Power and truth
Ironically, Maddow represents a minor power by far to the major authority of the US president, and yet, the president's aims are political and Maddow's aims are journalistic. That means that because of truth, there is a counter-measure against a kind of power which could be called ultimate, except that America is still a democracy; if the people were to find out that the president had committed an offense, then the president would have to go through due process. However, without warriors who strive to find the truth, it is not easy to discover political corruption.
Russian support of Donald Trump
There is dramatic irony in the literal facts of Donald Trump's election to become US president, because no one knew in real time that Russian interest groups had colluded to interfere with the US election. That also raises other terrifying possibilities which Maddow elaborates. Where else might these interest groups have their effects? The irony creates a new irony which is that it is difficult to know where that collusion ends; just how effective were they? We only know what was discovered.
Truth and complication
The emotion that guides humans toward truth feels very certain and stabilizing at first, but once a serious examination of truth has occurred, the discovery is probably ironically complicated. Rachel Maddow's book has moments where she seems kind of like Charlie Kelly trying to find "Carol in HR" in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but that paranoid tone is the result of real conspiracies which leave only a breadcrumb of evidence behind, leaving Maddow to play a Sherlock Holmes-like role of investigator and theorist.
The freedom of the press
One gets the feeling from this book that it is liable to offend the people whom it mentions. Maddow is legally allowed to publish anything which is not libel because of her freedom of speech which in America includes an explicit right to comment on the government without fear of retaliation. However, she still exemplifies a kind of moral virtue in her desire for truth, because who knows the ways that publications like this might affect her life. The freedom of the press is necessary because of something ironic about human character; people in power are often crafty and manipulative, which is to say that they make strategic use of what other's do not know, creating a dramatic and esoteric agenda.
Esoteric interests and the government
The government is an ironic entity because although it is nice to have roads and courts which help stop crime, there is also a serious imbalance of power. Thankfully, the first amendment allows that power to return to the people as conspiracies are gradually exploited, but that only points to the ironic connection between esoteric interests and the power of the government. This is especially true of other nations. For instance—who could have predicted that esoteric interests in the Russian oil industry would have any means or desire of interfering in American elections?
