{"product_id":"the-madman-theory-trump-takes-on-the-world-isbn-9780063005686","title":"The Madman Theory: Trump Takes On the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom praising dictators to alienating allies, Trump made chaos his calling card. But four years into his administration, had his strategy caused more problems than it solved?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRichard Nixon tried it first. Hoping to make communist bloc countries uneasy and thus unstable, Nixon let them think he was just crazy enough to nuke them. He called this “the madman theory.” Nearly half a century later, President Trump employed his own “madman theory,” sometimes intentionally and sometimes not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTrump praised Kim Jong-un and their “love notes,” admired and flattered Vladimir Putin, and gave a greenlight to Recep Tayyip Erdogan to invade Syria. Meanwhile, he attacked US institutions and officials, ignored his own advisors, and turned his back on US allies from Canada and Mexico to NATO to Ukraine to the Kurds at war with ISIS. Trump was willing to make the nation’s most sensitive and consequential decisions while often ignoring the best information and intelligence available to him. He continually caught the world off guard, but did it work?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Madman Theory\u003c\/em\u003e, Jim Sciutto showed how Trump's supporters assumed he had a strategy for long-term success – that he somehow played three-dimensional chess. Four years into Trump's presidency, it was clear his unpredictable focus on short-term headlines did in fact lead to predictably mediocre results in the short and long run. Trump’s foreign policy undermined American values and national security interests, while hurting allies who had been on our side for decades, leaving them isolated and vulnerable without American support. Meanwhile, Trump had comforted and emboldened our enemies. The White House’s revolving door of staff demonstrated that Trump had no real plan; all serious policymakers—and those who would be a check on his most destructive impulses—were exiled or jumped ship.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSciutto interviewed a wide swath of then-current and former administration officials to assemble the first comprehensive portrait of the impact of Trump’s erratic foreign policy. Smart, authoritative, and compelling, \u003cem\u003eThe Madman Theory\u003c\/em\u003e is the definitive take on Trump’s calamitous legacy around the globe, showing how his proclivity for chaos was creating a world which was more unstable, violent, and impoverished than it had been before.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“For many years Russia and China have fought a war in the shadows to undermine the United States from the outer reaches of space to the deep seas of the Arctic. Sciutto’s excellent portrayal of those conflicts will keep you up at night.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeter Bergen author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden from 9\/11 to Abbottabad on The Shadow War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Jim has done a superb job capturing the current and future space and cyber threats to our national security. More importantly, he describes what the resulting vulnerabilities mean to the average citizen. This book should serve as a wake-up call for all of us.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGeneral William Shelton ret former Commander of US Air Force Space Command on The Shadow War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With \u003cem\u003eThe Shadow War,\u003c\/em\u003e Jim Sciutto, my CNN colleague and distinguished journalist, has written a milestone tutorial on the nature of conflict in today’s world. Jim’s riveting writing\u0026gt; - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJames Clapper former Director of National Intelligence on The Shadow War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The Shadow War is a clanging alarm, urging us to recognize and prioritize the threats we’ve ignored for too long. In crisp and elegant prose, Sciutto masterfully lays out how we got here and what we can do to deal with the asymmetrical challenges posed by Russia and China. \u003cem\u003eThe Shadow War \u003c\/em\u003eis as alarming as it is necessary.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJulia Ioffe foreign policy correspondent for GQ on The Shadow War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“We are all vaguely aware that America and the West have been challenged recently in new and unusual ways—from tampering with elections to misinformation to cyberattacks. Jim Sciutto puts it all together and helps us understand the new ‘Shadow War.’ This is a timely book, defining for us the nature of international conflict in the foreseeable future. Sciutto is a highly intelligent, determined, and hardworking reporter, and it shows. The book is deeply reported, crisply written, and thoroughly engaging.”  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFareed Zakaria author of The Post-American World on The Shadow War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is the book all of us have been waiting for. Sciutto makes sense of a foreign policy that to many has seemed incomprehensible, using unparalleled sources to explain how the Trump approach to hot spots from North Korea to Iran has cost the United States leverage and leadership around the world. An indispensable guide at a time when the nation’s most celebrated military leaders are sounding unprecedented warnings about the consequences for America at home and abroad.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAndrea Mitchell\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I started interviewing President Trump more than twenty years ago and thought  I knew a lot about his thinking on national security and foreign policy. But I was wrong. Reading Jim Sciutto’s truly wonderful book, I learned so much more. Jim takes us way behind the scenes to present an extremely well-reported and in-depth picture of where President Trump is coming from in his critical decision-making process. In  short, I highly recommend this very timely, well-written book.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWolf Blitzer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Is President Trump repeating an old Nixon trick, pretending to be a madman so that he can bully other nations into submission? Or is Trump truly mad, threatening America and the world with uncontrollable tantrums? Jim Sciutto, a CNN anchor and one of the most respected journalists of our era, provides a fascinating—though sometimes chilling— account of how and why Trump is trying to tear down the world as we have known it.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDavid Gergen\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Madman Theory\u003c\/em\u003e is a compelling account of the chaos, feuding, blowups, and repeated course corrections of President Trump’s foreign policy. For those who question whether any of this matters, Sciutto documents clearly and persuasively the damage the Trumpian upheaval has done to America’s long-term national security interests.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMichael Isikoff\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A lot has been written on Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Not much of it has been based on careful and extensive reporting. In this book, Jim Sciutto combines fine reporting with intelligent analysis in a way that is unusual and enlightening—and entertaining.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWilliam Kristol\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The greatest strength of \u003cem\u003eThe Madman Theory\u003c\/em\u003e is that its 'question' and 'answer' approach serves only as a guide. The book doesn't tell us what to think. It simply asks us to assess Trump's rhetoric and action alongside that of his advisers and against what actually happened. A study of history, strategy, and politics, Sciutto's conclusion is hard to rebuke.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Examiner\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44889267503333,"sku":"NP9780063005686","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780063005686.jpg?v=1730230885","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-madman-theory-trump-takes-on-the-world-isbn-9780063005686","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}