Crippled America Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: Crippled America makes you a more informed citizen by sharing the political beliefs and reasoning behind billionaire and businessman Donald J. Trump’s plans to make his country great again.

Read in: 4 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

Crippled America Summary

Audio Summary

Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account*:

Most of the world either loves or hates Donald Trump. Even seeing his name there might incite anger in you. But what do you actually know about his policies and why he thinks the way he does? 

Now, please don’t get me wrong here. I’m neither condemning or condoning any of the man’s behaviors or his stance on issues. The goal here is to try to understand a person that so many people find repulsive. And maybe get a little more of the truth than our media outlets let out. 

That’s why I chose to summarize Donald Trump’s Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again. You might be surprised to learn some of his thinking behind his policies actually makes sense. And even if the man offends you, it is helpful to try to see his perspective on things, which this book will help you do!

Here are 3 of the most interesting insights I’ve gained from this one:

  1. The media hasn’t been very fair or honest about Trump because of their hatred of him, but this has only helped him move forward.
  2. Trump’s thinking behind building a border wall between the US and Mexico doesn’t sound so crazy, even if the barrier itself does.
  3. Education is important to Trump and he’s got big plans to improve it.

Ready to learn something new about the 45th President of the United States? Let’s take a closer look!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Download PDF

Lesson 1: The media hates Trump and isn’t very fair or honest about him, but the bad publicity has been good for his campaign.

Even as a successful businessman way back in the 1980s Donald Trump got a lot of media attention. This continued even through his time on the reality TV show The Apprentice. But the moment he said he was running for president the press became unfair and inaccurate about their portrayal of him.

One clear example of this was in the 2016 Republican debates. Moderators would misquote Trump and ask him obviously biased questions. They prodded the other candidates along to respond to such statements without giving Trump a chance to set things straight. 

The personal attacks against him haven’t stopped, either. Just about everywhere you turn, from talk-shows to newspapers, all seem to be allied against him. These big stories aren’t actually news. What the media should be covering is actual events, like Iran and the United States’ nuclear deal. 

It makes sense why these reporters and journalists do this, though. It gives them time in the spotlight. Dragging Trump through the mud even seems to boost their ratings. None of this matters to the president though, because he knows it only benefits him. 

Although the attacks on him never cease, they also give his name and campaign the most attention of anything. This free publicity only helps Trump spread his message even better.

Lesson 2: A border wall between the US and Mexico might sound a little crazy, but the desire to protect your people isn’t.

A big piece of Trump’s message is the importance of cracking down on illegal immigration. He sees that building a border wall between the US and Mexico as the best way for this to happen. It will help make immigration policies better, which is currently posing a huge risk to American’s jobs and safety.

US citizens are losing their jobs to migrant workers. This will only get worse unless we find a way to put a stop to illegal immigration. A lot of people think this means that Trump hates immigrants, but this isn’t true. 

For one, his own mother was an immigrant from Scotland. He’s got nothing against people coming here legally, it’s those that break the law that we need to hold accountable. When we don’t uphold our immigration laws, it actually hurts those who are trying to come here legally!

With all the various types of people that want to come in, there’s also a big security risk. It’s not just Mexicans but all sorts of people from South America and even the Middle East. Trump doesn’t believe all of these are criminals. The reality is we don’t have any way of knowing with the way our current policy is set up. 

So this is where the border wall idea comes in. If China did it with 13,000 miles of wall, why can’t we do it with just 1,000 or so?

Lesson 3: Trump sees the importance of education and wants to make it better.

After going to the best business school in the country, Trump knows how vital education is. His own experience attests to the importance of education for future success

The way he sees it, the federal government is currently getting in the way of advances in this area. Existing initiatives like the Common Core program, which sets standards for all students to meet, are failures that need to stop. Trump sees these policies as a way of Democrats to brainwash progressive values into kids. 

He also believes that these disasters should have us calling into question the very existence of federal education initiatives. If it were his choice alone, he’d do away with the entire Department of Education because he knows that teachers and parents know far better how to educate children than politicians in Washington.

Rather than removing grades and focusing on how failing kids feel, Trump would get more competition in the system. If parents could choose more easily where their kids attend, that may motivate schools to work harder to attract more students. To do this, they would have to get better at their education methods.

If the federal government gets its hands out of learning, it would also help charter schools thrive. Research indicates that students of these institutions perform far better than even the smartest kids at regular schools.

Crippled America Review

Oooh boy. What can I say about one of the most controversial people that has ever lived? On the one hand, Trump is a pretty wild character and not the nicest person, which I don’t like. But considering some of what he’s said in Crippled America, it makes me understand a little better why he thinks the way he does.

Who would I recommend the Crippled America summary to?

The 45-year-old with an interest in politics, the 23-year-old who isn’t sure what to believe on the news about what Donald Trump really thinks, and anyone that wants to be an informed citizen.

Last Updated on September 6, 2022

Rate this book!
This book has an average rating of 3.3 based on 3 votes.

Luke Rowley

With over 450 summaries that he contributed to Four Minute Books, first as a part-time writer, then as our full-time Managing Editor until late 2021, Luke is our second-most prolific writer. He's also a professional, licensed engineer, working in the solar industry. Next to his day job, he also runs Goal Engineering, a website dedicated to achieving your goals with a unique, 4-4-4 system. Luke is also a husband, father, 75 Hard finisher, and lover of the outdoors. He lives in Utah with his wife and 3 kids.