Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Fight for America
The definitive and riveting account of how Vladimir Putin successfully mounted a decade-long covert war against the United States and how Donald Trump aided and abetted the operation and upended America and the world.
How Russia Won tells the crucial story of how Vladimir Putin has waged a secret campaign to subvert and weaken the United States — and how Trump, his MAGA movement, the Republican Party, and right-wing media have served as useful idiots for the tyrannical Russian leader in his assault on America and the West.
This is the harrowing story of modern information warfare aimed at the U.S. by a nefarious foreign adversary and of profound political betrayal at home. It is full of revelations and dramatic accounts of Russian intelligence operations targeting the United States; the Kremlin's secret schemes to spread disinformation in 2020 and 2024 to boost Trump's presidential campaigns; ties between Trump's inner circle and Putin's spies; and the never-ending propaganda campaign—the Russia denialism—Trump and MAGA Republicans have pursued to cover up Putin's clandestine intervention in U.S. politics.
A compelling narrative with the verve and twists of a spy novel—yet it's all true—How Russia Won chronicles a deeply disturbing reality: Putin has succeeded in his twilight war against the United States by helping to land in the White House an agent of chaos, disruption, and authoritarianism who has exacerbated divisions within the United States, undermined American democracy, created conflict within the Western alliance and throughout the world, and diminished Washington's standing across the globe. It's a chilling account of Trump's strange relationship with Putin and how both have gotten away with this assault on the United States.
Here's one of the most important stories of recent decades—with tremendous and wide-ranging implications for the future of the United States and the world. How Russia Won is indispensable for fully understanding what has happened to America in the Age of Trump.
The clandestine operations to fuel political discord in U.S. politics and assist Trump that have been underway for nearly a decade.
The extensive, fierce, and non-stop efforts of Trump and his supporters to deny Russia's years-long attack on the United States.
Ties between Trump's top aides—including his personal attorney and his campaign manager—and Putin's spies, and that includes Rudy Giuliani's direct collusion with a Russian agent.
The Kremlin's secret schemes to spread disinformation to boost Trump's presidential campaigns across three election cycles—and Republican attempts to use Russian disinformation to protect Trump and smear Democrats.
The congressional investigation that blew apart Trump's claim the Russia investigation was a "hoax" and a "witch hunt" and that raised troubling questions about his interactions with Russia.
An FBI director who received a big payment from a pro-Putin propagandist. A fugitive ex-Florida cop in Moscow running disinformation operations misleading millions. MAGA influencers and Trump lieutenants pushing false and dangerous Deep State conspiracy theories.
"The definitive account of Putin's gray-zone warfare against the United States and how Trump and his loyalists have abetted that warfare for a decade. 'Russia, Russia, Russia' was never a hoax—it has always been the central story of the Trump era. David Corn's highly readable narrative is a vital step toward a long-overdue national reckoning."Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening
"David Corn has been working to expose Vladimir Putin's shadow war on the United States since 2016, revealing the clandestine Russian operations designed to subvert American democracy, inflame social divisions and promote the career of Donald Trump. Although How Russia Won is a book about Russia, it is also an essential guide to understanding modern America."Anne Applebaum, author of Autocracy, Inc.
"Donald Trump said he'd make America great again. But he made America more like Russia. And David Corn lays out every damning detail of that danger, from the subversion of our intelligence to the corruption of our democracy. Trump may have escaped impeachment. But he will never escape the indictment in this instant classic of a book."Tim Weiner, author of The Mission and Legacy of Ashes
"David Corn has written the definitive account of Donald Trump's decade of collusion with the Russian Federation and its gangster leader, Vladimir Putin. Corn takes a story that an entire media ecosystem has sought for years to obscure and makes it clear—and indisputable. If you think you know the story of Trump's relationship with Russia, read How Russia Won and let Corn convince you that you have been peeping through a keyhole at the real story, and that the collusion is far more extensive than you imagined and that it continues to this day."Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief, Lawfare
"Russia has been conducting a war of unprecedented scale and aggression on America's elections for years. David Corn, in meticulous and gripping detail, explains how Vladimir Putin got away with it — and still is."Tom Nichols, Staff writer, The Atlantic
Photo: Tony Powell
David Corn is an award-winning veteran Washington, DC, journalist who has broken numerous stories on American politics and national security. He has written or co-written five New York Times bestsellers, including the No. 1 bestseller Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump; Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War; and, most recently, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy. He is also the author of Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades and the critically acclaimed novel Deep Background.
He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Harper's, The Nation, and other publications, and he has been a commentator for MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and NPR. He has won the George Polk Award and a National Magazine Award. He is the Washington, DC, bureau chief of Mother Jones and has over 1 million followers on social media. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.
He is the author of the Our Land newsletter. You can sign up for a free trial subscription to Our Land at davidcorn.com.
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