President Trump Inc.

In this meticulously researched book, the author investigates how big business and neoliberalism have empowered populism and the far right, in spite of their supporters failing to realise that the interests of powerful and rich are in fact being further served by their votes. For many years, business has lobbied government for favourable changes in legislation, but now some of these moguls are actually in Trump's cabinet. Far from clearing the swamp, he is in fact filling it up, giving posts to executives in Goldman Sachs who should probably be behind bars for swindling their customers. We can already see the results, especially in dismantling of environmental legislation and withdrawal from the Paris agreement. The book is in two parts, the first about the background in terms of the rise of neoliberalism and corresponding decline of the unions, then the emergence of the far right in both America and Europe, followed by the more recent billionaire populism of alt-right. The second part explains the 'Trump deception' in more detail.

Neoliberalism has driven deregulation of financial markets and privatisation of public resources, which has resulted in growing inequality, falling living standards and social cutbacks. This has naturally led to disillusion with mainstream politics, with different emphases depending on continent and country, but nevertheless correlated with the rise of the far right. As the author points out, the paradox is that these parties actually support the very policies that lead to voter impoverishment. A number of myths are exploded, for instance that Trump won (he lost the popular vote, like George W Bush in 2000), that he won the working class vote and that he is anti-establishment. A separate chapter is devoted to trade deals and tax reform, then another to foreign policy, dominated in the long term by US commitment to Full Spectrum Dominance in world affairs and driven by the CIA and the Pentagon (p. 135). The author concludes that President Trump is what happens when business replaces politics. He sounds a note of hope in his conclusion, having shown polls indicated that Bernie Sanders would have beaten Trump, by saying that we all have to become active in local politics, which itself has to be democratised – in other words, system change can only come from below.