President Chase Hastings is a megalomaniac. A wealthy and unscrupulous businessman who has unclear ties to dangerous world leaders, he’s aligned himself with the country’s “basket of deplorables,” and constantly provokes division, even his own party.
The nation is at the edge while he does nothing to bring it back, and he remains totally intolerant of anyone who doesn’t see things his way.
The year isn’t 2016; it’s 2030, and technology has advanced.
People are implanted with chips that they initially agreed to because it allowed them to conveniently cash out at restaurants and stay constantly connected to the internet. But now, they’re not allowed to turn off the chips, and something more nefarious seems to be happening with the technology.
Legal immigration across the nation’s southern border is still rampant, and President Hastings, backed by supporting militia, has gotten more aggressive and violent about closing the borders. In addition, recognizing the power of the church and marshaling the support of religious extremists, he brings an end to the separation of church and state – and all of this from a man who doesn’t appear to have any real religious beliefs.
But believe for certain, everything President Hastings does is with President Hastings’ best interest at heart.
Reporter Jay Patterson, who’s been following and writing negative stories about Hastings for years, knows how dangerous he really is.
So, when Patterson begins receiving clues from a “Deep Throat”-type character, he begins to discover what Hastings is really up to. He discovers more than democracy is at stake, and he’s determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, no matter what it takes.
That’s the plot of “American Coup,” a clever and suspense-filled novel by Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II.
Since 2005, Cleaver has served as the 5th District congressman from Missouri. Kansas City residents have known him as an elected official since 1979, when he was first elected to the city council and then as mayor for eight years. And as far back as 1972, they knew him as a United Methodist pastor.
But very few knew him as a talented writer and creative storyteller with a vivid imagination.
Cleaver says his whole life’s path directed him toward writing this book.
Early Days
Cleaver grew up in Wichita Falls, TX, with three sisters. With no brothers, and sisters with different interests, he says he often played alone.
When he played cowboys, he would play all the characters, a practice he says helped him develop his imagination.
His writing and his public speaking skills, he says, were forced on him by his high school speech teacher, Alma Holland.
“I used to believe God sent her into my life to destroy me. She was on me all the time,” he said.
Cleaver admits he was immature and didn’t understand why she pushed him so hard, especially when he saw her letting others get by with doing less.
“I’m not going to need this,” Cleaver says he told her. “Her response was, ‘You never know what you’re going to need, and I hope you need this.’”
A cousin of Cleaver’s, James Patterson, lived in nearby Lubbock, TX, and ran the local Black newspaper.
Knowing the high-school-aged Cleaver loved football, Patterson gave him a chance to report on sports for the newspaper, further developing his writing skills.
However, nothing prepared Cleaver more as a writer and creative storyteller than 40 years as a minister, which required writing and delivering a weekly sermon.
“Most preachers tell some kind of story during a sermon,” said Cleaver. “I would suggest that, when that happens, the congregation is at its high level of listening.”
Over the years, Cleaver got pretty good at telling stories.
“I always tell young preachers to learn how to tell stories, if you want people to remember what you said,” said Cleaver, noting that Jesus was an awfully good storyteller.
From Storyteller to Author
When he was growing up, his cousins would always ask him to tell stories, and even today at family gatherings, his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews often ask him to share a story.
However, he says, the encouragement to write a book came from his fellow members of Congress.
For almost six years, he delivered the blessing over the weekly Democratic Caucus breakfast meeting. Over the years, the blessings grew into short stories that each had a moral.
“People would remember those stories and they would come up and talk to me about them,” said Cleaver.
Over the years, people would tell him he should put the stories in a book. He didn’t think a book of disconnected stories would work, but often the brief stories he shared involved members of his family or someone he knew in situations that were often manufactured or fictitious.
Cleaver decided that was the kind of book he wanted to write – a book full of exaggerated characters.
‘American Coup: A Political Thriller’
By Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II
This first novel by the Kansas City area’s longtime public servant is a great political thriller that will make a great holiday gift for anyone who likes politics, people who like thrillers, or people who appreciate a good read.
“American Coup” can be purchased locally and online, including at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and many independent bookstores.
It’s just $9.99.
Writing
Once he decided he was going to write a novel, he was determined to stay committed to the task, so he set aside 45 to 50 minutes per day for writing, usually at night before heading to bed.
When he started the book, he didn’t know what it was going to be about and he admits that halfway through, he didn’t know how it was going to end.
He pays homage to several key people in his life in “American Coup.”
President Hastings is named after his dear friend Congressman Alcee Hastings, Cleaver said, who unfortunately died before the book was complete. The reporter Patterson is named after his cousin James Patterson, who gave him a job as a sports reporter.
Despite any resemblances to President Donald Trump, Cleaver is clear, the book isn’t about Trump.
He says most of what he wrote was on paper well before anything in real life actually occurred.
When he decided to write a book about a megalomaniacal president, he figured most of what he would write would be an exaggeration. A lot of it is, but not as much of a stretch as he had originally thought.
There’s a section in the book where President Hastings goes to the border to address illegal immigration.
“At first, I had the president shooting and killing people crossing the border,” Cleaver said.
He decided that wasn’t realistic. Instead, he wrote the story as the president’s people arranging a “photo op.” A border guard shoots a person trying to cross into the country, but it turns out to be a farce. For participating in the charade, the man and his family get to immigrate into the country and are taken care of for life.
Cleaver says he eventually realized his original idea wasn’t as outrageous as he thought:
“It turned out, Trump asked the question of his attorney general, ‘Can I shoot people crossing the border?’ People talked him out of it.”
‘American Coup: A Political Thriller’
By Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II
This first novel by the Kansas City area’s longtime public servant is a great political thriller that will make a great holiday gift for anyone who likes politics, people who like thrillers, or people who appreciate a good read.
“American Coup” can be purchased locally and online, including at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and many independent bookstores.
It’s just $9.99.