The Conspiracy to End America

Reviews

“The author offers useful prescriptions for acting to counter the authoritarian impulse. A rallying cry for a movement to push against Trumpism and its legion of true believers.”—Kirkus Reviews “Stop whatever you are doing. Pour a stiff drink and read Stuart Stevens’s new book right now. On the other side of this political and civic moment, we will look around for the people who saw it coming and warned us—not hysterically, but methodically, and with evidence that the Republican Party has become one of the world’s most agitated autocratic movements. With his exquisite voice and decades of relationships and experience, Stuart walks readers through the transformation of a once (relatively) normal party to one that now poses a threat to democracy. Stuart is my friend, but I don’t recommend this because of our friendship: This is the first must-read of the 2024 election cycle if you want to understand the stakes.”
 —Nicolle Wallace, anchor of MSNBC / Deadline Whitehouse “As a former Republican strategist and media consultant, [Stevens] knows the threat we face today from the Republican Party, which has embraced autocracy and works to damage our democracy beyond repair. His timely and heartfelt book lays out the essential elements and enablers of authoritarianism with admirable clarity. It’s essential and timely reading.”—Ruth Ben-Giat, MSNBC Opinion Columnist and author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present “THE CONSPIRACY TO END AMERICA is a meticulously argued clarion call to action in defense of our fragile democracy. As a political practitioner with a deep understanding of how MAGA Republican strategists, money men, and legal minds operate, Stuart is uniquely suited to suss out how the plot against our system of government is being executed. This book is a succinct, digestible assessment of the existential stakes that face us from an engaging writer. I pray we beat back this threat in the years to come so Stuart can use his skills to write about family and Ole Miss Rebels football once again.”—Tim Miller, American political consultant and author of Why We Did “THE CONSPIRACY TO END AMERICA is two stories in one: It’s the story of how the Republican Party came to reject democracy as a governing principle. It’s also the story of a former Republican insider and political operative confronting the painful truth that the party he once worked for has embraced authoritarianism. ‘Pain is the best teacher in politics,’ says Stuart P. Stevens. He thus concludes that ‘the only hope for the Republican Party is for it to suffer crushing defeat after crushing defeat so that it is forced to confront its failures.’”—Teri Kanefield, author of Alexander Hamilton: The Making of America “Republican campaign legend Stuart Stevens used his skills to battle Trump as candidate and president. Now Trump is back—and so is Stevens, with this anguished and eloquent summons to stand for democracy against reactionary authoritarianism at home and abroad.”—David Frum, senior editor at The Atlantic and MSNBC contributor “In THE CONSPIRACY TO END AMERICA, Stuart Stevens uses his decades of working within the Republican Party to lay out in brutally honest terms how his old party is turning America into an autocracy. Every person—Democrat, Republican, and Independent—concerned about the rise of Trumpism should read this book.”—Dan Pfeiffer, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump “Please read this book! Stuart Stevens has been everywhere and seen everything, and he shares what he has learned in concise, vivid prose. His book is urgent but not despairing. It is deadly serious but frequently funny. It offers the big picture based on numerous details and stories. I’m glad he wrote it, and glad I read it.”—James Fallows, author of Breaking News and former White House Director of Speechwriting Expand reviews