41 pages • 1 hour read
Rachel MaddowBlowout
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 18-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary: “Putin Zassal”
This chapter refers to Russian female protest band Pussy Riot’s song “Putin Zassal,” or “Putin Has Pissed Himself.” After performing the song in Moscow’s Red Square, the band members were arrested, fined, and let go. However, after the band went into the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of the Russian Orthodox Church and appealed to the Virgin Mary to save them from the evils of Putin, the women of the band were arrested and charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” (218). This arrest created a public-relations nightmare for Putin, just months before the opening day of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Sochi Olympics were a great opportunity for Putin, a way to tell the world that all was well in Russia. Reports, however, told the story of absurd and unjustified excesses, as “Putin’s record $12 billion Winter Games budget had ballooned to $50 billion” (220). This officially made the Sochi games the most expensive in history, winter or summer. European dignitaries, as well as the Obamas and the Bidens, decided to skip the games, a statement to Russia about the Kremlin’s apparent corruption and ruthlessness in squashing free speech. The games themselves were a relative success for Russia and for Putin’s public image, doping scandals and eventual medal-stripping notwithstanding. In that moment, Russia once again shined on the world stage. Yet, just as Putin was reveling in his countrymen’s Olympic accomplishments, a violent uproar in Ukraine forced Russian involvement. The uprising in Ukraine, perceived by Putin as an act of US sabotage, ultimately positioned Putin against Europe and the United States. Not even the spectacle of the Sochi Olympics could contend with Putin’s certainty that the unfolding situation in Ukraine was somehow linked to Western interests.
Chapter 19 Summary: “All Hail the Mercenaries”
Maddow follows up on the 2014 political revolution in Ukraine, which eventually led to the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych and to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Maddow portrays Yanukovych as a puppet for Putin’s machinations in Ukraine, which essentially consisted of making Ukraine completely dependent on the Russian oil and gas industry. With Yanukovych ousted from power, Putin found it necessary to control Russian interests in the region. The incident was “the first time since World War II that one country [rewrote] another’s borders by force and seized an entire landmass and its people for itself” (240). Europe and the United States responded not with military escalation but by freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs, Putin’s most trusted advisors (including Igor Sechin), which hit them where it hurt most: their pockets.
The chapter title refers to American “mercenaries,” such as the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which earned a hefty sum (over $4 million) to produce an “impartial report” on one of Yanukovych’s political rivals, Yulia Tymoshenko, which got Tymoshenko out of the picture. One of the central American figures in hiring Skadden was Paul Manafort, who would eventually would chair Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. The most notable American “mercenary,” however, was Rex Tillerson, who sprang into action after the oligarchs’ assets were frozen. After all, with Sechin’s assets frozen, ExxonMobil’s deal to drill in the Russian Arctic could potentially sour and dissolve.
Chapter 20 Summary: “His Idea of America”
Maddow shifts attention from Russia and the Ukraine back to Oklahoma in 2014, as Aubrey McClendon’s reign in Oklahoma City was ending. He was replaced by a new oil mogul, Harold Hamm, the founder and CEO of Continental Resources. Hamm’s story was a rags-to-riches parable of success in the oil industry, a testament to persistence, ingenuity, and ultimately, capitalism. Yet, as Maddow writes, “Money wasn’t exactly his endgame, those closest to him suspected. What he really seemed to want was to be known as the man who found more oil than anybody else in America, ever” (251). Even after making a fortune in the oil industry, Hamm wanted more. He started using the hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling methods in the Bakken oil field in Montana and North Dakota, and the bet paid off, $17 billion later. Mitt Romney even selected Hamm as his energy guru going into the 2012 presidential race. Despite the constant reports that oil and gas practices were causing permanent environmental damage across America, Hamm remained resolute in his argument that oil and gas were good for the country, that America was experiencing an “energy renaissance” (254). His idea of America, as the chapter is titled, was in direct opposition with antifracktivists and people in Washington who called for tighter restrictions and more regulation of Big Oil and Gas
Chapters 18-20 Analysis
These chapters revolve around the idea that one man’s ideals can have far-reaching consequences. If a person has enough power or enough wealth, their ability to control outcomes on a national or even international level becomes increasingly real. In Putin’s case, the spectacle of the Sochi Olympics followed by his direct involvement in trying to impede democratic progress in Ukraine points to an example where one man’s political power prevents him from truly contending with other ideas, which is the foundational touchstone of any democratic society. In Harold Hamm’s situation, the unfettered magnitude of US capitalism governs his actions. In Chapter 19, when Rex Tillerson reappears as Russia’s white knight, Maddow again emphasizes the amorality of the global oil industry. Profits are free from political or patriotic obligations, as long as there is money to be made and interests to be protected.
Related Titles
By Rachel Maddow
