Pivoting In Troubling Times

An old typewriter and a lamp on the table.

Whether it’s working in the highest turnover White House in US history or being locked out of comedy clubs, these troubling times have been a showcase of human resourcefulness. Hey, people need to make a living, right?

The tell-all book has flourished over these past few tumultuous political years.  The current unstable administration has left many people suddenly out of work. To wit, the current “A Team” of the executive office has had a turnover rate of  91% as of October 7, 2020. The cabinet too has had the highest turnover rate in modern history, going back about 40 years. So, it’s led to a lot of people out of work with plenty to say. How did they all carry on?  They wrote a book…many of which have helped fill the idle home time we’ve been forced into for much of 2020. 

For the curious, here’s a partial list of political tell-all books writers over the past 3+ years:

John Bolton
Chris Christie
James Comey
Corey Lewandowski
James Mattis
Andrew McCabe
HR McMaster
Omarosa Manigault Newman
Sarah Sanders
Anthony Scaramucci
Sean Spicer

Add these to the list of books by well-known authors like Bob Woodward who penned Fear and Rage and Michael Wolf with Fire and Fury, and there has been plenty of White House insider angst to read about lately.

On the lighter side, comedy performers have also needed an outlet due to their performance venues and comedy clubs having been shut down since mid-March of this year. So, many of these jovial folks have taken to print as well.

Jim Carrey, who had only previously written a children’s book decided to write a novel and recently released Memoirs and Misinformation. If you like a story with an unexpected twist, then it’s up your alley.  Another comic, Colin Quinn, took his historical routine into print format as well with his recent release of OVERSTATED.  It’s absolutely hilarious and you’ll learn plenty about US history along the way.

So, kudos to all of these people that found a way to pivot through troubling times.  In doing so, they kept the rest of us entertained. If you’ve got a comment to share about this, leave one here.

– Mark Salow, Senior Consultant