Unthinkable

01The Brilliant Light of Tommy Raskin

To truly grasp the profound depths of this story, we must first step back from the chaotic halls of the United States Capitol and walk into the warm, vibrant, and deeply loving home of the Raskin family. At the very center of this household was Tommy Raskin, a young man whose heart was quite literally too big for the world he inhabited. Jamie Raskin does not merely introduce his son as a footnote to a political thriller; rather, he paints a breathtakingly detailed portrait of a boy who was a radiant force of nature. Tommy was not just brilliant in the academic sense, though he certainly was that, eventually becoming a second-year student at Harvard Law School. He was brilliant in his boundless capacity for empathy. From a very young age, Tommy possessed an acute, almost painful awareness of the suffering of others. He could not look at a homeless person on the street, a struggling animal, or a marginalized community without feeling an overwhelming urge to intervene, to help, and to heal. Jamie speaks of his son with the kind of glowing reverence that only a deeply devoted parent can muster, recalling how Tommy would frequently empty his own pockets to give money to strangers, or how he passionately advocated for animal rights, ultimately convincing his family to embrace veganism. He was a poet, a philosopher, and a tutor who spent his free time teaching and mentoring others. His moral compass was not just pointed toward justice; it was magnetized by an intense, unwavering love for all living creatures. However, this extraordinary sensitivity came with a devastating shadow. The very empathy that made Tommy so remarkable also made him incredibly vulnerable to the pain of the world. As he grew older, he began a grueling and deeply private battle with depression. The book takes us through the heartbreaking reality of navigating mental illness within a family that is doing everything in its power to save someone they love. Jamie and his wife, Sarah, along with their daughters, Hannah and Tabitha, rallied around Tommy, providing him with unwavering support, medical care, and endless affection. Yet, as the year 2020 unfolded, bringing with it a global pandemic that forced isolation and amplified the world’s collective suffering, Tommy’s internal darkness began to deepen. The isolation of the COVID-19 lockdowns stripped away the social connections and the hands-on activism that often served as Tommy’s lifeline. Despite the relentless love of his family, the disease of depression is insidious, often whispering lies to its victims and convincing them that their absence would somehow be a relief to the world. The narrative builds to the unthinkable day of December 31, 2020. While the rest of the world was preparing to bid farewell to a difficult year and welcome the cautious hope of 2021, the Raskin family’s universe collapsed. Jamie recounts the horrifying moment of discovering that Tommy had taken his own life. The shock, the denial, and the sheer, suffocating weight of the grief are described with such raw, unfiltered honesty that it leaves you breathless. Tommy left behind a farewell note that perfectly encapsulated his tragic, beautiful soul. In it, he asked for his family’s forgiveness, stating that his illness had simply won that day. He left them with a final, poignant instruction: to look after each other, the animals, and the global poor for him. This devastating loss serves as the emotional bedrock of the entire book. Jamie Raskin is stripped bare, a father shattered into a million pieces, completely unmoored from the reality he once knew. The pain is not described as a passing phase, but as a physical, crushing entity that occupied the space alongside him. Yet, even in the absolute darkest depths of this personal hell, the seeds of an incredible resilience were already being sown. Tommy’s final plea to look after the vulnerable became a sacred mandate for his father. It was a dying wish that would soon propel Jamie Raskin into the center of one of the most consequential battles for American democracy. The beauty of this opening chapter lies in its insistence on honoring Tommy’s life rather than just his death. The reader is invited to grieve Tommy because the author has so masterfully succeeded in making us love him. We understand the magnitude of the loss because we understand the magnitude of the light that was extinguished. This deeply personal tragedy sets the stage for everything that follows, transforming a story about political turmoil into a profoundly human saga about love, duty, and the agonizing struggle to keep moving forward when the world has stopped making sense. It is the story of a father who must figure out how to continue living for a son who could no longer bear to live.