Thank you Little, Brown and Company for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Mr. Book just finished Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House, by Dana Milbank.

This book, by Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, takes a look at the terrible job the Republican party has done since retaking the House of Representatives.

I had high expectations for this one. I had previously read two of his books, The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-up Of The Republican Party and Tears Of A Clown: Glenn Beck And The Tea Bagging Of America, and gave them both A’s. This one was the best of the group.

As Milbank points out, the party admits they have done a terrible job. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Our Republican House majority has failed completely”. That’s the first honest thing she’s ever said. According to Dave Joyce (R-OH), “We’re a party that can’t govern”, New York’s Mike Lawler says, “You keep running lunatics, you’re going to be in the position” and Greg Murphy (R-NC) bluntly said “We need to, frankly, get our shit together.” If there ever a time to believe ex-speaker, Kevin McCarthy, it was when he said, “The amount of damage they have done to this party and to this country is insurmountable.”

Tony Gonzales (R-TX) got it right when he said, “I serve with some real scumbags” and “these people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.”

The profiles on many of the members were excellent.

All of the “greatest hits” of the Republican party during this time that were covered, including their poor showing in the 2022 election, despite gaining majority status, the George Santos saga, taking 15 ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, the attempts to derail the debt ceiling deal, threatened government shutdown, kicking McCarthy out of the Speaker’s chair, the 22 days without a speaker before selecting the terrible clown Mike Johnson, the attempted impeachment of Biden, the impeachment of Mayorkas, a literal fight between members, the party joining forces with white nationalists and the attempts to rewrite the events of January 6.

As soon as I finished this, I preordered the audiobook so I will be able to also listen to it when it comes out, along with the printed version being available, on September 24.

I give this book an A+ and inducted it into the Hall of Fame. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

Mr. Book originally finished reading this on July 5, 2024.