Barbara McQuade's book on disinformation, 'Attack from Within,' gets paperback release
'I am now considering myself a disinformation evangelist,' says the Detroit native, having a little fun as she describes her continuing efforts to fight the spread of lies, deceptions and distortions that threatens democracy.
McQuade had a New York Times bestseller in 2024 with 'Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.' On June 3, the paperback version makes its debut.
A former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, McQuade is well known for her legal analysis on MSNBC and NBC News and for co-hosting the podcast '#SistersInLaw." She wrote her book not to get more media exposure, but to provide a resource for those worried about the fact that disinformation has become an unwelcome part of America's political process.
'I just want to help educate the public about this problem because it is something that can be used against us by politicians, by business leaders, by anyone who wants to advance an agenda," says McQuade. "I'm hopeful that if we can educate people about the tactics of disinformation, we can learn to recognize them and that will build resilience against being manipulated by them.'
The paperback edition of "Attack from Within" has a new introduction that offers her insights on the 2024 presidential election, the courting of Donald Trump's favor by tech billionaires and Trump's early decisions in his second term, including his pardons and commutations for those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol (which she writes "sent a message not just condoning political violence, but empowering it").
The rest of the book is a thoroughly researched, comprehensive look at the history of disinformation and the ways it is being used now, along with advice on how to preserve and strengthen inherent values like seeking the truth and respecting the rule of law.
Are the issues addressed in 'Attack from Within' as relevant today as they were a year ago? 'I'm sad to say, it may be more pertinent than ever," says McQuade. "I think that this problem of disinformation has not subsided. In fact, if anything, it has only grown. And so I think the urgency of the message is even more pronounced today.'
Better known as Barb to friends and admirers, McQuade seems to have the perfect disposition for calmly discussing topics that often turn into heated free-for-alls on cable news shows or at family dinner tables. Her tone is friendly and reasonable. She chooses her words carefully and avoids overstatement.
McQuade acknowledges that disinformation can occur on either side of the political spectrum. 'I think one of the things we're learning right now us how many people either stayed silent or made false representations about President Biden's mental acuity,' she says, referring to revelations like those in 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," the new book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson.
Notes McQuade of the tribalism that can drive political partisans to behave like sports fans and support their team, not their own eyes, on a referee's call, 'There is this tendency for people to say not just what they believe to be true, but (what) they want to believe to be true. Sometimes that is harmful to the public good.'
When asked about the Trump administration's clashes with the courts over its deportations of migrants, McQuade says, 'It is certainly within (Trump's) purview to deport people who are not in the country lawfully, but he may do so only in compliance with the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, which says that people get a hearing and they get notice. That is to prevent mistakes from happening and we've already seen mistakes with people deported who should not have been.'
McQuade explains the implications of skirting due process with the clarity of someone who has debated her points before judges and students. 'It might be easy at this moment to say …'Those aren't people like me. This couldn't happen to me.' It could happen to you and it is happening to our fellow Americans. For that reason, I think we ought to make sure that the law works for everybody because the due process clause applies to anybody who is within the territory of the United States. If we see an erosion for one group of people, then certainly the same could happen to any group of people.'
McQuade is positive, but measured, in her views on how the Supreme Court is doing its job these days. 'I think some justices more than others have viewpoints in alignment with the Trump administration, but I think others care about the role of the court as an institution and as a check on abuse of presidential power.' She remains 'cautiously optimistic'" that they will continue to provide those checks.
The legal battles to rein in the Trump administration's controversial wielding of executive power may be drawing more students to legal careers, much like Woodward and Bernstein's coverage of the Watergate scandals resulted in a surge of journalism majors at colleges in the 1970s.
'Admissions applications to Michigan Law School were at an historic high this year,' says McQuade. 'I think there is a strong interest in the law right now. ... I hear from many students who are going into public interest law or want to work for state attorney general's offices in an effort to safeguard some of the institutions of democracy.'
McQuade sees an important role for education to play in teaching young people how to spot and avoid disinformation. 'Whether you call it media literacy or resilience from disinformation or critical thinking … I think it is incredibly important for the next generation of students to be able to manage this landscape where we're going to have artificial intelligence and social media and the ability to deceive people."
She adds: "We will need students to have the skill set to be able to sift through that which is reliable and that which is not.'
McQuade's book points the way to overcoming political divisions by putting facts and democracy first. Ultimately, as her new intro for 'Attack from Within" concludes: 'We have the power to effect change by uniting against the forces that seek to drive us apart. If we want to overcome the dangers of disinformation, we must choose truth over tribe.'
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Barbara McQuade's book on disinformation gets paperback release
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The Hill
6 hours ago
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US and China to talk in Stockholm on trade with eye on Trump-Xi summit later this year
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And China's emergence as a manufacturer of electric vehicles and other emerging technologies has suddenly made it more of a financial and geopolitical threat for those same industries based in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea. 'Some enterprises, especially manufacturing enterprises, feel more deeply that China's manufacturing capabilities are too strong, and Chinese people are too hardworking. Factories run 24 hours a day,' Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday when hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing. 'Some people think this will cause some new problems in the balance of supply and demand in world production.' 'We see this problem too,' Li said. Bessent also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil. 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San Francisco Chronicle
6 hours ago
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US and China to talk in Stockholm on trade with eye on Trump-Xi summit later this year
WASHINGTON (AP) — When top U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Stockholm, they are almost certain to agree to at least leaving tariffs at the current levels while working toward a meeting between their presidents later this year for a more lasting trade deal between the world's two largest economies, analysts say. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are set to hold talks for the third time this year — this round in the Swedish capital, nearly four months after President Donald Trump upset global trade with his sweeping tariff proposal, including an import tax that shot up to 145% on Chinese goods. 'We have the confines of a deal with China,' Trump said Friday before leaving for Scotland. Bessent told MSNBC on Wednesday that the two countries after talks in Geneva and London have reached a 'status quo,' with the U.S. taxing imported goods from China at 30% and China responding with a 10% tariff, on top of tariffs prior to the start of Trump's second term. 'Now we can move on to discussing other matters in terms of bringing the economic relationship into balance,' Bessent said. He was referring to the U.S. running a $295.5 billion trade deficit last year. The U.S. seeks an agreement that would enable it to export more to China and shift the Chinese economy more toward domestic consumer spending. The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing hopes 'there will be more consensus and cooperation and less misperception' coming out of the talks. With an eye on a possible leaders' summit, Stockholm could provide some answers as to the timeline and viability of that particular goal ahead of a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 'The meeting will be important in starting to set the stage for a fall meeting between Trump and Xi,' said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. 'Beijing will likely insist on detailed preparations before they agree to a leaders' meeting.' In Stockholm, the two sides are likely to focus on commercial announcements to be made at a leaders' summit as well as agreements to address 'major irritants,' such as China's industrial overcapacity and its lack of control over chemicals used to make fentanyl, also to be announced when Xi and Trump should meet, Cutler said. Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said Stockholm could be the first real opportunity for the two governments to address structural reform issues including market access in China for U.S. companies. What businesses will be seeking coming out of Stockholm would largely be 'the atmosphere' — how the two sides characterize the discussions. They will also look for clues about a possible leaders' summit because any real deal will hinge on the two presidents meeting each other, he said. Fentanyl-related tariffs are likely a focus for China In Stockholm, Beijing will likely demand the removal of the 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump imposed earlier this year, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center. This round of the U.S.-China trade dispute began with fentanyl, when Trump in February imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, citing that China failed to curb the outflow of the chemicals used to make the drug. The following month, Trump added another 10% tax for the same reason. Beijing retaliated with extra duties on some U.S. goods, including coal, liquefied natural gas, and farm products such as beef, chicken, pork and soy. In Geneva, both sides climbed down from three-digit tariffs rolled out following Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April, but the U.S. kept the 20% 'fentanyl' tariffs, in addition to the 10% baseline rate — to which China responded by keeping the same 10% rate on U.S. products. 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'It's possible that Trump would cancel the 20% tariff that he has explicitly linked with fentanyl, but I would expect the final tariff level on China to be at least as high as the 15-20% rate contained in the recent deals with Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam,' Wildau said. US wants China to dump less, buy less oil from Russia and Iran China's industrial overcapacity is as much a headache for the United States as it is for the European Union. Even Beijing has acknowledged the problem but suggested it might be difficult to address. America's trade imbalance with China has decreased from a peak of $418 billion in 2018, according to the Census Bureau. But China has found new markets for its goods and as the world's dominant manufacturer ran a global trade surplus approaching $1 trillion last year — somewhat larger than the size of the U.S. overall trade deficit in 2024. And China's emergence as a manufacturer of electric vehicles and other emerging technologies has suddenly made it more of a financial and geopolitical threat for those same industries based in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea. 'Some enterprises, especially manufacturing enterprises, feel more deeply that China's manufacturing capabilities are too strong, and Chinese people are too hardworking. Factories run 24 hours a day,' Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday when hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing. 'Some people think this will cause some new problems in the balance of supply and demand in world production.' 'We see this problem too,' Li said. Bessent also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil. However, Wildau of Teneo said China could demand some U.S. security concessions in exchange, such as a reduced U.S. military presence in East Asia and scaled-back diplomatic support for Taiwan and the Philippines. This would likely face political pushback in Washington. The Stockholm talks will be 'geared towards building a trade agreement based around Chinese purchase commitments and pledges of investment in the U.S. in exchange for partial relief from U.S. tariffs and export controls,' Wildau said. He doubts there will be a grand deal. Instead, he predicts 'a more limited agreement based around fentanyl.' 'That,' he said, 'is probably the preferred outcome for China hawks in the Trump administration, who worry that an overeager Trump might offer too much to Xi.'
