ABSTRACT
The 2016 election was one of the potentially most consequential campaigns in the recent history of presidential politics. Conservative journalists and intellectuals, along with a handful of principled politicians, denounced Trump as a threat to conservative ideology and even to democracy itself. Conservatives attacked Trump's proposal to build a deportation force and ban Muslims from entering the United States. For the years ahead, the country will likely be debating how issues of race and class helped transform Trump's movement into an electoral juggernaut, at least in 2016. The 2016 election may be seen less as a step forward for gender equality than as a step back. More than a dozen women emerged during the general election to describe instances in which Trump sexually harassed or assaulted them. Yet, although the discourse was shrill, it was the issue of Trump's authoritarian tendencies that cast light on the fragility of American democracy.
