''I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year'' is a nonfiction book written by ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reporters Carol D. Leonnig and

Philip Rucker Philip Rucker is an American reporter and author. Since January, 2025, he has been CNN Senior Vice President, Editorial Strategy and News. Prior to 2025, he was the National Editor at ''The Washington Post''. Early life and education Rucker is ...

. It was published by

Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...

in 2021 and was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. ''I Alone Can Fix It'' is a follow-up to the two authors' 2020 book '' A Very Stable Genius'' and covers

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's last year in office during his first term as president of the United States. As David Smith of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper pointed out, "both titles are direct Trump quotations loaded with irony." The authors interviewed 140 people for their material, including a two-and-a-half-hour interview with Trump himself. The book has generally received positive reviews by book critics.

Content

The book begins on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

2019, with an email from a

U.S. Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

scientist stationed in Beijing to CDC Director

Robert Redfield Robert Redfield (December 4, 1897 – October 16, 1958) was an American anthropologist and ethnolinguist, whose ethnographic work in Tepoztlán, Mexico, is considered a landmark of Latin American ethnography. He was associated with the Universi ...

, informing him about cases of unusual pneumonia in the city of

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

. It proceeds through the events of 2020—Trump's first impeachment, the spread of COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter protests, the 2020 election and its aftermath—from the perspective of how they impacted Trump and his presidency. Press coverage of the book called particular attention to its depiction of General Mark A. Milley, the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

, and Milley's efforts to prevent what he feared was a potential

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

attempt by Trump. The press also made note of Trump's boast to the authors that if it had not been for the pandemic, even

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

could not have beaten him in the election. The book describes Trump "dressing down and humiliating those around him, including former

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

William P. Barr."

Reviews

Smith, reviewing the book for ''

'', wrote that the authors "have unleashed a second startling story of incompetence and malevolence in the White House." David Green, also in ''The Guardian'', called the book "essential reading", "a blockbuster follow-up to ''A Very Stable Genius''."

Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

, reviewing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

,'' said the book "reads like 300 daily newspaper articles taped together" and called it a "grueling" read, "a dense, just-the-facts scrapbook of a dismal year" that included an "almost day-by-day accounting of Trump’s last year in office, from the fumbled Covid response to the second impeachment to

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

's public self-immolations." Garner viewed Michael Wolff's '' Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency'', released around the same time, as a "more vivid and apt" work. Ron Elving of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

said that in recounting conversations and thoughts of the participants, Rucker and Leonnig convey "a compelling sense of almost novelistic omniscience, as though the authors had been present and taking notes in a host of conversations they never heard." Mabinty Quarshie, writing in ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

,'' said the book makes "a detailed case... that the catastrophe of 2020 was a result of Trump's proclivity to put political optics above all else, including American lives."

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 2021 non-fiction books American non-fiction books Biographies about politicians Books about American politicians Books about the first Trump administration English-language non-fiction books Penguin Press books Criticism of Donald Trump Books about Donald Trump

Content

Reviews

See also

References

External links