If Only They Didn't Speak English: Notes From Trump's America

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It makes fascinating and enjoyable reading, even if the book doesn’t contain too much that I didn’t either know or strongly suspect. A dangerous chapter to comment on, but it amuses me that he doesn't understand the term person of colour.

Sopel begins with the election and tries to explain how, and why, Trump became a realistic candidate. There are some fascinating comparisons between America, the UK and Europe and Sopel has weaved in entertaining and authentic anecdotes about his time living and working in Washington. On the downside, these same friendly, self-reliant Americans don’t drink enough and are way too much into god. To be fair, his target audience is his fellow Brits (I bought the book in the UK) so if they’ve never been to America, they wouldn’t be able to quibble over his overgeneralizations.He has covered the 2016 and 2020 elections and Trump's White House at first hand, reporting for the BBC across TV, radio and online. On the contrary, with the support and impetus from the all-mighty BBC, the second puppeteer’s protégé just as well gets included into the presidential journalist pool. Sopel’s most glaring difficulty in writing about American culture is that he hasn’t lived here long enough to really get a handle on America. One of my favourite parts was when an American described the UK as, “socialist and overly governed…” It just shows that there are misunderstandings on both sides and anything which can help two countries, which share so much, understand each other more, has to be a good thing.

Mundanities of life start fading when the media first draw the thin red line disassociating a gritty castle of politicians from ordinary people, and then all of a sudden pull up the drawbridge. In this fascinating, insightful portrait of American life and politics, the BBC’s North America Editor, Jon Sopel sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism, racial division and increasingly perverse beliefs. It’s possible that many ignore the obvious exaggerations and mistakes in detail (or outright lies) but focus instead on the general underlying message – and as a result many of them are sold on Trump’s view of the world and his focus on how to make America great again. Easy to read, extremely interesting and helps to explain some of the craziness going on in US politics at the moment. Sopel does a great job of enlightening British readers on some of the realities of life and attitudes in the USA, while at the same time giving American readers interesting insights into the way others see us.He lets loose on Conservative Christianity, race, mass shootings, isolationism, the media and the role of government. Everyone has photo ID, except for young people (who could easily apply for it) and a few ancient people who don't even have birth certificates. Directly after the election, I think there was still a lot more bewilderment as to what the hell just happened.