Overview

The stunning 2016 election and presidency of Donald Trump was decades in the making. Three trends since the 1960s created the conditions for his triumph. First, a growing popular discontent with government, long evident in public opinion, created a widespread distrust of established leaders and institutions. Second, America underwent the rise of “professional government.” Governing professionals are an elite built on merit through occupational accomplishment. They now dominate interest groups, the bureaucracy, courts, presidency, and Congress. Many government professionals perceive little need to mobilize the public in the way parties did in previous eras. This has furthered the sense of disconnect among the public and created a self-reinforcing chain. Third, political parties and governing institutions are now polarized into rival teams of ideological, partisan elites. The intense battles between these divergent teams often result in government gridlock. These conditions produce ripe opportunities for “outsider” candidates to mount popular movements against politics as usual. How did Donald Trump leverage his outsider status into a 2016 electoral victory? Four factors propelled him into the White House. First, Trump’s long career as a public celebrity gave him an identity and “brand” widely known to the public and which generated massive free media coverage as a candidate. Second, Trump and his campaign ably used social media to further amplify his message. Third, decades of polarized political elites, governmental professionalism and mounting popular discontent made an “outsider” message attractive to millions of voters in 2016. Fourth, Trump was blessed with a political opponent, Hillary Clinton, who represented the polarized and professional governing class that Trump rightly saw as an inviting target for his outsider message and demeanor. That is how Trump happened.

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9781538122044

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". . .a compelling narrative. [Schier and Eberly] examine Trump's social, political, and economic agenda, and speculate about Trump's future and the future of American politics post-Trump. The book gives important perspective about both the current state and the future of American politics.-- ""Booklist"" All that astonishment when Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 - from the press, the polls, even the new president? Steven Schier and Todd Eberly argue in their provocative new book that it shouldn't have been a surprise. The rise of a celebrity, populist candidate who managed to vanquish the leading political dynasties in both parties was the predictable outcome of political trends long in the making, they say - and regardless of what happens to the Trump presidency, those powerful impulses aren't over yet.--Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief of USA TODAY and author of The Matriarch Donald Trump's election in 2016 shocked most journalists, and the professional political class broadly. Steven Schier and Todd Eberly assemble abundant evidence that we could have seen it coming. The questions--How was Trump able to take over the Republican Party? Why are so many partisans still with him despite the controversies of his first term?--will echo for decades in the future, but the answers begin decades in the past. These veteran political analysts identify the Trump victory not as a momentary spasm but the latest expression of a long-term revolt against elites in both parties.--John F. Harris, Founding Editor, POLITICO The authors provide critically important insights into the historic 2016 election by distilling the national, long-term trends in the evolution of American democracy and how they intersected with Trump specific factors.--Janet Box-Steffensmier, 2019-20 President of the American Political Science Association, Ohio State University The election of Donald Trump continues to be an astounding event in American political history, and we are fortunate to have the incisive judgments and reporting of ace political observers Steven E. Schier and Todd E. Eberly on the Trump phenomenon.--Michael Barone, senior political analyst, Washington Examiner, founding co-author, The Almanac of American Politics . . .a compelling narrative. [Schier and Eberly] examine Trump's social, political, and economic agenda, and speculate about Trump's future and the future of American politics post-Trump. The book gives important perspective about both the current state and the future of American politics. All that astonishment when Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 - from the press, the polls, even the new president? Steven Schier and Todd Eberly argue in their provocative new book that it shouldn't have been a surprise. The rise of a celebrity, populist candidate who managed to vanquish the leading political dynasties in both parties was the predictable outcome of political trends long in the making, they say - and regardless of what happens to the Trump presidency, those powerful impulses aren't over yet. Donald Trump's election in 2016 shocked most journalists, and the professional political class broadly. Steven Schier and Todd Eberly assemble abundant evidence that we could have seen it coming. The questions--How was Trump able to take over the Republican Party? Why are so many partisans still with him despite the controversies of his first term?--will echo for decades in the future, but the answers begin decades in the past. These veteran political analysts identify the Trump victory not as a momentary spasm but the latest expression of a long-term revolt against elites in both parties. The authors provide critically important insights into the historic 2016 election by distilling the national, long-term trends in the evolution of American democracy and how they intersected with Trump specific factors. The election of Donald Trump continues to be an astounding event in American political history, and we are fortunate to have the incisive judgments and reporting of ace political observers Steven E. Schier and Todd E. Eberly on the Trump phenomenon. How Trump Happened is written with a general audience in mind, offering accessible accounts of important moments in the 2016 campaign and the first three years of the Trump administration. It also deploys some of the tools of political science to build its argument about the election's outcome in a nontechnical fashion. -- ""Congress & the Presidency "" How Trump Happened is written with a general audience in mind, offering accessible accounts of important moments in the 2016 campaign and the first three years of the Trump administration. It also deploys some of the tools of political science to build its argument about the election's outcome in a nontechnical fashion."

. . .a compelling narrative. [Schier and Eberly] examine Trump's social, political, and economic agenda, and speculate about Trump's future and the future of American politics post-Trump. The book gives important perspective about both the current state and the future of American politics. All that astonishment when Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 - from the press, the polls, even the new president? Steven Schier and Todd Eberly argue in their provocative new book that it shouldn't have been a surprise. The rise of a celebrity, populist candidate who managed to vanquish the leading political dynasties in both parties was the predictable outcome of political trends long in the making, they say - and regardless of what happens to the Trump presidency, those powerful impulses aren't over yet. Donald Trump's election in 2016 shocked most journalists, and the professional political class broadly. Steven Schier and Todd Eberly assemble abundant evidence that we could have seen it coming. The questions--How was Trump able to take over the Republican Party? Why are so many partisans still with him despite the controversies of his first term?--will echo for decades in the future, but the answers begin decades in the past. These veteran political analysts identify the Trump victory not as a momentary spasm but the latest expression of a long-term revolt against elites in both parties. The authors provide critically important insights into the historic 2016 election by distilling the national, long-term trends in the evolution of American democracy and how they intersected with Trump specific factors. The election of Donald Trump continues to be an astounding event in American political history, and we are fortunate to have the incisive judgments and reporting of ace political observers Steven E. Schier and Todd E. Eberly on the Trump phenomenon. How Trump Happened is written with a general audience in mind, offering accessible accounts of important moments in the 2016 campaign and the first three years of the Trump administration. It also deploys some of the tools of political science to build its argument about the election's outcome in a nontechnical fashion.

All that astonishment when Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 - from the press, the polls, even the new president? Steven Schier and Todd Eberly argue in their provocative new book that it shouldn't have been a surprise. The rise of a celebrity, populist candidate who managed to vanquish the leading political dynasties in both parties was the predictable outcome of political trends long in the making, they say - and regardless of what happens to the Trump presidency, those powerful impulses aren't over yet.--Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief of USA TODAY and author of The Matriarch

Author Information

Steven E. Schier is Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Carleton College, where he taught for thirty-six years. Twelve times he directed the Carleton in Washington program, an off-campus term of study he founded in 1983. Dr. Schier is the author, co-author or editor of twenty-two books. His most recent titles for Rowman are The Trump Presidency: Outsider in the Oval Office (2017), coauthored with Todd E. Eberly, Debating the Obama Presidency (2016), an edited volume, and Polarized: The Rise of Ideology in US Politics (2016), also coauthored with Todd E. Eberly. Todd Eberly is the Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Coordinator of Public Policy Studies at St. Mary's College of Maryland, designated the state's honors college, an independent public institution in the liberal arts tradition.

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