one fell swoop. I'll try and be brief...

DIsclaimers: I'm a RW fan from his TV appearances and enjoy his twitter page (although I've never created accounts on social media - for the most part it's the only thing on social media I read with regularity) and find him to be honest, extremely funny, brilliant and unapologetic. These qualities are becoming quite rare these days and I certainly gravitate toward him, even though I acknowledge the GOP/Trump predicament we now are facing is at least somewhat a byproduct of his particular set of skills...

RW's writing is quite enjoyable. Witty, entertaining and unabashedly direct. Part of me wishes he were a sci-fi author.

There's no mystery what this book is about. ETTD was filled with plenty of finger pointing and detailed trash-talking that this book isn't really saddled with; instead it is an essay in expanded form and repeatedly hammers on a few main pillars that deliver exactly what I wanted it to. RW doesn't waste pages with exhausting filler and I appreciate the focus he maintains throughout his explanations of campaign-exploit practices.

Anybody with an interest in granular-level campaign theory should absolutely read this (and ETTD) for themselves. However, my favorite concept was when RW stressed the importance of (paraphrasing) the tempo of Trump's 2020 opponent (and their staff's) consistent counter-punching. Just attacking DT's attacks with multiple attacks every single time to not only smack the bully in the nose but establish some continuity in firing back at a soft target - which his opponents in the 2016 primary weren't wont to do.

I've left this review vague but my aim is to avoid spoilers...

Overall an informative, easy read about both tactics and strategy with great intelligence and insight and a rapid cadence I truly appreciate. Highly recommended!

165 people found this helpful

This book is exactly what the cover says

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2024

Verified Purchase

Unfortunately when I read it ( sep. 2024) it was a bit too late for me to do anything to help beat “ the devil”. I just hope that TPTB have this book and heeding the advice written here

Read this NOW! was for the 2020 election but holds true in 2024

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2024

Verified Purchase

This book could have been updated for the 20224 election by making a few changes in wording (for example eliminating that Trump IS the incumbent) otherwise the vast majority of this book can apply to the coming election. It is a great collection of things the Democrats do wrong in elections and how to correct them. Most of what is in this book holds true for this election; it must be a referendum on Trump and since he has not changed, won't change, is incapable of change the advice here is relevant.

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

Rick hands the DNC a play book on GOP

Reviewed in Canada on May 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

I couldn't put this book down, it's like a sports team getting the play book of a team that has to be beat.

If I was a citizen of the US I'd buy this book and hand it to my house rep, and any of the people who want to defeat trump.

Rick is trying to tell you how to best the GOP, and has been a part of kicking your ass for years.

He hates trump that is obviously clear. Play hard ball against trump, get under trumps thin skin.

I beg please read this book, for any reason you may not trust him he could always be making a lot of money backing trump, instead he's trying to get rid of a train wreck.

Out side looking in, get rid of trump then rebuild the great American dream.

Mrs. R. G. Hill

Fantastic Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a manual for the Left anywhere on how to win elections. Well written, really hard hitting, and backed by Rick Wilson's experience as a successful election strategist, I found the whole thing very informative. Rick has that rare faculty, a willingness to accept reality and do his job based on research and facts. No wonder he's a 'Never Trumper'. This should be required reading for Britain's Labour Party who did dismally back in November for pretty much the same reasons as the Democrats did in 2016 because while the electoral system itself and demographics in the USA are very different, the strategies would work for us too because, group dynamics - we have identical challenges here.

Amazon Customer

An important blueprint for desperate times.

Reviewed in Australia on January 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

Fun, entertaining and deadly serious. Rick Wilson takes us inside the party political machines that drive and shape campaigns and explains why November 2020 is quite literally do or die for the American Republic. Interspersed with laugh out loud gems as well.

17 people found this helpful

Stephanie Smith

Read this book!

Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

I received 'Running Against the Devil' on the first day it was available. Although it deals specifically with the run-up to the 2020 US federal election, it is a book that I will keep. It is irreverent and intelligent, and unfortunately, it will be least-read by the people who need it most - the Trump base.

Amazon Customer

Trump beater

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

If you needed any more reasons why Trump is the most dangerous premier in the world at the moment, his Covid-19 circus should tip you over the edge. There is some good news and it is pretty much laid out in this book on how to beat Trump. He does get a bit sweary but it’s an emotional subject and I feel his pain.

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