The long game of the radical right

This is the sordid tale that MacLean lays out in Democracy in Chains

DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS

The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America 

Nancy MacLean 

Viking

334 pages; $28

Earlier this year, when the Republican pollster Glen Bolger sat down with Donald Trump voters who had previously voted for Barack Obama, one Wisconsinite summed up his reason for favouring Trump this time around: “I think they all lie, but Trump was more — is more obvious.” This statement presents quite a puzzle. Why would any voter think that being a known liar is an asset?

Insight into this conundrum comes from an unlikely source, the life’s work of the economist James McGill