41 pages • 1 hour read
The Fifth Risk
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Symbols & Motifs
Tornadoes
Tornadoes do not appear until the final section of The Fifth Risk. However, they serve as a powerful metaphor and warning about the risks of being unprepared for disasters. This finale echoes Part 1, in which Lewis states that the risk not easily imagined is the one that should be feared most. The tornado is symbolic of these risks, and because the Trump administration was not prepared for such risks, the effect could be devastating. The tornado is also symbolic of Trump himself; Lewis closes his narrative by writing:
And so you might have good reason to pray for a tornado, whether it comes in the shape of swirling winds, or a politician. You imagine the thing doing the damage you would like to see done, and no more. It’s what you fail to imagine that kills you (219).
Many of Trump’s supporters wanted an unorthodox politician like Trump to come in and run the government differently, making him the tornado that they had “reason to pray for,” but the unimagined, lasting effects of his presidency risked doing more damage than expected.
The Day After the Election
November 9, 2016, appears in each section as Lewis outlines the preparations taken by the Obama administration to meet with and brief the incoming Trump officials on the operations of each department. However, in each instance, no one showed up to these meetings. In the first part of the book, he introduces the traditional routine in which between 30 and 40 people meet with the now-outgoing government and notes, “Across the federal government the Trump people weren’t anywhere to be found. The few places they did show up, they appeared confused and unprepared” (36). This quote indicates a distinct contrast between the experienced pre-Trump administrators and the incoming staff for each department. Lewis even points to the stock of Pepsi that the USDA put in their office when they heard that the leader of the transition team had lobbied on behalf of PepsiCo. Regardless of partisan affiliation, the outgoing administrations were professional and hospitable, and Lewis’s repeated reference to the day after the 2016 election works to contrast this approach with the lack of steps taken by the Trump administration to run the government in the days leading up to the inauguration.
A Lack of Understanding of Government
Lewis is cognizant of the fact that people may not be aware of the inner workings of the government and chooses to focus on three of the least popular areas of the federal government in selecting the departments through which he will make his argument about the unpreparedness of the Trump administration and its potential effects. This motif reappears throughout the book, as he speaks with government officials with either personal or secondhand experience of realizing how the federal government has major impacts on their everyday lives. In one example, Lillian Salerno, the former undersecretary for Rural Development in the USDA, wasn’t aware that the loan she got to start her small business came from the USDA since it was routed through a local bank. In another, Ali Zaidi was not aware that “[t]he USDA had subsidized the apartment my family had lived in. The hospital we used. The fire department. The town’s water. The electricity. It had paid for the food I had eaten.” (88) Then, the USDA’s budget came across his desk, and he was suddenly cognizant of exactly how much support the government provides.
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By Michael Lewis
