Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory continues to confound election experts. How could American voters put such a fractious figure into the White House? This is more than an academic question. For the third time, Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Three books, published in the years following Trump’s election — “Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America” by John Sides of Vanderbilt, Michael Tesler, [professor of political science], of the University of California, Irvine and Lynn Vavreck of UCLA.; “White Identity Politics” by Ashley Jardina of George Mason University; and “Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity” by Lilliana Mason of Johns Hopkins — shed light on Trump’s improbable political longevity. 

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