A young, handsome, charismatic Southern governor is elected president of the United States in a landslide. He was so popular that world leaders were scrambling to attend his inauguration. Among the attendees were the pope, the queen of England, and other royalties. He had, however, an Achilles heelhe was a philanderer. In the white house he spent more time chasing women than doing the job he was elected to do. It will not take long for his misdeeds to leak out to the media and the opposition party that controlled Congress. Convinced that impeachment was the only way to remove that popular president, the opposition hired a zealous special prosecutor to investigate the president. While he was being investigated, the noose was getting tighter around his neck. Pressured by his wife to save his power, he decided to do the unthinkable. He ordered the Attorney General to arrest the special prosecutor He suspended the Constitution. He dissolved Congress. He retired the five members of the Supreme Court who 70 years old and older. He declared martial law and put troops in the street of Washington District. He ordered the media to impose self censorship. How will the nation react to this wannabe dictator? What will be the reaction of the world community How long will he last? Read on.

Donald Trump isn't a despot. But he is increasingly acting like a despot's apprentice. Whether it's attacking the press, threatening the rule of law, or staffing the White House with family members and cronies, Trump is borrowing moves from the world's dictators. The president's bizarre adoration of global strongmen has also transformed US foreign policy into a powerful force cheerleading some of the world's worst regimes. An expert on authoritarianism, Brian Klaas is well placed to recognise the warning signs of tyranny. He argues forcefully that with every autocratic tactic or tweet, Trump further erodes democratic norms in the world's most powerful democracy. The Despot's Apprentice is an urgent exploration of the unique threat that Trump poses to global democracy--and how to save it from him before it's too late.

The Guise of Exceptionalism compares the historical origins of Haitian and American exceptionalisms. It also traces how exceptionalism as a narrative of uniqueness has shaped relations between the two countries from their early days of independence through the contemporary period. Exceptionalism is at the core of every national founding narrative. It allows countries to purge history of injurious stains, and embellish it with mythical innocence and claims of distinction. Exceptionalism also builds the bonds of solidarity that forge an imagined national fellowship of the chosen, but it excludes those deemed unfit for membership because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or class. Exceptionalism, however, is not frozen. As a social invention, it changes over time, but always within the parameters of its original principles. Our capacity to reinvent it is dependent on the degree of hegemony achieved by the ruling class, and if this class has the infrastructural power to gradually co-opt and include €the groups it had once excluded.

Their vast empire was legendary-land holdings, film interests, untold wealth and the clout of Los Angeles' mightiest newspaper. But it wasn't enough for the Collingsworths. Now, the same restless passion for power that conquered California threatens to tear the family apart Thomas Collingsworth, the patriarch, stopped at nothing to build an empire from his humble origins until a specter from the past nearly destroyed it all. Hollis, his son, learned early that every man had his price and no price was too great if it would expand the family's power and crush its enemies. Deborah, the ravishing international star, shared Hollis' darkest secret and plotted her own revenge. Andrew, the grandson, was carefully groomed to lead the dynasty to the throne of national politics until an unknown assailant brought him down. And Peter Russell. His relentless search for the parents he never knew threatened to topple even the magnificent Collingsworths. Arelo Sederberg, a veteran newspaper writer and editor, is the author of six novels. He also spent six years as a public relations executive for Howard Hughes, and was sole spokesman for the reclusive billionaire at the time of Hughes death in 1976. Sederberg was a commentator and interviewer for the cable tv network FNN (now C-NBC). He lives near San Diego, and is working on another novel.

”[A] primer on the threat to democracy posed by—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—the current president of the United States.” —David Litt, New York Times bestselling author Donald Trump isn’t a despot. But he is increasingly acting like The Despot’s Apprentice, an understudy in authoritarian tactics that threaten to erode American democracy, including: Attacking the press Threatening rule of law by firing those who investigate his alleged wrongdoings Using nepotism to staff the White House and countless other techniques Donald Trump is borrowing tactics from the world’s dictators and despots. Trump’s fascination with the military, his obsession with his own cult of personality, and his deliberate campaign to blur the line between fact and falsehood are nothing new to the world of despots. But they are new to the United States. With each authoritarian tactic or tweet, Trump poses a unique threat to democratic government in the world’s most powerful democracy. At the same time, Trump’s apprenticeship has serious consequences beyond the United States. His bizarre adoration and idolization of despotic strongmen—from Russia’s Putin, to Turkey’s Erdogan, or to the Philippines’ Duterte—has transformed American foreign policy into a powerful cheerleader for some of the world’s worst regimes. In The Despot’s Apprentice, an ex-US campaign advisor who has sat with the world’s dictators explains Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian tactics and how Trump uniquely threatens American democracy... and how to save it from him.