The Big Break: The Weirdos, Wonks, and Wannabes Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind

THE EYE OF THE STORM explores Washington's New Normal through the eyes of a diverse cast of Beltway characters.

THE EYE OF THE STORM investigates how Washington works, and how different kinds of people try to make it work for them. Ben Terris presents an inside history of this crucial moment in Washington, reporting from exclusive parties, poker nights, fundraisers, secluded farms outside town and the halls of Congress; among the oddballs and opportunists and true believers. The ominous calm that settled over Washington after President Donald Trump left town and which has started to dissipate ahead of his possible return. This book is about the people who see this interlude as an opportunity to build something -- for their country, for themselves -- amid the wreckage. It will take a close look at Washington's bold-faced names as they try to get their bearings on the post-Trump (and possibly pre-Trump) landscape. And it will introduce readers to the behind-the-scenes players -- MAGA pilgrims and Resistance flamekeepers and shapeshifting veterans -- who believe they know what Washington, and America, must do if they're going to survive, or even thrive, as the next phase of the hurricane approaches.
Trump really did hit Washington like a hurricane, testing the structural integrity of government institutions from the NOAA to the FBI. He surrounded himself with outsiders; power structures reorganized around those who knew him or his family and those who could flatter and influence his base. Hurricane Trump reached the peak of its destruction near the end, when pro-Trump elements both inside and outside of government plotted to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. The Capitol became a combat zone, then a military fortress.
It was, to put it lightly, a destabilizing time. But how much did the Trump years really change Washington? Has Joe Biden's presidency heralded a return to normal, as many had hoped? What did 'normal' mean before Trump, and what do people think it means now?
Above all else, THE EYE OF THE STORM will seek to answer: What does it look and feel like in the nation's capital as storm clouds gather on the horizon once again? Can America's political class protect the country from destruction and decay? Can they protect themselves?

Author: Ben Terris
Publisher: Twelve
Published: 06/06/2023
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781538708057