The origins of Jason’s Newsletter began with my book, Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press. I had decided to keep a brief account of the 115th Congress not long after I got there.
Recall, this was time when the ‘resistance’ groups were crashing town halls, Republicans were literally and figuratively in the crosshairs and the ‘deep state’ was going after President Donald Trump in unprecedented ways. Despite it all, the first two years of the new administration were the most productive since the Reagan era.
The economy roared without inflation, our streets were safe, the border was secure and we enjoyed peace and prosperity by putting America First.
Yet, once Democrats took over the House in a 2018 blue wave, things began to spiral downhill rapidly. Impeachment was used as a weapon based on accusations I knew to be untrue. A relentlessly biased media kept printing the falsehoods instead of correcting them. Finally, the nation suffered through a 2020 election (where I campaigned for the U.S. Senate alongside President Trump in a state he lost by just 1.6% four years earlier) marred by lockdowns, an Orwellian ‘cancel culture,’ BLM riots and irregular COVID voting rules.
It was the most turbulent period since the 1960s and that ‘brief account’ became a blow-by-blow narrative spanning three election cycles and the entirety of the Trump administration from someone who was at ground zero.
It turned into Party Animal and here’s an excerpt from the Introduction:
Politics disarms you. No, I don’t mean you. I mean it disarms politicians—and not always in a good way. Where a normal person might fight back, the officeholder is told to ‘rise above.’ Where an average person would take offense, the politician must never offend. Where others take a stand, the careerist must not. The byproduct of turning the other cheek—at least in part—has given us the mess we’re in.
It’s an unnatural state but the ‘swamp’ constantly reinforces it. Step out of line and you’ll pay a price from those who buy ink by the barrel. Challenge the special interests and the donor class dries up. It all has a way of emasculating far too many politicians. They become weak and the butt of every late-night comedian’s shopworn joke. No wonder Americans don’t like them. Yet no one defied these rules more than Donald Trump.
And so did I—but not nearly enough. This book is an attempt to finish the job and tell the real side of the story. One that has been very difficult to get past a cacophony of conformity that has gripped our nation. But it must get out because the people who are paying the biggest price every day are ordinary Americans helplessly watching their country slip away.
The crisis we face—from a China-virus, inflation, illegal immigration, ‘woke’ teachers, blackouts, lockdowns, mandates, censorship, riots and crime—is not an accident. The border didn’t just get out of control anymore than prices just started to rise. It was a direct result of putting people in positions of power, elected and otherwise, who do not share our interests. They represent a radical new politics that seeks to divide, disrupt, sew chaos and revolt in the name of transforming American life into something our ancestors wouldn’t recognize. I saw the dangerous agenda in numerous campaigns and my short time in Washington.
And nowhere were the ramifications more evident than in my home state of Minnesota.
Unfortunately, as I wrote, what happened in Minnesota was a sad precursor for what would follow throughout the country. And while I was writing the book things continued to get worse, so I knew I had to continue with the truth.
Jason’s Newsletter at Substack was born.
But the origins of this current dilemma are not to be ignored—at least if we don’t want to relive the chaos they have wrought. Past is prologue and I wrote Party Animal as a warning, especially for 2024.
That’s why I’m so glad to announce the paperback version of Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press is now available for just $14.95.
We’ve touched ‘em all and Party Animal is now available in four versions—hardcover, ebook, audio and paperback. I thought I wrote this book because I wanted you to read it. Now it’s clear to me that I wrote it because you need to read it.
Get your copy today and I’ll guarantee you’ll know exactly how we got into this mess and more importantly—how to get out.
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