John Sides Explains The Real Reason Our Nation Is So Divided

Still wondering how on earth Donald Trump won in 2016? There’s no shortage of theories: Russian inteference, James Comey, Hillary Clinton, angry white men, the media. But few of these explanations are rooted in solid fact.

That’s where John Sides comes in. Sides is a professor of political sciene at George Washington University and author of the new book, Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and The Battle for the Meaning of America. He's also editor-in-chief of The Monkey Cage, a site about political science and politics at the Washington Post.

Unlike many Washington pundits who talk out of their covfefes, John uses data and research to understand voters and voting trends. What he discovered about the 2016 election is a deeply divided electorate—but not necessarily for the reasons you might expect.

On the podcast, we talk about how Trump was elected and what it tells us about identity, class, and race.

He also offers tips and tricks for aspiring political writers,