Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is famously quoted as saying that “one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist.” His quip capsulizes the reality that societies pick their heroes and pariahs depending on whose ox is being gored.
Depending on your politics, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who is currently enjoying her fifteen minutes of fame, is either a brave and courageous woman who finally admitted the truth about the inner workings of the Trump White House or an ingrate in league with the likes of Liz Cheney, who lied to Congress to besmirch the reputation of former President Trump and his allies.
In her revealing memoir, Enough (Simon and Shuster, 2023), Hutchinson attempts to make the case that she is a hero. The final analysis will likely depend on the politics of the reader.
For all those who have been living in a cave for the last several months, Hutchinson is the former White House aide who appeared before a congressional committee last year to reveal the inner workings of the Trump White House, with emphasis on the events of January 6, 2021. Hutchinson spent most of the Trump presidency working in the Office of Legislative Affairs and eventually became the de facto chief of staff to White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, with whom she had an extremely close relationship.
Her book chronicles her rise from a blue-collar childhood in Pennington, New Jersey, to the very heart of American government. That is a story in and of itself, revealing a household with a loving mother and a father who eventually separated from the family. She relates how the broken relationship with her father caused a great deal of pain and has lingered from early childhood to the current time. But with the help of her mother and other relatives, she attended Chester Newport University in Newport News, Virginia — a small public university of about 4500 students — not exactly the Ivy Leagues.
To her credit, early in life she recognized her dream of wanting to work in government. She worked hard on building her resume during her college years, getting internships in Washington with such notables as Ted Cruz and Steve Scalise. Her ambition and drive, which included networking and keeping in contact with every notable she met, paid off. When she graduated from college in 2019, she got a job in the White House.
Suddenly she was swimming with the big fish, flying on Air Force One, riding in presidential motorcades and wielding all kinds of power. Here was a 23-year-old, with a couple of congressional internships under her belt making major decisions, waltzing in and out of the Oval Office, sometimes acting as the gatekeeper to the president and having his ear. To her credit, it appears that she worked very hard, working extremely long hours, getting little sleep and doing everything she was asked and more. But her name dropping and emphasis on the importance of her role in the White House became rather taxing about halfway through the book.
Loyalty to the Republican Party and her belief in what she perceived as the American dream were the basis for her motivations. But somewhere along the line, she drank the Kool-Aid of Trumpism. Blinded by her devotion to “The Boss” she failed to see what Trump was doing to the country and to democracy.
For those who are news junkies like I am, I must admit that there was not a whole lot new and revealing — especially after shelling out $30 to buy the book. A recent new clip revealed that Hutchinson was groped by Rudy Giuliani on January 6, an event that she mentions merely in passing.
Hutchison compares herself to Alexander Butterfield, the White House aide who fifty years ago revealed the existence of the recording devices in the Oval Office that became the turning point in the Watergate investigation and the beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency. The two eventually made contact and at the end of the book, Hutchinson describes her first meeting with Butterfield, with the impression that they are now kindred souls.
There are too many pages devoted to Hutchinson’s attempt to get a lawyer after she was subpoenaed by a congressional committee. With limited funds, she finally settled on a lawyer who was paid by the Trump supporters. With all her smarts, it took her a while to realize that the Trump-leaning lawyer was telling her to bend her story to put Trump in the best light. His instructions were to say “I don’t recall” to just about everything. Finally, she wised up, maybe when the reality sunk in that she could be charged with lying to Congress. At that point she retained new counsel, ones that were willing to provide legal services pro bono. The reason for this generosity is not made clear. While Hutchinson cries poor, she is living in hotels, ordering room service, flying around the country and living well for a person who has no income.
This is the story of a young and inexperienced woman who ended up with responsibilities and access to power way above her level of education and experience. When she finally had to testify and tell the truth, she was rightfully frightened and there were serious concerns about her physical safety. But to her credit, she did come clean and tell what happened on January 6.
I must admit that I have a bias against anyone in Trump World. As a result, Hutchinson did not come across to me as a likable person. She used her power and stepped on lots of people on the way up. As the adage goes, she’ll see lots of those same people on the way down.
In the final quarter of the book, she bemoans the fact that she has been dumped by all those in Trump circles — all those she thought were her friends, including Mark Meadows who has not spoken to her or had contact with her since she left the White House. She also spends a lot of time making references to her financial problems, even though she seemed to be living well on somebody’s dime while she offered her testimony and hid out from the paparazzi.
I’m sure she will make a big buck on her book, which is currently the top seller on Amazon and from speaking engagements and TV appearances. While her contribution to the investigation of January 6 is important, I suspect that eventually she will be pretty much a footnote in history.
While usually I end my book reviews with encouraging words like “well worth the read” or “you’ll be engrossed,” this time my recommendation, if you are really that interested, is to wait to get a copy at the free bookstore — the public library — or don’t bother. And if you do take the time to read it, by the end of the book, I suspect that most readers of CoolCleveland will agree with me that they had enough of Cassidy Hutchinson.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she is a former member of the Board of the Ohio History Connection, and past president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table, and is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
3 Responses to “BOOK REVIEW: Enough of Cassidy Hutchinson by C. Ellen Connally”
Mel Maurer
Thanks Ellen. I appreciates your insights into this book. Saved me $30.
Richard Schwartz
I have to agree, she comes off as a slippery individual. Had I read the book prior to listening to her testimony I probably would have been a little more skeptical of it. She seems to be a person who does what it takes to “get ahead”. What I really found disquieting is that to the very end she seemed to need other people to reassure her as to what was the right thing to do. She seems to be lacking a personal moral compass. Let’s face it, anyone who heard Trump’s comment about being able to get away with groping women if you were a celebrity and then goes to work for (and even admires) that person should be taken with a large grain of salt. I hope she made some money because she certainly didn’t paint a very admirable portrait of herself.
Penelope Carroll
I stopped reading halfway through bcs I was getting sick of hearing her repeat how everyone thought she was the best at whatever job she was performing. I was relieved I wasn’t alone in feeling her aggrandizement of her part in the running of our government was a bit off putting. I kept reading waiting for insight into what was happening in the White House during the Trump tenure, however, I’ve read as much as I can take.