Instead of asking how Trump managed to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, Ezra Klein asks a harder question: How was a candidate like Trump able to get close enough to be in a position to win? Drawing upon the insights of Larry Bartels, a political scientist, Klein explains that 2016 looked very much like the past three presidential elections. For example, Trump won 57% of white voters in 2016, compared to the past three Republican candidates who won 58%, 55%, and 59% in 2004, 2008, and 2012, respectively. Despite being a “morally louche adulterer” who admitted to never asking God for forgiveness (xiii), Trump won 80% of white, born-again Christian voters. In comparison, Mitt Romney won 78% of that vote in 2012. Klein argues that voters’ treatment of Trump as “normal” attests to the influence that party polarization exerts on US politics. With people locked into political identities, there is a politics “devoid of guardrails, standards, persuasion, or accountability” (xiv).

Klein focuses on systems, not the individuals in office. Combining the insights of political actors and academics, Klein seeks to explain the incentives shaping political decisions and the human motivations driving decision-making.