by Isaac Arnsdorf
Little, Brown and Company
[Publication date: April 9, 2024]
The immersive, captivating
untold story of the mass radicalization of the Republican Party in the
aftermath of January 6, 2021, entrenching the political power of a
radical right-wing movement dedicated to dismantling democracy itself.
Inspired by Donald Trump’s election lies, a growing movement of
grassroots activists mobilized around the country to pick up where the
insurrection left off, laying the groundwork to succeed next time where
Trump had failed to keep himself in power. But their own success in
taking over and purging the Republican Party became their undoing as it
drove away moderates and supplied the Democrats with a winning message
in the 2022 midterms. Still, the MAGA Republicans proved uninterested in
learning from that defeat, only becoming more extreme, divisive, and
dead set on returning Trump to power.
Washington Post
national political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf has spent years at the
forefront of reporting on this growing movement. Drawing on extensive,
exclusive on-the-ground reporting around the country, and deepened by
historical context, Arnsdorf has produced the defining journalistic
account of the origins, evolution and future of the MAGA movement.
Combining critical and rigorous reporting with the intimacy and
complexity of a novel, this book is unlike any other in the decade since
Donald Trump convulsed and transformed American politics.
Finish What We Started
tells the story of the ordinary Americans driving this change, who they
are and where they came from, what motivates them, and what their
movement means for the survival of American democracy.
REVIEWS
“Finish What We Started is a bracing, deeply reported dispatch from the front lines of the MAGA movement — a movement that, as Isaac Arnsdorf convincingly shows here, is more radical and determined than ever as it gathers force for Trump’s campaign to reclaim the White House.”―Joshua Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Devil’s Bargain
“Isaac Arnsdorf is a political journalist par excellence, whose work is shaped by deep, immersive reporting, perceptive analysis and a keen understanding of history. Finish What We Started is a sophisticated yet unnerving portrait of the MAGA movement and a stark preview of what a second Trump term might portend. This is urgent and essential reading for anyone who cares about the state of America’s democracy.”―Philip Rucker, co-author of the New York Times bestselling A Very Stable Genius
“Isaac Arnsdorf ventures beyond the punditry of Washington, D.C and delivers a revealing, distinctive look at how our nation's democracy might be forever changed. Peppered with scoops and fresh insight, Finish What We Started manages to be both spritely and ominous, a closely-reported depiction of the reorientation of modern politics.” ―Robert Samuels, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer-Prize winning co-author of His Name is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
"This book is extraordinary. By turning the lens away from the palace intrigues that crowd far too many Trump books, patiently earning the trust of his most devoted grassroots followers to document without adornment what they actually say and think instead, Isaac Arnsdorf has provided an invaluable service for future historians. But you can read it now. And you must. Your jaw will drop. Even mine did."―Rick Perlstein, author of Reaganland
“Many have been surprised at the radicalization of the Republican Party by fringe extremists but Isaac Arnsdorf, a talented young political reporter has been ahead of this story from the start. Now, in vivid and chilling detail he takes readers inside the grassroots of the MAGA movement as its foot soldiers fight to take over not just the Republican Party, but the entire country. Anyone trying to understand how America has come to the brink of embracing authoritarianism in 2024 should read this engagingly told yet terrifying book.”―Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
"An eye-opening look at how a fringe effected a hostile takeover of a once-mainstream political party."―Kirkus
"Washington Post journalist Arnsdorf debuts with a raucous recap of the evolution of Trumpism since the 2020 election via the 'Precinct Strategy,' a movement encouraging adherents to join the Republican Party’s lowest ranks as precinct committeemen, from which vantage point they can oust moderate Republican leaders and promote MAGA primary candidates...It’s an entertaining and insightful look at the Republican Party in extremis."―Publishers Weekly
“In Finish What We Started, Isaac Arnsdorf, a reporter at The Washington Post, offers the first extended examination of Trump’s remarkable rise from the depths of his humiliation after the failed January 6 coup to his resurgence as the Republican front-runner… Filled with telling anecdotes and vivid prose, his book provides an essential guide to understanding Trump’s political resilience. He suggests that the 2022 midterm elections were the closest America has come to being seized by a far right fringe that is redoubling its efforts to orchestrate an authoritarian seizure of power in 2024.”―Jacob Heilbrunn, Washington Monthly
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