In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called the communities outside of America's large metropolitan centers "our unknown country." Such laments have become common enough in an age of class isolation.  But in 2016 they were intensified by the defection of hundreds of Democratic towns and counties throughout the Trump belt--a vast region that stretches from Iowa to Maine.  How could so many places that were once reliably Democratic--places that voted for a black president twice--support Donald Trump?  And what does the defection of these Democratic communities suggest about the future of American politics?

About the Speaker

Jon A. Shields is associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and coauthor with Joshua Dunn of Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.