Newsweek Excerpt: The Lie that Binds

In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, as the American public reeled from Donald Trump’s upset, political strategists and commentators alike reached for answers. Who were Trump voters? Was their vote based on race, gender bias, “economic anxiety” or another factor yet uncovered? Even worse, had American politics finally been subsumed by reality TV culture or pervasive social media? While each question unveiled some grain of truth, one key factor was overlooked time and again: Trump had a political apparatus that Democrats underestimated and the media largely dismissed. A trap that we could easily fall into again in November.

Our new book, The Lie That Binds, offers an analysis of the wide-reaching political machinery that conservative leaders activated to push Trump to victory—which progressives ignore at their peril.