David Frum on Trumpocracy and Trump: The Novel

David Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic. In 2001 and 2002, he was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush. We met in Ottawa and talked about, among other things, his father Murray, a Bernini bronze, African art, reference books, Linda Frum's biography of her (and David's), mother Barbara, the mistrust of optimism, Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past and women, loyalty, how to become an expert in almost anything, the shock of the Great Depression, 2008, immigration, the deterioration of democracy, the role of political books, Trumpocracy, discovery and threats to sue, Trump: The Novel, the Whitehouse Correspondence Dinner, humiliation as a theme, laughter, Bin Laden, moral development and dilemma, Nick Carraway, publishers' advances, David's novel Patriots, Generals Mattis and McMaster, lying, Tom Wolfe, Donald Trump, vanity, Obama, Karen Horney, negative economics, mobilized voters, the Saudis, Trump towers, tax avoidance, Wikileaks, Putin, Deutsche Bank, Stephen Greenblatt's Tyrant, Shakespeare, Presidents born to great wealth, and standing up for the right thing.