Hiding in Plain Sight

The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America

By: Sarah Kendzior

Narrated by: Sarah Kendzior

New York Times best-selling author Sarah Kendzior documents the truth about the calculated rise to power of Donald Trump since the 1980s and how the erosion of our liberties made an American dema­gogue possible.

This program is read by the author.

The story of Donald Trump’s rise to power is the story of a buried American history - buried because people in power liked it that way. It was visible without being seen, influential without being named, ubiquitous without being overt.

Sarah Kendzior’s Hiding in Plain Sight pulls back the veil on a history spanning decades, a history of an American autocrat in the making. In doing so, she reveals the inherent fragility of American democracy - how our continual loss of freedom, the rise of consolidated corruption, and the secrets behind a burgeoning autocratic United States have been hiding in plain sight for decades.

In Kendzior’s signature and celebrated style, she expertly outlines Trump’s meteoric rise from the 1980s until today, interlinking key moments of his life with the degradation of the American political system and the continual erosion of our civil liberties by foreign powers. Kendzior also offers a never-before-seen look at her lifelong tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - living in New York through 9/11 and in St. Louis during the Ferguson uprising, and researching media and authoritarianism when Trump emerged using the same tactics as the post-Soviet dictatorships she had long studied.

It is a terrible feeling to sense a threat coming, but it is worse when we let apathy, doubt, and fear prevent us from preparing ourselves. Hiding in Plain Sight confronts the injustice we have too long ignored because the truth is the only way forward.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Sarah Kendzior, in her brilliant new book, is one of the few journalists who grasps what is happening. Kendzior is a student of autocracy...she has been warning from the get-go that Trump is working to turn America into one." (David Cay Johnston, author of The Making of Donald Trump)

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Sarah Kendzior (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

A reminder of what we’ve all lived through

You can fact check any of these details, but you’ll remember witnessing most of them with your own eyes and ears, with some background information to explain things we may not have known at the time.

funtastic. thank you

would you also consider writing a companion with the information about the road trips you've taken it with the children so that perhaps we can all do the same with our families.

Amazing

This should be required reading/ listening for Americans. A powerful book, and great narration by the author. Recommending to all of my friends and colleagues

A must listen

If you’re wondering, “How did we get here,” seem no further. Sarah lays out how the rise of Trump, Trumpism, the ReTrumplican mindset occurred. Follow up weekly with her podcast, Gaslit Nation.

There is a lot to unpack with American autocracy.

There is a lot to unpack with American autocracy & the Trump Crime Syndicate & Kendzior does a good job at hitting the highlights. The call back to the 2016 hacking of voting machines was a great reminder to the chaos done by this administration and the grifters it attracts. If you've been up on current events, this will all be things you've heard before but maybe you've been flooded by the scandals that are out daily life now since 1/21/2017 officially. If you've just now cast your line into politics, the wealthy and their manipulation of governance to their personal benefit, Sarah Kendzior does an admirable job of guiding you to those bloated fish. Challenge yourself to expand on this and research more of what she touched on. It is the duty of us to care about corruption and autocrats and to rally against it or suffer from it.

important and scary democracy hangs in the balance

Sarah klKendzior reveals the compromising of American democracy in progress. Trump does not act alone

Great book

The author did a great job. I’m just sadden that not enough people have heard her worries, analyzed the threats she’s outlined, or have done anything to stop the erosion of our country. Every American will come to thank this woman for putting her life in danger to bring us this information.

Unflinchingly honest

The word 'patriotic' is one that is carelessly exploited by Trump...the proverbial scarf waved by the conman as he directs your eyes elsewhere. Sarah Kendzior is the definition of a true patriot...a journalist who loves her country enough to painstakingly point out its flaws and its disappearing promise. Sarah spares no one in her searing determination to illuminate the truth about how every 'adult in the room' failed the citizens of this country...on both sides of the political divide. In the end, this is a story not about politics, but rather about the hundreds of powerful people who (out of avarice, corruption, fear, or weakness) played a role in elevating a man of great weakness and even greater pathological narcissism to the most powerful office in the world. Trump could have been stopped at thousands of moments over the past half-century, but there was always a bribe, a blackmail, a quid pro quo. Trump's ascendancy is littered with the discarded consciences of those who shrugged and assured themselves that someone else would stop Trump. This book is a lament for the American that could have been...had greed, systemic inequality, racism, and sanctioned white-collar crime been denounced,, had the rot of dark money not stained the walls of every institution, had ideology taken a backseat to compassion. While Sarah's book was completed before the spread of the coronavirus, I feel certain that she would feel as I do...the blood from the rising death toll is spattered across every person who failed to stop Trump when there was time.

Important read for every concerned American

Highly recommended read for every American (especially the young generation) to know how their country ended up here and where it is heading.

Excellent

Scared me, but very informative. I only wish that others would take a hard look at what is happening in our country. Thank you Sarah for standing up.