The Apprentice’s Bankruptcy is a political satire that uses a fictionalized caricature of Donald Trump to explore power, corruption, grievance, and the moral and democratic consequences of the Trump era. What draws you to write political satire?

I’m a novelist, academic writer, constitutional law scholar, and a civil rights (mainly First Amendment defense) attorney, so political satire just fits my skillset. Also, my favorite entertainment is short-form political satire like John Oliver, or what Matt Stone and Trey Parker have done in the last season of South Park, so I think it’s the best medium for calling attention to the ridiculous without calling normal people stupid or ignorant. If you’re laughing, you’re listening, and if you’re listening, you might be open to hearing the underlying message of the content. 

As a lawyer, my job is to be persuasive, and yelling at people is never persuasive. Either way, we need a serious global reset, and that’s deadly serious. I want people to recognize that the loss of constitutional democracy is possibly the most catastrophic event in human history. I don’t think anyone wants a well-researched doomsday manifesto, so I tried to make the most serious of points in the funniest way possible.

How did you decide which real-world events and political figures to transform, exaggerate, or combine for the novel?

I’ve been watching Trumpism unfold for over a decade, and, to some extent, watching the progression of Trump the businessman since I was a little kid. There are hundreds of possible characters that could have been included, but I had to pick the ones that had the best angles to tell the story in the aggregate. 

The book is almost like an anthology because it’s told from so many perspectives in individual chapters that focus on brand new characters, so the book would be a mess if it were just random Trump-like characters just spouting off. The book is structured like World War Z. There are admittedly too many characters, but their setups were actually pretty easy because they’re parodies/satires of well-known individuals, but the choice of who to use was dictated wholly by who would allow me to actually tell an Animal Farm-type story of the whole Trump period.

Your treatment of January 6 shifts the focus from one political leader to the broader forces that made the event possible. What did you want readers to consider about that moment?

The real January 6th event was a populous uprising based on disillusionment. The reimagined January 6th event is a populous uprising based on disillusionment. The pain normal Americans feel about their present circumstances are the same motivating factors, but both versions ultimately result in further tyranny. 

Constitutional democracy is the guardrail that keeps either side from getting everything they want, but provides everyone sufficient opportunities and security to live their lives, seek their fortunes, participate in the political process, and enjoy their civil liberties. I.e., political extremism of any stripe leads us back to chaos and the subsequent loss of freedom and liberty.

What do you hope readers understand about the relationship between power, grievance, and the desire to “win” at any cost? 

Publius is the pseudonym that Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison used when they wrote the Federalist Papers. Federalist No. 10 warns of factions, and Fedearals No. 51 warns of tyrannies of the majority. Absolute power, the inability to address grievances, and a win-at-any-cost mentality are incompatible with the free-market liberalism of Enlightenment philosophers, and the separation of powers and checks and balances that made American democracy what it is. There’s never been a nation with that secret sauce, and it’s what put the United States on top, and what has maintained its position since WW II. 

Devolving into the authoritarian aspirations of a Trump strongman-type government ensures we will lose the future. I like being on top. I like America being the place that everyone else aspires to be. That can’t happen with the current trajectory. The current trajectory ensures we will be less innovative, less powerful, less influential, and less culturally relevant. For all it’s messiness, I love America, and I want us to remain on top. That can’t happen in an authoritarian echo chamber, and once the secret sauce is gone, we cease to be exceptional.

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