Herb Nutterman knows the hospitality industry. He worked for Donald Trump’s hotels for decades, finding ways to please guests and the boss in creative and satisfying ways. So when many of Mr. Trump’s latest employees fail him, he feels like it’s time to call in Herb Nutterman to take over the position of chief of staff. Herb is the seventh in the line of chiefs of staff, and he has no political experience, but he’s willing to come out of retirement to help Mr. Trump, who has been so good to him through the years.
It’s clear pretty soon that things didn’t go perfectly for Nutterman, as he’s writing this memoir from prison. But he tells the whole story of how things went south for him, from the election that was so clearly rigged, the Tweets, the confusion about the fake Monsignor, the assassination attempt on Oleg, the allegations of devil worship raised towards Vice-President Pants, and Herb’s aversion to borscht and kale vodka (though to be fair, almost everyone who knew about the kale vodka also thought it was disgusting).
It was when Herb first found out about the AI named Placid Reflux that things started going downhill. That was the bot that tampered with the election, giving the votes to Communist leader Anatoli Zitkin instead of the incumbent Putin. Then things got a little more complicated, as Herb was tasked with keeping Oleg happy, a man known for dispatching those who displease him with a touch of nerve agent that has come to be called “Oil of Oleg.” But when that fails and Oleg starts posting videos on social media of Mr. Trump and his “personal interviews” with each of the Miss Universe pageant contestants, Nutterman grows worried.
But it’s not until Mr. Trump unveils his plans to make Putin happy again that everything breaks loose, and Herb finds himself in the line of fire that he can’t duck away from.
Christopher Buckley is back with his unique style of political satire with Make Russia Great Again. I’ve been a fan of Buckley since The White House Mess, and I especially adore his political satires. And while I can’t fault him on his story here, I just couldn’t love this as much as I’d hoped to. The humor is just a little too close to reality right now, so some of the jokes don’t land as they should. I think once we get past the present administration (please, just the one term!), it will get funnier. And I think reading this again in 5-10 years’ time will make this hysterical. But for right now, it’s a little too realistic and just makes me sad for the present state of our country.
Egalleys for Make Russia Great Again were provided by Simon & Schuster through NetGalley, with many thanks.
