David Frum on Donald Trump eating Crocodiles

David Frum is a senior editor at T he Atlantic . From 2014 through 2017, he served as chairman of the board of trustees of the leading UK center-right think tank, Policy Exchange . In 2001-2002, he served as speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush; in 2007-2008, as senior adviser to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaigns. Frum is the author of ten books, most recently Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy (the putative topic of our conversation). The memoir of his service in the George W. Bush administration, The Right Man , was a New York Times bestseller, as was his 2018 book, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic. He and his wife Danielle Crittenden Frum live in Washington DC and Wellington, Ontario, where we met lake-side, at The Drake Devonshire , buffeted by the breeze, serenaded by the surf. We talk, among other things, about Trumpocalypse ( HarperCollins, 2020 ) ; Shakespeare and Byron; crocodiles and alligators; Trump, of course; marriage; how Twitter affects the writing of a book; adolescence and childhood; Chomsky and George Washington; America the Good versus America the Bad; American exceptionalism; finding the right person; and the choice between changing the world and changing yourself.