I know, I know. Anthony Scaramucci occupies that special place where seemingly every part of the political spectrum has a negative thing to say about him. He worked for Trump, but he also got fired after 11 days. Now he has written a book whose premise is that Trump is the result of three terrible decisions years ago titled All the Wrong Moves. Clearly, this guy needs to be taken down a peg. Good news, he agrees!
I normally stay away from books on contemporary politics as much as possible. The publisher sent me this one and it would be rude to not at least read the introduction! What kept me reading is Scaramucci’s willingness to issue an early and loud mea culpa. He was smug, he was arrogant, and he got into something he didn’t understand. Plus, all the wrong moves he discusses were about 20 years ago or more and the left and right are on the hook.
The book breaks down into about three different modes. There is the history side of things where the author shows how we got to the three bad decisions. The next is the politics of those decisions, and then finally, how do we fix it. Scaramucci ties everything to money and economics. Like any book about politics, your own views will decide whether you agree or not with his analysis. He writes very informally, so don’t expect a scholarly breakdown or deep analysis. This is written for a general audience.
I found the behind-the-scenes parts of the book the most interesting, especially his ill-fated 11 days. Like everything else political nowadays, people are going to have big feelings. I already ran into many of them on social media when I mentioned I was reading this. If you are open to reading it, I think you’ll find something to enjoy even if you may not agree with everything.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Henry Holt and Co.)
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