Reviews for The Plot To Destroy Democracy

by Malcolm Nance

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Did Donald Trump meet with the Russians before the election? By this account, almost certainlyand "virtually all of Trump's senior staff and family had numerous contacts with Russia that were nothing short of suspicious."It's a remarkable bit of spinning that has allowed right-leaning media to portray Russia, the longtime rival and even enemy of the United States, as our friend. By intelligence officer and counterterrorism analyst Nance's (Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe, 2016, etc.) account, the victor in Trump's electoral win was Vladimir Putin, who "won with the aid of Americans who had turned on their own values." In this, everyone is implicated, from the putatively liberal media and its obsession with Clinton's emails to pro-Trump voters who cast their ballots for him despite their candidate's "slavish devotion to Putin." It's a story that isn't going away, despite what the president might wish. Certainly, Nance writes, the intelligence community is keeping its eye on the prize, and for those in the administration who urge that it's all just misperception and accident, Nance counters, "coincidence takes a lot of planning." The author argues that much of that planning originated inside the Kremlin, but much also came from the desk of Steve Bannon, a key actor in forging a vanguard for a new kind of pro-Moscow conservative movement in America. In a narrative dense with "active measures" and "Kompromat," Nance traces the revival of Russian enmity to Putin's second term as president, when he turned his KGB training to good use in weakening his American opponents by exploiting their divisionsexactly what those active measures are supposed to do. The author wraps up his case with a provocative declaration that will occasion divisions all on its own: "Trump has definitely convinced me that he transitioned from an unwitting asset of Vladimir Putin to a willing asset working in league with the Russian Federation." A convincing and alarmingand perhaps alarmistcry that treason is afoot. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

In his prescient The Plot to Hack America published before the 2016 election Nance, a naval intelligence officer and a national security advisor for NBC News, offered informed speculation about how the Russians might meddle. Now Nance is back with more specific information about how that meddling was done, laying out in frightening detail Russia's plot to upend the world's democratic norms and promote authoritarian governments, which Nance dubs a potential Axis of Autocrats. The early chapters are easy going; the writing gets denser as Russians pop up faster than creatures in a Whack-a-Mole game, but even as this plot gets more intricate (and, yes, sometimes it does read like a political thriller), readers will be turning pages quickly, feeling both anxiety and betrayal. When, in the final pages, Nance lays out how he believes Donald Trump was recruited by Russian intelligence through the time-tried operation known as MICE (money, ideology, coercion, and ego), even supporters of the president will have something to think about. For those who are not supporters, Nance offers suggestions designed to counter the threat. Yes, his ideas are familiar vote, discuss, and protest but they also reflect the most American of values. Nance will be on air a lot, so expect demand.--Ilene Cooper Copyright 2018 Booklist