45 in 140

One of the greatest books of all time!  I laughed. I cried. I made my husband read it.  I will be gifting a copy to everyone I know.  Winter Solstice Holiday of Choice shopping done!

I had no idea, but in 2017, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah opened up a museum near Trump Tower featuring a compilation of some of the 45th President’s most famous (read” notorious, peculiar, insane) tweets.  Then in 2018, luckily for those of us who missed the exhibit or don’t live near NYC, it was published as a book.

The book features an introduction by Trevor Noah, a forward by presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author Jon Meacham, and “scholarly” analysis by The Daily Show writers.  It was both terrifying to see all of the tweets in one place, and hysterically funny to read them together with the commentary by some of the greatest writers in television.

The book begins with a brief history of Donald J. Trump, including his first ever tweet on May 4, 2009: “Be sure to tune in and watch Donald Trump on Late Night with David Letterman as he presents the Top Ten List tonight!”  Never mind that in 2009 David Letterman was hosting The Late Show with David Letterman.  This was not about Letterman, it was about Trump.

The book is then divided into sections on “Masterworks,” with titles including “Birth of a Birther”, “Taco Bowls,” “Covfefe,” and “Very Stable Genius,” to name a few.  It also contains sections by specific topic, such as “The Nicknames,” “SAD! A Retrospective,”  and “The Wall.”  Not to be ironic, the book includes a discussion of First Lady Melania Trump’s campaign to end cyber-bullying, along with examples of such.

But what really makes this book the extraordinary read that it is is the critique accompanying each section or tweet.  Take for example the “masterpiece” entitled “Birth of a Birther,” presented as a work of art in an ornate frame.  It reads: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarakObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.” The description of the work tells us that the tweet was sent on “6 Aug 2012 – 4:23pm.  Medium: Twitter Web Client.  Dimensions: 113 Characters.”  The critic goes on to say in part, “…Taken as a standalone work, one can marvel at the audacity of his creative imagination – the delicacy of the halo of quotations encircling “extremely credible source. …”  If ever I was concerned about the fate of The Daily Show post Jon Stewart, let me say now that it is clearly alive and well.

This book has simultaneously the funniest and most horrifying content I have read in a while.  Enjoy it as Trevor Noah advises in his introduction, “with an open heart and with legs straddling the toilet of your choice.”

#CBR10Bingo: So Shiny!