Fools on the Hill

The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House

By: Dana Milbank

Narrated by: Dana Milbank

From inside the chamber, bestselling author Dana Milbank exposes the petty, inchoate, and dysfunctional state of the Republican House—a confederacy of dunces racing to the bottom, without shame and certainly without the ability to get anything done.

On January 3rd, 2023, a slim Republican majority took control of the House of Representatives, and the dysfunction began immediately, when they needed fifteen ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker—the longest since the eve of the Civil War. They would then dump McCarthy and spend a month in the wilderness searching for a replacement, only to threaten the understudy with the same fate. This is more of a circus than a caucus: from Majorie Taylor Greene to George Santos to Jim Jordan, this crowd could find conspiracies everywhere, in space aliens, in the “war” on gas stoves, and in Hunter Biden’s artwork. They would turn Americans against each other, attacking immigrants, members of the LBGTQ community, and even the US military, and they would hijack every bill imaginable with far-right fantasies and crazy ideas. And, yet, they would achieve practically nothing; rather than enact legislation, they would consistently fall into fratricide and petty squabbles, doing everything but the fundamental work required of them: paying bills, keeping the government running, and protecting national security.

Dana Milbank spent a year reporting from the Capitol and what he witnessed was beyond imagination. It would prove to be the most insane and incompetent Congressional session in living memory. Fools On the Hill is the first book to pull back the veil, and expose all the shenanigans, chaos, and tomfoolery that defines the modern GOP. It is simultaneously horrifying and laugh-out-loud funny—yet, sadly, all true.

Critic reviews

“Dana Milbank is one of the most exhilarating writers covering Washington today. When I see his by-line in my morning paper, I know my day is getting off to a bracing start.”—Christopher Buckley, author of Thank You For Smoking

“Who better to unpack the unserious insanity of the MAGA shock jock caucus than Dana Millbank, the D.C. columnist with the wryest wit and sharpest insight of them all? Dana will have you laughing while you cry for our republic.”
—Joy-Ann Reid, TV host and author of The New York Times bestselling Medger and Myrlie

"If you crossed Dante's Inferno with Hieronymus Bosch's paintings of depravity you would get Dana Milbank's astounding account of the Fools on the Hill who have sacked America's House of Representatives. Milbank, a seasoned political columnist for the Washington Post, is a wonderful writer and his eye-witness reporting on the meltdown of democracy is mesmerizing. Equal parts funny and horrifying, it will make you both laugh and weep."—Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money and Chief Washington Correspondent, The New Yorker

Praise for The Destructionists

"There is a fine and elegant line between humor and horror, and no one walks it any better than Dana Milbank. Literally no writer in Washington is better suited to answering the GOP’s ever-present 'How Did We Get Here?' question. It’s all right here in The Destructionists, in all its depressing, spiraling detail – and yet so thoroughly enjoyable, too. That’s the Milbank Miracle, right there. I devoured this."—Mark Leibovich, This Town and Thank you for Your Servitude

"Dana Milbank is a sizzling hot observer of American politics. His writing is irreverent, provocative and, whether or not you agree with his point of view — always entertaining."—Jonathan Karl, Front Row at the Trump Show and Betrayal

"In this painful, powerful, and deeply necessary account of the devolution of the GOP, one of the nation’s most trenchant political observers chronicles the growing threats to our democracy. Dana Milbank has written a riveting history and a bracing warning about the challenges we continue to face. How did we get here? Where did the epic failures, divisions, and dysfunctions in our politics come from? Milbank argues that Donald Trump, for all his faults, didn’t create this noxious environment -- he was the monster that the GOP had been creating for more than a quarter century."—Charles J. Sykes, How the Right Lost its Mind

unbelievable

it is unbelievable that we the people had and still have to go thru the utter stupid of the Maga group.

Glad someone has tracked all of this

He writes in a light hearted way that is easy to listen too which is important because these people running our country must have skipped their civics class in high school and have justified their lack integrity. The sad part is we keep electing them. Americans no longer have the luxury of ignoring politics to live in a free country. We have to fulfill our civic duty now.

Well written

I knew most of the things reported. I’m a news junkie. But the way the material / quotes came together.

It’s appalling they are in office. But the way it’s written made me laugh. Mental break from how bad it really is right now.

One should vote Democrat for decent government.

The idiotic behavior of the late Republican Party was displayed in all it tragic idiocy for all to see. Will they ever recover. I’m not sure they can.

Just when you thought Congress couldn’t get crazier…

…Wait for it.

Having been a politics junkie for years, I thought I’d heard it all. Turns out, it is so much worse.

This book is both entertaining, pretty informative and sort of disturbing. Highly recommend, if you like American politics and/or people is suits doing dumb things as a group.