Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's Ground War to End Democracy
A revealing investigation into the grassroots strategies and local organizing that have transformed the Republican Party and fueled the MAGA movement’s campaign to reshape American democracy from the ground up.
Learned a lot here. I underestimated the level of effective strategy and organization on the precinct and local levels, targeted towards removing more moderate “McCain” Republicans from party leadership positions. Makes sense why the Liz Cheney’s of the world are running towards Kamala — there’s no place for them if they can’t win back their party. (Seems unlikely at this point.)
The final lines of the Epilogue are poignant in showing how misguided and weak Democrats are — for believing we need to be friendly, inclusive, and compromising with these people. They have no intention of finding middle ground, and believe fervently and earnestly in their mission. Kamala’s welcome towards Republicans and rhetoric around “representing all Americans” is hopelessly naive — resulting in her representing no one.
Clearly, an equal degree of committed engagement on locals levels on the left is required in these next four years, to pull the Democrats left, in the midst of all the anti-woke handwringing, or it will be Liz Cheney’s party soon enough.
Review:
Isaac Arnsdorf’s “Finish What We Started” is a deeply reported, urgent account of how the MAGA movement has methodically taken over the Republican Party and reshaped American politics from the precinct level up. Drawing on extensive interviews, on-the-ground reporting, and analysis of party documents and strategy, Arnsdorf reveals how grassroots activists—often overlooked by national media—have waged a relentless campaign to oust moderates, install loyalists, and transform the GOP into a vehicle for Trumpism and hard-right ideology.
Main Arguments and Key Facts:
The book documents how local organizing, precinct-level strategy, and targeted efforts to control party machinery have enabled the MAGA movement to marginalize traditional conservatives and consolidate power. Arnsdorf shows how activists have systematically removed more moderate “McCain” Republicans from leadership, leaving little room for dissenters like Liz Cheney.
Arnsdorf details the playbook: recruiting and training new precinct officers, flooding local meetings, and leveraging party rules to gain control over candidate selection, messaging, and resources. This bottom-up approach has made the movement resilient and difficult to dislodge, even as national attention focuses on high-profile figures.
The book explores the consequences for American democracy, warning that the movement’s uncompromising, anti-pluralist ethos threatens the norms of inclusion, compromise, and peaceful transfer of power. Arnsdorf argues that the MAGA right is not interested in finding middle ground, but in total victory—and that this has profound implications for the future of the two-party system.
Through vivid reporting, Arnsdorf illustrates how the movement’s energy and discipline have left Democrats and moderates flat-footed, and how efforts at bipartisanship or “representing all Americans” are often met with scorn or exploited as weakness.
Critical Perspective and Calls to Action:
Arnsdorf’s analysis is clear-eyed and unsparing: he contends that the left and the Democratic Party must match the right’s level of local engagement, strategic focus, and ideological commitment if they hope to compete. The book’s epilogue is especially pointed, critiquing Democratic naiveté about compromise and warning that only a robust, grassroots response can counter the MAGA movement’s advances.
Style and Impact:
“Finish What We Started” is praised for its clarity, depth of reporting, and ability to connect local developments to national stakes. It is both a warning and a call to action, urging readers to recognize the importance of local politics and the need for sustained, strategic organizing to defend democratic norms.