*Editor’s Note: Excerpts of this review could be perceived as expressions of personal views on matters of current public debate and consideration. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Irish Film Critic.
From MSNOW legal analyst and veteran federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, an urgent summons to tackle the scourge of political lies in America—and prevent a figure like Donald Trump from ever rising again.
As a frequent expert analyst on MSNOW, Andrew Weissmann opines regularly with a keen perspective on matters related to the Trump administration – well-honed from over forty years in the legal profession. Weissmann worked as a senior prosecutor for Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, earning the ire of the Trump administration, which punitively stripped him of security clearances in 2025. The administration further singled him out by name in one of four executive orders targeting law firms accused of acting detrimental to critical American interests – another way of saying that the practices took on positions and clients with whom Trump disagreed. The executive order referred to Weissmann as unethical and dishonest, though it was later declared null and void by a federal district judge. So severe was the fallout from the attacks by the administration – referring to Weissmann as a bad guy, scum, a moron and degenerate – that the original publisher for his book withdrew the offer. Little Brown and Company later agreed to take on the project. In the acknowledgments, Weissmann notes that former Special Counsel at the Department of Justice Jack Smith remarked that Trump’s attacks on him starkly revealed who his true friends were.
Similar to former GOP strategist Stuart Stevens’ realization in ‘The Conspiracy to End America,’ Weissmann has concluded that the Trump administration’s intentions have become apparent, with the evidence in plain sight for anyone who cares to look. Between the blanket pardons of the January 6th insurrectionists, widespread dismissals of federal inspectors general across multiple departments and agencies, massive funding allocations for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) with minimal oversight, attempts to impose restrictions on voting, installing sycophantic cabinet secretaries, and purging career staff within the Department of Justice and the U.S. military, the administration’s intentions are unmistakable and systematic.
Weissmann’s prescription for the problem takes the form of a relatively straightforward approach that he calls the Truth in Elections Act (TEA). It would seek to address clear and material inaccuracies by politicians running for federal office, with both civil and criminal penalties ranging from election disqualification to imprisonment – in much the same way consumer and financial markets are currently protected from provably false statements and claims. Weissmann makes plain that politicians should have no right to knowingly lie. In the present environment, candidates for public office face no penalty for such actions. Weissmann’s approach is more proactive than simply hoping that future elections will swing the pendulum back because TEA would impose real and meaningful sanctions on outright lying to the public that currently goes unchecked.
While making a concise and compelling case, one quibble centers on a couple of instances where Weissmann employs the terms “false election lies” and “false factual statements,” both of which feel far too generous in describing the nefarious rhetoric emanating from the current administration and its enablers. Ultimately, a lie is a lie, and a fact is a fact – sort of similar to the way Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) instructs his students in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” when he says that archaeology is the search for fact, not truth. He tells the class that if they’re looking for truth, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is right down the hall. We can debate political ideologies, theology, and even what constitutes common sense, but established science like the law of gravity is a fact, plain and simple. There are no true facts, false facts, or alternative facts.
Much to its credit, Weissmann’s book goes beyond other mostly descriptive accounts of the Trump administration’s demonstrably false or blatantly misleading utterances made with disturbing regularity. Weissmann, like Stuart Stevens, believes it’s well past time to document how aberrant the Republican Party’s speech has become. Since there is no going back, a way forward would include acknowledging that key elements of the existing political machinery are broken, desperately in need of repair, if not substantial overhaul; it’s a timely book written by an author with first-hand knowledge of the levers of government and the power it wields, permeated with a realistic perspective about how to address the challenge.
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