And everyone says one of Donald Trump's superpowers is that he has the unyielding support of his base. And there's this sort of chicken and egg question at the root of all of this. I mean, I think - yes, the working title of this, in my own head at least, was they all knew better. And they have sort of turned the other way in a lot of steps along the way to a presidency that I think they would say privately, and I certainly would say, has been quite destructive. But Mitch McConnell knew that, if he wanted to work with a Republican president and get the judges that he was so desperate to get in the Supreme Court and on down, he needed to work with the White House on this.Īnd, look, I mean, politics is about dealmaking, but, ultimately, this relationship has been very precarious. They don't have really any personal bond whatsoever. Mitch McConnell, it's a little different. And in order to do that - it's a very red state - he needed the blessing of Donald Trump. Lindsey Graham desperately wanted to be reelected as a senator from South Carolina in 2020. So he has to make it work for him with Donald Trump. And he knows that the surest way of blowing that dream up is to get on the wrong side of Donald Trump. I mean, Kevin McCarthy wants nothing more than to be speaker of the House. I mean, it's sort of an age-old Washington story, which is, they have made it work for them. Without them, he would just be another sort of glorified, geriatric golfer in Florida who watches FOX a lot. But, ultimately, the president - or the former president has been made possible by the complicity of the Republican Party. He's publicly condemned the president much more vocally than the others. Now, obviously, Mitch McConnell is an exception there.

I mean, I think a lot of the people who have been some of the most adoring supporters of his in Congress, in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, will privately show a great deal of contempt for him.

I mean, I think what's interesting is that the people who have been his biggest enablers, who have just been completely submissive to him throughout the last four years, who have supported him every step of the way privately have great ambivalence about him, to say the least. Mark Leibovich, Author, 'Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission': Yes. But you also make it clear what you think about him and what you believe he's done to this country. Mark Leibovich, welcome back to the 'NewsHour.' Congratulations on this book.Īnd I want to say, as you point out, this is not a book about Donald Trump. Journalist and author Mark Leibovich does just that in his latest book, 'Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission.' Many books have been written about Donald Trump and his presidency, but few have examined the motivations of the Republicans who initially were wary of him, but later pledged complete loyalty.

Thank you for your servitude goodreads