"Regime Change" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

The New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan interviewed more than 1,000 people for their new book, which depicts an unrestrained president remaking the United States government and its foreign relations in sweeping and alarming ways.

The authors’ interview with the president reveals that he has become fixated on becoming “a great man of history.” Trump showed them a document that compared him to Mao, Hitler, Attila the Hun, and Genghis Khan. “The list [had] nothing to do with morality, all just about pure power projection. And Trump relishing being in their company.” The authors maintain that, viewed through the lens of an obsession with power, Trump’s second term makes much more sense.

The president’s preoccupation with power is reflected in his decisions to achieve regime change in Venezuela and initiate war with Iran. It is also manifest in Trump’s gilded, Louis XIV-style decor for the White House, which mirrors a monarchy rather than a republic.

One of the book’s highlights is a comparison of Trump’s two terms. In the first term, the senior White House officials, whom the journalists interviewed, gave the impression that Trump was dangerous and that they saw their role as protecting the country and the world from their reckless, impulsive leader. In the current term, the senior officials are Trump loyalists, many of whom campaigned for him. During the campaign, Trump and some of his loyalists were indicted and convicted of crimes, raising the stakes of the 2024 election, making the campaign less about policy and more about staying out of jail.

Another difference between the two presidential terms is that during the 2017 to 2021 term, cabinet meetings met regularly and orderly. In the current term, meetings have no beginning, middle, or end. Usually, people come and go, with Trump sometimes engaged, sometimes not. A pro wrestler, a crypto investor, or a golfer may join the meeting at any time. One Oval Office incident describes Trump holding a highly classified meeting on a new defense project when a man suddenly saunters in, carrying steppingstones for the Rose Garden. Trump and the stone worker wander off to confer about completing the garden project. Before long, the meeting ends, and the issue it was called to address remains unresolved.

There is also far more secrecy in Trump’s second term. Many White House officials are often excluded from meetings addressing serious issues. This was the case with the Commander in Chief’s decision to go to war with Iran. Top officials were cut out of the discussion and surprised when they were informed of this crucial decision.

Trump has been impressed by the palaces he has visited in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. During his second term, he is spending a lot of time making the White House palatial, adding a great ballroom, gold leaf on every picture frame and fireplace, and making his bedroom more elegant than Melania’s.

Haberman and Swan offer a raw, revealing glimpse into Trump’s narcissism and his all-over-the-place administrative style. He is portrayed as using the Justice Department to retaliate against his enemies, dismantling important agencies, and creating a working environment that lacks critical thinking and feedback from his advisors. He is characterized as a leader driven by instinct, flattery, and the desire to be viewed as a great historical figure. In this term, he is more controlling, more vindictive, and more willing to take risks than any recent president. The book chronicles Trump’s use of intemperate, uninhibited power for few positive results.

Swan and Haberman are journalists of the highest caliber who have written a landmark portrait of the “imperial presidency of Donald Trump.”  The co-authors have written an outstanding, all-encompassing account of Trump’s first year in his second term. “Regime Change” will become a part of the canon for studying the administration of the 47^th president for years to come. I found this a stressful but important book to read.

About the authors: Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The New York Times. She has covered six U.S. presidential elections and several gubernatorial and New York City mayoral races. Haberman is part of a team that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the investigation into Trump’s campaign and ties to Russia.

Jonathan Swan is a White House correspondent for The New York Times. He has reported on Donald Trump since 2015, covering all three of his campaigns and his first term in office. Swan won an Emmy Award for his 2020 interview of President Trump and received the Aldo Beckman Award for Excellence in Presidential Reporting from the White House Correspondents’ Association. Originally from Australia, he became a U.S. citizen in 2024.

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