Playing to win

Insider interviews power this account of the political machinations behind last year's US election result.

- MARK FRYER

The opening scene: Donald Trump triumphant, basking at his Florida pleasure palace Mara-Lago early this year. “We've had everybody here,” says the President-elect. “We've had Google, we've had Facebook, we've had Bill Gates, we had Tim Cook, Apple - we've had all of them.”

The business titans bring seven-figure cheques to pay for his inauguration. Trump says he always asks his admirers, “Would you have been here if I lost? ... They know the answer is no, but they don't really want to say it. And it would be no if I were them, too.”

This is the story of how the United States reached that moment, starting from a point in 2022 when it wasn't even certain that Trump would run again. And yes, you know that story already, but the authors - three past or present Washington Post reporters - flesh it out with a wealth of you-are-there detail, delivered with admirable balance.

And, they say, 2024's result was far from inevitable.

On the Democratic side, a clutch of contenders were planning to kick off their presidential campaigns in late 2022. “No one outside Biden's inner circle seriously believed he would run. He would be 82 by the end of his first term, and 86 by the end of a second.”

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was being touted as the Maga movement's shining hope - a lot like Trump, only more disciplined.