Weapons of Mass Delusion

By Robert Draper

By Paul Markowitz

Penguin Press, 400 pp.

In his new book, Robert Draper describes in some detail how the far right became the GOP’s center of gravity.  There are few if any new revelations, unlike many a recent book about the presidency of Donald Trump.  But this ultimately is a much more important book in understanding what has happened in the past two years because it shows in some detail how Trump’s version of events has become Republican orthodoxy. And how, in the minds of many Republicans, the Democratic Party has gone from being just wrong to being evil.

Draper, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a veteran political writer, begins his chronicle on January 6, 2021 on the steps of the US Capitol.  Having been there in person, he is able to describe the events from his personal perspective.  He ends his book in 2022 with the Republican midterm primaries.

It is hard to read this book and not think about the famous quote from Benjamin Franklin.  When he was walking out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, someone shouted out, “Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?  To which Franklin responded, “A republic if you can keep it.”

In this chronicle of events, Draper explores whether we will be able to keep it in part by focusing on a few specific figures in the Republican Party.  First he introduces us to Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona.  Gosar for some time had been the representative of the “crackpot” right in the Republican Party, speaking about every crazy conspiracy available.  Everyone, even his fellow Republicans, all but ignored him.  He was actually speaking to Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 about the “stolen election” when the proceedings were halted as demonstrators attacked the Capitol.  Over the next year, Gosar would go from fringe denier in the Republican Congress to just another member of the larger caucus.

Draper then introduces us to Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney who had been the Darth Vader of the George Bush administration.  Liz was the congressperson from conservative Wyoming and third ranking member of the Republican caucus in the House, who seemed to be much in her father’s mold.  She had in fact voted against the impeachment of Trump in the first impeachment trial.  However, after the attack on the capitol on January 6, she became the outspoken and principled leader of the small Republican contingent that voted for his impeachment at the second impeachment hearing.  For this she would ultimately lose her leadership post in the Republican caucus, many a supporter, and ultimately her congressional seat.

The book’s longest profile is of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Q-Anon adherent and congressmember from Georgia.  After some particularly objectionable behavior, she would be removed from all of her committee assignments.  Included in this bizarre behavior was a reoccurrence of her Q-Anon belief that California wildfires were being caused by lasers developed by George Soros and other wealthy Jewish Democratic Party contributors.

After Greene’s demotion something curious happened.  Greene had much more time on her hands so she could devote additional effort to get her image and thoughts in the press.  Before long she became the third highest fundraising Republican congressmember after the two leaders, Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise.  By the time of the Republican primaries this year, she was all but promised she would be not only given back committee assignments but important and sought-after ones.  

One of the reasons Draper devotes so much space to Greene is that they develop a sort of “relationship”.  Greene craves publicity and Draper makes himself available to Greene whenever she is willing. This was at a time when Greene had gone from the “loony” fringe of the Republican caucus to a broadly accepted one who was perceived as something of a party spokesperson.  In fact, as Draper notes, her “most outlandish rhetoric would become GOP talking points.”

Perhaps the most critical part of Draper’s book is his assessment of Kevin McCarthy, Republican leader of Congress and likely Speaker of the House after the November election.  McCarthy wants more than anything to be speaker and has devoted the bulk of his political life to that quest.  McCarthy had been the minority leader in the California State Assembly. While there he worked with then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  McCarthy believed he knew how to deal with non-politicians with big personal egos after his California experience and thus could handle Trump.

McCarthy would learn the hard way that Trump was different. During the attack on the capitol, McCarthy was taped blaming Trump for the attack and was quoted saying that he thought Trump would be impeached and that he should resign as President.  McCarthy would backtrack later in a caucus meeting as he attempted to worm his way back into the good graces of his contingent. He would quickly adopt the mantra of the Republican Party that the election was stolen.  Within days of these events he would show up at Mar-a-Lago, a supplicant once more. The book ends with a mournful look at the exiting members of the Republican caucus – those moderates who chose not to run for election or were defeated after making the near catastrophic mistake of voting to impeach Trump.

Draper has done a fine job of tracing the evolution of the current Republican Party.  Even though Senator Mitch McConnell, the other Republican congressional leader, condemned the attack on the capitol and accepted Biden as the rightfully elected President, he has in countless other ways done a more than credible job of living up to the subtitle of this book --“When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind.”  Both McCarthy and McConnell stand on the precipice of leading their branches of Congress, depending on how the upcoming election turns out. It could be only a few days, or maybe a couple of years, but we should know before long whether Ben Franklin’s admonition of some two hundred and thirty-five years ago will be painfully on point.