Episode Summary

American politics is becoming increasingly destabilized by far right radicalism. But this escalation is actually the symptom of an even bigger problem: That our two major political parties have been stuck in a trench warfare system for decades.

It’s been nearly 40 years since a presidential candidate won more than 55 percent of the national popular vote. It’s been 51 years since someone had more than 60 percent.

In all this time, neither party has been able to create a mass movement for their ideas. Republicans haven’t done so because they’ve openly embraced a minoritarian political strategy based on winning rural states with lots of religious White people. But Democrats haven’t built a movement for progressive ideas either, and that’s a critical mistake for people who ostensibly want to protect democracy.

So why have Democrats lost interest in mass movements and large coalitions? It’s a very important question and one that my guest on today’s show, Timothy Shenk, attempts to answer in his new book, Realigners: Partisan Hacks, Political Visionaries, and the Struggle to Rule American Democracy.

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