{"id":644,"date":"2026-06-23T11:05:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=644"},"modified":"2026-06-23T11:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:05:32","slug":"chronicle-of-a-disaster-foretold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=644","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 1996, Joan Didion unholstered the X-Acto knife that was her pen and went to work on Bob Woodward. In a register of pitiless irony, she quoted Woodward\u2019s earnest explanations of his journalistic methods\u2014the difference between \u201cbackground\u201d and \u201cdeep background,\u201d his \u201ceight file drawers\u201d of documents for a book on the Supreme Court. She was unimpressed. \u201cThese are books in which measurable cerebral activity is virtually absent,\u201d Didion wrote. In the end, she determined that Woodward was engaged in the writing of \u201cpolitical pornography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more What Science Knows About Grief<\/a><\/p>\n

This was unfair, at best a category error. What Didion failed to note was that Woodward was a reporter, not a scholar or a belletrist, and that before he was thirty he, with his Washington Post<\/em> partner, Carl Bernstein, had unearthed the predations of the Watergate scandal\u2014hardly the work of stenographers in thrall to power. It brought down the Presidency of Richard Nixon. Journalism is a first rough draft of history, as they say, and scholarship, which feeds on journalism and so much more, plays by another clock. Robert A. Caro began the research for his multivolume biography of Lyndon B. Johnson half a century ago.<\/p>\n

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Maggie Haberman, a reporter of impressive energy, began her career at the New York tabloids and joined the Times<\/em> in 2015. She has been on the Trump beat since The Donald was a real-estate guy hustling for attention in the columns of Liz Smith and Cindy Adams. As \u201cConfidence Man,\u201d Haberman\u2019s first book about Trump, from 2022, made clear, he is a man of immutable character. \u201cHe has had only a handful of moves throughout his entire adult life,\u201d she wrote. The \u201cquick lie,\u201d the \u201cshift of blame,\u201d the \u201coutburst of rage,\u201d the abuse of loyalists, a \u201craft of old grievances,\u201d a \u201crefusal to be shamed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s political reflexes could have been anticipated. Talking to Playboy<\/em>, in 1990, he praised the Chinese leaders who ordered troops to slaughter pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. \u201cThey were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength,\u201d he said. \u201cThat shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.\u201d This is the same guy who, thirty years later, asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, why he couldn\u2019t confront street protesters with force and \u201cshoot them in the legs or something.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, as the country lurches glumly toward its two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary, Haberman has collaborated with another Times<\/em> reporter, Jonathan Swan, on \u201cRegime Change,\u201d a vivid, rigorous, and unavoidably depressing chronicle of the first year of Trump\u2019s second term in the White House. Part of the high-wire act of such books is that the authors and their publishers work at unaccustomed speed to provide the end product with a history-as-it-is-happening varnish. The results are usually as perishable as week-old bananas.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegime Change\u201d is exceptional. It transcends its genre. Although some of the material is familiar from the Times<\/em> and other sources and from Trump\u2019s own relentless self-exposure, the book is packed with news that will stay news. One late-breaking example among many: Haberman and Swan provide an astonishing account of Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s trip, just four months ago, to the White House Situation Room, where the Israeli Prime Minister persuaded Trump to join him in what would be a strategic catastrophe. Netanyahu assured the President that together they would topple the Iranian regime and end its nuclear ambitions before it ever had a chance to close the Strait of Hormuz. Haberman and Swan report that the Secretary of State called Netanyahu\u2019s plan \u201cbullshit.\u201d The C.I.A. director declared it \u201cfarcical.\u201d Whatever. \u201cSounds good to me, the President told the Prime Minister.\u201d Everyone fell into line. Well played, sir!<\/p>\n

Read more Do Netanyahu\u2019s Domestic Opponents Offer a Real Alternative?<\/a><\/p>\n

This is reporting of consequence, and it puts to rest the knowing online critique of these beat reporters that to get their scoops they engage in \u201cbothsidesism\u201d or dampen their coverage in exchange for access. \u201cRegime Change\u201d is particularly strong on the Administration\u2019s colossal financial corruption, its heedless destruction of invaluable agencies such as U.S.A.I.D., and the sordid and unhinged nature of Trump and the culture over which he presides. Haberman and Swan contend that Trump ran in 2024 for one reason above all: \u201cThis was about staying out of prison.\u201d After facing multiple indictments, impeachments, and criminal convictions, Trump returned to the White House with retribution on his mind: \u201cI was the hunted, and now I\u2019m the hunter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The atmosphere in Trump\u2019s White House is reminiscent of the Kremlin in Armando Iannucci\u2019s 2017 movie \u201cThe Death of Stalin.\u201d The autocrat delights in humiliating so many people, not least tech billionaires, including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who once opposed him. The description of Trump\u2019s White House is of a decadent court and a king addicted to vengeance and flattery. Trump employs one aide, a young woman named Natalie Harp, who follows him around all day, handing him glowing notices from the right-wing press and occasionally sending him adoring letters (\u201cYou are all that matters to me\u201d). Even this brings him no joy. When Elon Musk, who raised some three hundred million dollars for Trump\u2019s campaign, blasts the President over his budget bill, Trump says, \u201cThey always leave me. They always do this. This is why I can\u2019t have friends.\u201d He instructs Harp to bring him his phone. He calls Musk twice. Both times, he gets voice mail.<\/p>\n

We have always known that Trump is a narcissist. Haberman and Swan make clear the dimensions of his malady. During Trump\u2019s hush-money trial in New York, he heard that a mentally ill man, \u201cconsumed by conspiracy theories,\u201d had set himself on fire in a park nearby. \u201cDo you think he did it for me?\u201d Trump asked an aide. \u201cLet\u2019s tell people that he did it for me.\u201d In an interview with the authors, Trump says that he was pleased to learn from an unnamed historian that, considering the reach of his arsenal and armed forces, he is far more powerful than Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, or Joseph Stalin. The historian in question, the authors discover, is Gary Player\u2019s caddy. Trump is a damaged man unleashing daily damage on the country. He spends his nights alone, rage-posting on Truth Social. His wastebasket overflows with \u201cempty potato chip bags, Starburst wrappers, and ice cream cartons.\u201d<\/p>\n

As July 4th approaches, the water in the Reflecting Pool\u2014refurbished by Trump\u2019s \u201cpool guy\u201d with a no-bid contract\u2014turns green with algae. It is a dismal time in the capital. Haberman and Swan have done admirable work, but one turns the final pages of \u201cRegime Change\u201d hoping that their next book is the story of transition, from the era of Trump to one of democratic renewal. That chapter cannot come soon enough.\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

Read more The Torture Chamber of British Politics Crushes Its Latest Prime Minister<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan\u2019s \u201cRegime Change\u201d is packed with news about the Trump White House that will stay news, David Remnick writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comment"],"yoast_head":"\nChronicle of a Disaster Foretold - City Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=644\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold - City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan\u2019s \u201cRegime Change\u201d is packed with news about the Trump White House that will stay news, David Remnick writes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=644\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T11:05:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\"},\"headline\":\"Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T11:05:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644\"},\"wordCount\":1175,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/ae5a25082090a6f1f465ab1d5399911f.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Comment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=644\",\"name\":\"Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold - 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