I Alone Can Fix It

Prologue

On January 20, 2017, Donald John Trump became president, unskilled in the machinery of government and unmoved morally by the calling of the position, but aglow in his unmatched power. The first three years of Trump s term revealed a presidency of one, in which the universal value was loyalty not to the country, but to the president himself. Scandal, bluster, and uninhibited chaos reigned. Decisions were driven by a reflexive logic of self-preservation and self-aggrandizement. Delusions born of narcissism and insecurity overtook reality.

In those early years, which we chronicled in our book A Very Stable Genius, Trump s advisers believed his ego and pride prevented him from making sound, well-informed judgments. His management style resembled a carnival ride, jerking this way and that, forcing senior government officials to thwart his inane and sometimes illegal ideas. Some of them concluded that the president was a long-term and immediate danger to the country that he had sworn an oath to protect, yet they took comfort that he had not had to steer the country through a true crisis.


Trump s actions and words nevertheless had painful consequences. His assault on the rule of law degraded our democratic institutions and left Americans reasonably fearful they could no longer take for granted basic civil rights and untainted justice. His contempt for foreign alliances weakened America s leadership in the world and empowered dictators and despots. His barbarous immigration enforcement ripped migrant children out of the arms of their families. His bigoted rhetoric emboldened white supremacists to step out of the shadows.


But at least Trump had not been tested by a foreign military strike, an economic collapse, or a public health crisis.


At least not until 2020.


This book chronicles Trump s catastrophic fourth and final year as president. The year 2020 will be remembered in the American epoch as one of anguish and

Carol Leonnig is a national investigative reporter at The Washington Post, where she has worked since 2000, covering Donald Trump’s presidency and previous administrations. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on security failures and misconduct inside the Secret Service. She also was part of the Post teams awarded Pulitzers in 2018, for reporting on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and in 2014, for revealing the U.S. government’s secret, broad surveillance of Americans. Leonnig is an on-air contributor to NBC News and MSNBC and the author of Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service.
 

Philip Rucker is the senior Washington correspondent at The Washington Post and led its coverage of President Trump and his administration as White House Bureau chief. He and a team of Post reporters won the Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award for their reporting on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. In 2021, the White House Correspondents’ Association honored Rucker with the Aldo Beckman Award for overall excellence in White House coverage. Rucker joined the Post in 2005 and previously has covered Congress, the Obama White House, and the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns. He serves as an on-air political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC and graduated from Yale University with a degree in history.
 

A meticulous history. . . . An essential read for anyone seriously concerned with the fate of democracy in the United States. The book belongs in every library seeking to record the major forces and personalities shaping the 21st century. New York Journal of Books

A deeply-reported look at President Donald Trump and his chaotic administration . . . Shocking revelations. People
 
What [I Alone Can Fix It] argues in a detailed case is that the catastrophe of 2020 was a result of Trump's proclivity to put political optics above all else, including American lives. USA Today

A blockbuster follow-up to A Very Stable Genius, in which Leonnig and Rucker chronicled the chaos of Trump s first three years in office. I Alone Can Fix It pulls back the curtain on the handling of Covid-19, the re-election bid and its chaotic and violent aftermath. The pair are Pulitzer winners, for investigative reporting. Their book is essential reading. They have receipts, which they lay out for all to see. The Guardian

"Incisive, dramatic and masterful . . . Leonnig and Rucker capture it all. Just when we think, in absorbing these horrific events of the transfer of power to Joe Biden, that we can t be shocked any more we are. The tumult is raw and real and ugly. The Trump Oval Office is a place defiled. As they showed us previously, their reporting is as authoritative and seamless as the legends they have now succeeded Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein under the shield of the venerable Post." The Sydney Morning Herald

We begin tonight with breaking news on just how unhinged the final days of the last administration were and how much worse they might have gotten . . . These and other chilling scenes are contained in a new book, I Alone Can Fix It. Anderson Cooper, CNN s Anderson Cooper 360
 
We begin with explosive new revelations about just how close American democracy came to the edge.