Fever Swamp: My Journey Through the Strange Neverland of the 2016 Presidential Race

In this compilation of essays originally written for the Huffington Post, thriller writer Patterson (Eden in Winter) scathingly covers the 2016 presidential campaign. In our current tribal silos, those who voted Democratic will eat it up; dupporters of now President-elect Donald J. Trump will either ignore or dismiss it. Patterson’s perceptive writing and opinions are just as cutting as Hunter S. Thompson’s in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, but without the snarky profanity. The first essays bury the other Republican candidates already steamrolled by Trump. Chapter titles telegraph Patterson’s dissection: “The Faux Humility of Ben Carson”; “The Shallow Salesmanship of Carly Fiorina”; “Marco Rubio’s Empty Suit.” He blames Republican Party leaders for stirring up the base but never delivering on their promises, thus abetting the inevitable rise of “a demagogue” like Trump. He saves his most uninhibited vitriol for Trump himself. Among many other attacks, he calls him “ignorant,” “shallow,” “a bumptious idiot,” “repulsive,” “racist,” and “emotionally disturbed.” If the election results had been different, this collection could have been a prescient analysis of why Trump was defeated. Now it’s only a sad reminder of the opposition he provoked.[em] (Jan.) [/em]