5 stars because this book is an important documentation of the Trump era. Kendzior has a PhD in West Asian autocracies and returned to freelance journalism after many of the jobs in her field were eliminated. In this book she skillfully and clearly demonstrates the ties between individuals in Russia and the US government that goes back decades (she quips: "'It's all in public record!!' will be on my tombstone."). She has a secondary thesis in the book, which is to show that Trump voters and red states are not a monolith and voted for Trump for a variety of nuanced reasons--none of which included the destruction of national parks and heritage sites, the enrichening of Trump's friends and family with government money through nepotistic contracts, allowing foreign hostile actors to shape national policy, or the infiltration of US institutions like the FBI and the Treasury with documented Russian agents. She has clearly lost hope of any return to our deeply flawed democracy as we used to know it and has focused her energies on preserving a historical record of America as beautiful and diverse before the winners have a chance to rewrite history.

Kendzior writes from a place of love for her country, her state, and her children. She is not afraid to face the flaws (Missouri appears to be a lawless hellscape), yet she remains a loyal patriot... albeit one who needs undercover bodyguards when she speaks in public.