President Jeff Ackerman begins his second term determined to complete his twelve-word platform: Cut taxes. Cut spending. Reform entitlements. Protect our borders. Appoint conservative judges. He's winning political battles, but America's institutions are drifting further leftward. Corporations, Hollywood, universities, and many churches seem to be controlled by some shadowy underground group determined to undermine Ackerman's conservative reforms. How can he fight these invisible enemies? And can he cement his reforms in place so that the next Democrat administration can't unwind them?
After leaving the White House, Ackerman takes on the daunting task of reversing the decline in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. His conservative principles turned the country around, but can he navigate the racial minefield to repair a crumbling city?
The third in Stephen Palmer's Unlikely series, The Unlikely Advisor takes the reader from the Oval Office to the streets of Paris, to a protest at an elite university, through the haunting beauty of Budapest, and to a war in Israel and Gaza. Like its predecessors The Unlikely Candidate and The Unlikely President, The Unlikely Advisor educates and encourages the reader in the course of an entertaining tour of politics, faith, and urban renewal.
President Jeff Ackerman begins his second term determined to complete his twelve-word platform: Cut taxes. Cut spending. Reform entitlements. Protect our borders. Appoint conservative judges. He's winning political battles, but America's institutions are drifting further leftward. Corporations, Hollywood, universities, and many churches seem to be controlled by some shadowy underground group determined to undermine Ackerman's conservative reforms. How can he fight these invisible enemies? And can he cement his reforms in place so that the next Democrat administration can't unwind them?
After leaving the White House, Ackerman takes on the daunting task of reversing the decline in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. His conservative principles turned the country around, but can he navigate the racial minefield to repair a crumbling city?
The third in Stephen Palmer's Unlikely series, The Unlikely Advisor takes the reader from the Oval Office to the streets of Paris, to a protest at an elite university, through the haunting beauty of Budapest, and to a war in Israel and Gaza. Like its predecessors The Unlikely Candidate and The Unlikely President, The Unlikely Advisor educates and encourages the reader in the course of an entertaining tour of politics, faith, and urban renewal.
“Light him up!”
“Burn him!”
“Roast the racist!”
“Not my president!”
The jeers, boos, and hisses began as soon as the huge outdoor video screen showed the newly re-elected president of the United States walking to the podium to take the oath of office. The assembled mob would begin a protest march shortly. But first, they had to be properly motivated. Men in masks, clothed all in black, positioned themselves on each side of the video screen. The jeers turned to cheers as each masked man lit his torch and held it aloft.
Unified in its anger, the crowd quickly united behind a single phrase, turning it first into a chant and then a rallying cry. “Burn, baby, burn! Burn, baby, burn!”
Thus far, the inaugural proceedings in Washington had been shown on the screen here in Jackson, Mississippi, without sound. But someone flipped a switch just in time for the mob to hear the oath of office. The chant got louder still. “Burn, baby, burn! Burn, baby, burn!”
Inciting the crowd even more, the unseen technician cranked up the volume so the president could be heard over the chant.
“I, Jeffrey Clinton Ackerman, do solemnly swear . . . that I will faithfully execute . . . the Office of President of the United States . . . and will to the best of my ability . . . preserve, protect and defend . . . the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.”
So help me God. So help me God.
With that oath, and with that silent, fervent prayer, Jeff Ackerman began his second term as president of the United States. The massive, flag-waving crowd, ranging from the steps of the U.S. Capitol all the way to the Washington Monument, roared its approval.
A thousand miles away, the three hundred protestors in Jackson also roared in approval, but not for the native Mississippian who had just begun his second term as president. Instead, they cheered the masked men in black who set the video screen aflame with their torches. They cheered the flames that quickly consumed the screen. They cheered as the smiling, waving president’s image was consumed by fire. The loudest cheer erupted as the screen and its frame collapsed into fiery rubble.
Then the chant resumed and the march began. “Burn, baby, burn! Burn, baby, burn!” To the surprise of many members of the mob, marching was fun. Protesting was fun. Being angry was fun. Fire was fun.
The wrong man, representing the wrong party, with the wrong skin tone, spouting the wrong policies, had somehow slipped into the White House in 2016. Adding insult to injury, he’d won re-election in a landslide a few weeks ago. Thus, not only was their anger fun, but it was understandable. Righteous. Justified.
Within half an hour, the march got out of hand. Like an addict needs an ever-larger dose of his drug of choice, the mob soon needed more. More adrenaline. More destruction. More fire. The march turned into a protest, which quickly morphed into a riot.
With sirens sounding in the distance, the mob melted away. A few of the more thoughtful participants felt a twinge of regret as they surveyed the fruits of their labor. Maybe they shouldn’t have overturned the three cars. Perhaps smashing a half dozen store windows and looting the contents wasn’t the best idea. And maybe, just maybe, they’d gone too far by burning down half a city block’s worth of buildings.
But the mind’s capacity for rationalization is nearly unlimited. After all, they were angry. Righteously angry. And they’d been told for decades how important it was to express one’s feelings. How courageous it was to rage against authority. That they must rise up, together, against the unseen forces that kept them poor, miserable, and hopeless.
They’d done just that this January afternoon. And it turned out to be fun.
Burn, baby, burn!
The Unlikely Advisor by Stephen Palmer is mainly a counterfactual rewind-and-play of recent American history that hinges on the provocative question, “How would America have fared had a conservative Republican won the 2020 presidential elections?” The book rewinds to 2020 and follows the course of the United States under a different leader: a strong Republican president grounded in faith and principle. The second part describes the restoration of Jackson City, Mississippi, which was in decline, by the same president after his term in office (2025-29).
This book rightly and powerfully underscores the importance of a fearless, genuine Christian president for the continued global pre-eminence of the United States. Argue what one might, but the trail of history proves that a good, unseen Christian God alone fights against evil forces everywhere. He plays his trump card at critical moments in history, frustrating the plans of evil. The battle for global dominance has only two true players: Christianity and evil. A committed Christian who knows God and executes God’s plan fearlessly from their vantage position, as the head of earth's most powerful nation alone, can save the world from evil.
In this novel, Jeff Ackerman emerges as the embodiment of the ideal US president. He's serving his second, successful term (2020-24). He's openly a Christian, much to the dismay of his opposers. Names such as The Bible and Jesus Christ are part of his natural vocabulary, and he uses them unabashedly. In fact, he begins each day at the Oval Office, reading and meditating on the Bible. He is honest, practical, wise, and ahead of his peers in governance. A staunch Republican, Ackerman views Democrats as dangerously leftist. He has the unique distinction of delivering on all 12 words of his first election campaign, albeit in two terms: "Cut taxes. Cut spending. Reform entitlements. Protect our borders. Appoint conservative judges." With an astonishing 72% approval rating, he ranks among the all-time best US presidents!
So, what's this book trying to say? I'm not sure if my analysis is correct. Still, very probably, it seeks to erase Joe Biden—the last Democratic president, who harmed the nation considerably—from US history and instead reimagine his presidency under Ackerman, the fictitious Republican president (which the first part of this book discusses). After Ackerman, the next president must compare and address the gaps between the two trajectories, first undoing the damage done. Because of the prior unchecked rise/spread of liberalism, America is culturally and morally decaying. This trend needs to be reversed speedily. Conservative Republicans usually offer more stability and trustworthy leadership than Democrats.
I enjoyed reading this book primarily because of the author's polished writing style and excellent narrative skills. The cover is expressive and aptly conveys what's inside. Scattered language errors appear, but they are not serious enough to ruin the reading experience. The only shortcoming I noticed is it doesn't have a Table of Contents.
While this book is highly relevant to all US citizens, I recommend it primarily to Americans eligible to vote. The ideal reader would be around 40, mature, have leadership experience, and have weathered some tough, real-life challenges.