The Corrosion of Conservatism

Why I Left the Right

By: Max Boot

Narrated by: Max Boot

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Warning that the Trump presidency presages America’s decline, the political commentator recounts his extraordinary journey from lifelong Republican to vehement Trump opponent. As nativism, xenophobia, vile racism, and assaults on the rule of law threaten the very fabric of our nation, The Corrosion of Conservatism presents an urgent defense of American democracy.

Pronouncing Mexican immigrants to be “rapists”, Donald Trump announced his 2015 presidential bid, causing Max Boot to think he was watching a dystopian science-fiction movie. The respected conservative historian couldn’t fathom that the party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan could endorse such an unqualified reality-TV star. Yet, the Twilight Zone episode that Boot believed he was watching created an ideological dislocation so shattering that Boot’s transformation from Republican foreign policy adviser to celebrated anti-Trump columnist becomes the dramatic story of The Corrosion of Conservatism.

No longer a Republican, but also not a Democrat, Boot here records his ideological journey from a “movement” conservative to a man without a party, beginning with his political coming-of-age as a young émigré from the Soviet Union, enthralled with the National Review and the conservative intellectual tradition of Russell Kirk and F. A. Hayek. Against this personal odyssey, Boot simultaneously traces the evolution of modern American conservatism, jump-started by Barry Goldwater’s canonical The Conscience of a Conservative, to the rise of Trumpism and its gradual corrosion of what was once the Republican Party.

While 90 percent of his fellow Republicans became political “toadies” in the aftermath of the 2016 election, Boot stood his ground, enduring the vitriol of his erstwhile conservative colleagues, trolled on Twitter by a white supremacist who depicted his “execution” in a gas chamber by a smiling, Nazi-clad Trump. And yet, Boot nevertheless remains a villain to some partisan circles for his enduring commitment to conservative fiscal and national security principles. It is from this isolated position, then, that Boot launches this bold declaration of dissent and its urgent plea for true, bipartisan cooperation.

With uncompromising insights, The Corrosion of Conservatism evokes both a president who has traduced every norm and the rise of a nascent centrist movement to counter Trump’s assault on democracy.

©2018 Max Boot (P)2018 Recorded Books

I felt he was masterfully telling my story.

Throughout the book, I was shaking my head in agreement, yet with lament, my own story.

Very much worth reading

I was impressed by Mr. Boot’s humility and his willingness to question a lifetime dedication to the right wing. The only disadvantages to this book, in my opinion, are the narrator’s disappointing lack of effort in learning how to pronounce Russian words and names and the last chapter, where Boot returns to shopworn and twisted Republican talking points about the left. I find myself wondering if he will modify his views over time. I thought this was a very well written and interesting book and have recommended it to many friends on the left and right.

Glad he switched.

Independent doesn't mean disenfranchised. We Indies have a vote. I need convincing we need so strong a defense. Other than that I agree.

Another foolish "neo-conservative " !

I have never really understood what a neoconservative is beyond being often Jewish like me but unlike me and most other American Jews, they lust for war as the only means of defending our democracy. Luckily Boot has scene were that leads and who the majority of his co travellor conservatives realy are. Most Neo Conservatives hung out in small intellectual isolated from the majority of conservatives and could not or refused to see who their conservative compatriots are. Refused to see, is actually incorrect; did not want to see is more truthful andv which explains why they needed the neo before the word conservative. They never wanted to be either Conservative nor Liberal which is why he and his small clique of friends are so unhappy with the election of President Trump and his many Republican followers.

Having labeled them selves for years as real Republicans they have no real political home in the current Trump party which is the logical outcome of the direction set by Reagan himself. I am not surprised. I taught for a school year in an upper midwest University which drew most of its students from rural towns and farming communities. It was the year when Ronald Reagan was running for his second term. I was exposed to the Republican dirty tricks that dominate the Republican party today.
I was not able to find any liberal leaning faculty member who was or wanted to be politically active. I found out why. Politically active liberal thinking faculty were not welcome.

Boot has found out thd truth about the truth about the Republican party. I saw it back then. Did he ever ask himself why he and his friends were not just conservatives. Why they needed the term neo and since they did they were back then had no home in the Republican party. Did he not see how the war in Iraq was built on lies; and if not why not.

We all learn from our mistakes.

For me it took years for me to learn how politics is mostly built on lies. I am no longer an active Democrat and I definitely have no place in the GOP. Join the crowd Max.

Good stuff

Good, perfect narration right on point. Fine criticism of trumpism.

Thanks, Max for your ideas.

Should be required reading for HS Civics

Although I don’t completely agree with the authors political beliefs, he presents a very balanced critique of our political system and it’s flaws. This is the type of discussion that should be had throughout the country, for the preservation of our democracy.

Title says it all

The title pretty much sums up the story. Max goes into detail at what caused the corrosion and gives a hopeful glimpse into the future for those of us in the middle. Must read for recovering “dittoheads” and Never Trumpers!

Good book, weak performance

This was an interesting listen for me -- and interesting reflection on how Trumpism is a symptom (rather than the cause) of a crisis in conservatism.

But Boot's reading is sometimes painful to listen to, as he sounds bored himself. I wonder if he read it himself to save money rather than hire a better-sounding reader?

A fine retelling of the Trump story

I have got through 3/4 of this book, and plan on stopping there. I keep waiting for a synthesized insight of the times he covers, but it remains a detailed romp through the details and the history of first Max Boot, and then a retelling of the well worn story of "how did all that happen". But, at least for me, there is little new here. There is not even any substantial explanation, much less treatise of what a conservative is, the one that got corroded. Other than Trump isnt one, and now he isnt one either... At least as far as being a member of the Republican party makes one a conservative.

So what this turns out to be is a good, maybe even a great one, for those who have only a cursory understanding of the history of the Rise of Trump. But for someone who is well versed in that sad saga this is a not-very-deep dive into that history.

I wish all sorts of things would have been different about this book. But then, it would have been a different book. I can see where this one stands, and why it needed to be writ just this way. I hope there are better treatises later.

The first few chapters on his personal bio are interesting if your interested in those details. But it wasn’t why I got the book.

Why I did buy the book was on the reputation of M. Boot as being a central character in the 'conservative' movement. I was hoping for a detailed explanation of what that meant. Even better, if there might be a distinction made between what it means to be a conservative and the very separate thing of being a Republican.
But these two notions got conflated just as easily as they always are, and so nothing was learned there.

It’s a good book for what it is.
Its just not what I needed - I know the Trump history all to well.

Pleasantly Surprised

Max Boot admits mistakes and explains his disillusionment. He keenly diagnoses the problem with Trump.