In his new book, Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, historian Matthew Dallek argues that the Birchers’ extremism remade American conservatism. Dallek joins A Public Affair host Allen Ruff  to explain how the radicalized, mostly white professionals were courted by the GOP for decades, and how that led to the inevitable shake up of the Republican party and the election of Trump.

Matthew Dallek is a historian and professor of political management at George Washington University’s College of Professional Studies. The author of The Right Moment and Defenseless Under the Night, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, and other publications. He lives in Washington, DC.

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