ABSTRACT
In an election unlike any the US has experienced, on November 8, 2016, Republican Donald J. Trump was elected the forty-fifth president of the United States in a victory that surprised nearly everyone. The shock of the election was that Trump won the four perennial swing states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa. Trump's campaign strategy and message were driven by defining Clinton as insensitive to the working class and out of touch with the needs of the American people. An election is like a war, complete with "war rooms" and "generals". Candidates and campaign organizations are fighting to capture control of government to advance their policies. The Trump campaign's use of tweets and new conservative social media forums to communicate his populist message directly to voters and to recruit volunteers gave him a strategic advantage by allowing him to bypass the regular national media. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
