I just started reading Southern Man, the latest book by Greg Iles. Here are a small handful of reviews I plucked from Amazon: "A first-rate political thriller.... an unflinching look at the frightening rise of fascism and Trumpism." — John Grisham, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Iles delivers an insightful, ambitious, and satisfying saga. This is a high water mark in a strong series." — Publishers Weekly "This is a genuinely terrifying book because of its plausibility—Iles perfectly captures the tinderbox that America is in the post-Trump era. . . .This is a perfectly done political thriller with genuine resonance. Astonishing." — Kirkus (starred review) on Southern Man But it is because of this passage from the book that I had to start this thread: ...I watched in disbelief as businessmen voted for a repeat bankrupt, laborers for a boss infamous for stiffing his workers, evangelicals for a serial adulterer, women for an admitted sexual assaulter, patriots for a draft dodger who would sell his country's secrets for a trivial gain, educated men for an ignoramus. But they did so with fierce gladness in their hearts. Because what their chosen one had done was open Pandora's box--yes, the old one, filled with the ancient calamities of race hatred and rage and cruelty and bloodlust and infinite greed--and tell them that these things were the remedy for all their grievances, that all their anger was justified, and most important: None of what ailed them was their own fault--or ever had been. They took to that like infants to a honeyed tit. The problem, as any midwife can tell you, is that honey can kill babies under a year old. It carries botulism spores, lethal to those without antibodies. The gospel of Trump is just as lethal, and unlike poisoned honey, highly contagious. Worst of all , it demands an adversary...as all great stories do. The Other. I've read all of Iles's books, and I'm sure this one won't disappoint. The first of his books that I read was Mortal Fear in 1998 about a commodities trader with a side gig as a systems operator for an exclusive, anonymous erotic online service that caters to the rich and famous. The man is an excellent writer.