Some books entertain, and then there are books that haunt. How to Kill a President: Colt the Smoking Gun, Volume I by Colt Donaldson is a warning. It is a blistering, unflinching look into the American underbelly where loyalty is forged in trauma, survival is a sacred skill, and the so-called “American Dream” is exposed for the loaded dice game it truly is. Before you even meet the Colt family, you feel them echoing through generations of war wounds, poverty scars, and street-hardened wisdom.

Before we’re introduced to Donald Colt, the narrator, we’re walked through the mythos of three powerful names: Donald Trump, Donald Colt, and the idea of power itself. This isn’t a story about killing a current or upcoming president; it is about how the Colt family changed the course of history in 1841, through the murder of William Henry Harrison, the president who only held office for 30 days and allegedly died of pneumonia. It becomes a symbolic dismantling of the institutions, ideologies, and family legacies that place some men on thrones and leave others crawling through alleyways.

The opening chapter, “The Three Donalds,” is as sharp as it is philosophical. It doesn’t simply introduce characters. It unveils a battlefield of identity, heritage, and truth. While Trump is collecting rent and privilege, Donald Colt is collecting scars and lessons. Their lives intersect on Staten Island, not as equals, but as reflections of what power looks like in America—glossy at the top, gory at the bottom.

And then, like a sudden detour in a noir film, we plunge into war—Vietnam. Through the story of Cousin Peter, Colt paints a horrifyingly intimate picture of combat, one that transcends clichés. This isn’t about medals and parades. This is about fear, instinct, God, and mud. When Peter survives, it doesn’t feel like luck. It feels like divine interference, or maybe just Colt blood.

But make no mistake: this book is also about America itself. About how we lionize violence, reward deceit, and abandon the very souls we claim to protect. Donald Colt isn’t just the protagonist. He’s a witness. He’s watched his family rise, burn, rebuild, and break. He’s seen men bleed for flags that won’t feed them. He’s seen heroes become addicts. And he’s learned to survive it all by becoming something more dangerous than a soldier or a gangster, an honest man who remembers everything.

The writing? It’s jagged poetry. It slams you against concrete and whispers truths in your ears. Each line is a cigarette burn of confession and revelation. There’s no room for fluff or fantasy—only survival and the ghosts it leaves behind.

What makes Volume I so unforgettable isn’t just the plot. It’s the world Colt creates. It is real, brutal, and disturbingly familiar, a world where love is complicated, trust is currency, and even the most painful stories need to be told.

But just when you think you’ve caught your breath—when you believe you’ve understood the man, the family, the mission—the final pages crack open a door. A door to something darker, deeper, and far more personal. Because the Colt family isn’t finished. Not even close.

And what do they do after that? You’re most likely not prepared for it.

Order your copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DX3Y1QCQ/.