Summary of Steve Benen's The Impostors

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The modern Republican Party has become a post-policy party. It is indifferent to the substance of governing, and it is disdainful of expertise and analysis. It is hostile toward evidence and arithmetic.

#2 The GOP’s post-policy attitude has been embraced by many of its supporters. As long as Republican candidates can win elections while being lazy about policy making, they have little incentive to change.

#3 The Republican Party’s transition into a post-policy party reflects the same ugly mosaic. The Democrats’ approach is always substantive: when party officials consider a policy challenge, they tend to act deliberately, evaluating the granular details in ways Republicans rarely consider.

#4 Post-policy thinking is when politicians and government officials stop caring about policy outcomes and instead focus on messaging. This was the hallmark of the Republican Party’s approach to Obama, who they viewed as a dangerous radical.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822503045

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Steve Benen's The Impostors

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The modern Republican Party has become a post-policy party. It is indifferent to the substance of governing, and it is disdainful of expertise and analysis. It is hostile toward evidence and arithmetic.

#2

The GOP’s post-policy attitude has been embraced by many of its supporters. As long as Republican candidates can win elections while being lazy about policy making, they have little incentive to change.

#3

The Republican Party’s transition into a post-policy party reflects the same ugly mosaic. The Democrats’ approach is always substantive: when party officials consider a policy challenge, they tend to act deliberately, evaluating the granular details in ways Republicans rarely consider.

#4

Post-policy thinking is when politicians and government officials stop caring about policy outcomes and instead focus on messaging. This was the hallmark of the Republican Party’s approach to Obama, who they viewed as a dangerous radical.

#5

While McConnell claimed that his party’s number one priority was to make Obama a one-term president, the most important thing for Democrats was getting the economy back on track.

#6

In the years following the 2010 midterms, as congressional productivity dropped to levels unseen since the clerk’s office started keeping track in the 1940s, the Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, tried to characterize the data as worthy of celebration. Instead of finding solutions to ongoing challenges, Boehner argued that Congress should focus on undoing solutions to previous challenges.

#7

Trump’s presidency would be a capstone of post-policy principles. He had no experience in government or public service, but he was hostile to the idea of a campaign shaped by the substance of governing. Trump would not change.

#8

Trump was so unprepared for the transition of power that he asked several dozen senior Obama administration appointees to remain in their positions not because Republican officials approved of their work, but because the incoming administration wasn’t yet properly equipped.

#9

Trump’s presidency was based on the assumption that there are simple solutions