Trump’s 2024 comeback wasn’t just a campaign—it was a revenge tour aimed at the entire American system. In Retribution, ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl takes you behind the scenes of Trump’s return to the White House, from the hush-money trial that turned a courthouse hallway into a campaign stage to the assassination attempts that reshaped his message from “retribution” to “unity”––at least on the surface.
Karl traces how Joe Biden’s shaky debate, Hunter Biden’s legal troubles, and a panicked Democratic Party opened the door for Kamala Harris’s late rise—and ultimate defeat. Inside Trump’s second term, he shows a presidency obsessed with settling scores: punishing enemies, rewarding loyalists, and pushing the limits of presidential power at home and abroad.
If you want to understand how American politics arrived at this volatile new era, this summary of Retribution gives you the story, the stakes, and the players.
