Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus is a non-fiction book by Matt Taibbi about Donald Trump and the 2016 United States presidential election.

[11] Taibbi's choice of title for the book was motivated by Trump's marketing style[1] and is wordplay based on the name of American horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse.

[13] Kirkus Reviews pointed out the author's lack of pretense for objectivity, and concluded, "[a] lively set of dispatches that shows how even the harshest skeptic in the pundit class can be blindsided.

[9] Santa Barbara Independent concluded, "Insane Clown President is a valuable work about one of the most bizarre electoral outcomes in American history.

"[17] Insane Clown President contains two original articles in addition to a compilation of 25 reports from Rolling Stone by Matt Taibbi along the 2016 United States presidential election campaign trail.

This being America, as ordinary people tune out their corrupt leaders, they will replace official propaganda with conspiratorial explanations even more ridiculous than the original lies.

"[12] Taibbi warns, Donald Trump's "vulgarity and defiant lack of self-awareness make him, unfortunately, the perfect foil for reflecting the rot and neglect of the corrupted political system".

He recounts the process by which Trump, previously known for his reality television appearances, learned how to strategically manipulate coverage of his campaign through boorish behavior.

"[12] The book castigates Republican tactics of engaging in culture wars, writing they are, "taking advantage of the fact that their voters didn't know the difference between an elitist and the actual elite, between a snob and an oligarch.

[17] Insane Clown President argues that after the 2016 election, subsequent campaign processes will become, "a turnout battle between people who believe in a multicultural vision for the country, and those who don't.

Every other issue, from taxes to surveillance to war to jobs to education, will take a distant back seat to this ongoing, moronic referendum on white victimhood.

"[14] Taibbi comes to the view that members of the press should spend more time hearing out the viewpoints of the American populace, writing, "Just like the politicians our job was to listen, and we talked instead.

[14] Taibbi surmises Trump capitalized on the power of television, and "is the first to realize the weakness in the system, which is that the watchdogs in the political media can't resist a car wreck.

"[11] The author recounted how he initially had felt the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign would be looked back on in retrospect as a brief humorous period of hysteria on the part of the American populace.

[24][25] Insane Clown President was a commercial success, debuting at number 15 on The New York Times Best Seller list in the category, "Hardcover Nonfiction".

[13] The review concluded, "Readers new to Taibbi will regret not reading his reporting as events unfolded, as his analysis is equal parts entertaining and enlightening.

"[13] Kirkus Reviews wrote that throughout the chronology of Taibbi's recounting of the 2016 campaign, the book, "unfolds as a comedy that slowly turns into a horror movie.

"[26] LaGambina concluded, "Insane Clown President might not be the book he intended to write, but for anyone looking to get out of the maze we've stormed into blindly, Taibbi's dispatches might prove to be a good map.

"[26] San Francisco Chronicle book reviewer John Diaz said the work contained, "a rich trove of sharply written essays from the campaign.

[14] The New York Times reviewed the work, with John Williams observing, "Matt Taibbi didn't see much moderation while covering the most recent campaign season for Rolling Stone.

"[8] Bustle writer Kerri Jarema observed, "Matt Taibbi tells the story of Western civilization's very own train wreck, from its tragicomic beginnings to its apocalyptic conclusion.

[12] Writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, journalist Chris Potter compared the book to Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson, commenting, "Nearly a half-century later, another Rolling Stone writer, Matt Taibbi, has assembled a selection of his own 2016 reports.

"[9] Santa Barbara Independent journalist Brian Tanguay wrote in his book review that Taibbi was "the spiritual heir of legendary presidential campaign scribes" including Hunter S. Thompson and Timothy Crouse.

In a post-election reflection, he admitted that he and others in the media underestimated Trump, initially treating him as "a joke" and failing to recognize the deeper voter frustrations that propelled him.

"[27] Taibbi also reflected on how the media at large failed to grasp the importance of Trump’s populist appeal and the institutional failures that contributed to his victory.