"2024" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

There is no shortage of books written about the rise of Donald Trump and the fall of the Democratic Party during the 2024 presidential campaign. The book “2024” is unique among the corpus in that it layers the events that caused the rise of Donald Trump and the fall of the Democratic Party, and ties them all together.

Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf, who cover politics for the “Wall Street Journal,” the “New York Times,” and the “Washington Post,” respectively, closely examine last year’s tumultuous campaign. “2024” is so deeply researched and well written that it might surface as the best resourced chronicle illustrating the inertia and missed opportunities of the Democrats’ campaign that led to their defeat.

The three journalists drew on hundreds of interviews with insiders from the Trump, Biden, and Harris campaigns to reveal the twists and turns that led to Donald Trump’s second term as president and the reclaiming of Congress by the Republican Party.

Democrats made key decisions “by default,” the authors maintain. In a chapter titled “Sleepwalking,” they write: “Joe Biden decided to run for reelection by not deciding.” He told his staff, “I’m running until I tell you I’m not. And he never told them he wasn’t.” Former Obama aides, concerned that Biden would lose, looked for a diplomatic way to offer free assistance, but the proposal was never accepted. I

n detail, the journalists depict how Joe Biden and his team ignored comments about his age, brushed off polling numbers, and held off younger, eager democratic hopefuls--even while Biden was addressing his own special counsel investigation and the trial of his son Hunter.

The aides closest to Vice President Kamala Harris described similar frustrations with the lack of hustle of her campaign staff and their failure to challenge accusations made by Donald Trump. With only 170 days to distinguish herself, Harris lacked the time and space to separate herself from the specter of Joe Biden.

The authors find little new to say about Donald Trump, mainly expounding on how the two assassination attempts and four criminal indictments worked to his advantage. The authors found that Trump’s most loyal supporters believed God was on his side, watching out for him.

On November 5th, 2024, Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the USA. He would return to power validated, bold, unrestrained, and vengeful.

“2024” is the inside story of the election that tested the U.S. democracy. The narrative is well-paced with occasional dark humor and behind-the-scenes flashes. It is a well-thought-out book that may be the definitive story of this turbulent and far-reaching presidential campaign. I found it to be a fascinating read.

About the authors: Josh Dawsey is an investigative reporter focused on politics at the “Wall Street Journal.” He was a member of the team of journalists that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the newspaper’s coverage of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and the team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for coverage of the role of the AR-15 in American life.

Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent at the “New York Times.” He won the 2022 Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency.

Isaac Arnsdorf covers the White House for the “Washington Post.” His reporting from the scene of the Trump assassination attempt was central to the “Post’s” coverage that won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News reporting.

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