After the 2020 Election: 2016 Resources

For those trying to understand the political, economic, regional and social shifts that drove one of the most stunning political upsets in the nation’s history on Tuesday, the New York Times has some suggested reading from their critics and reviewers.

Donald Trump has been elected president. On both sides, there is great uncertainty about what this will mean for the country. This is an in-depth look at how he might pursue his campaign agenda in the White House.

George Saunders, known for his satirical short fiction, attends a Trump rally. This essay uses his trademark humor and empathy to mourn the divisions wracking America.

A student at Wesleyan describes the lessons liberals taught him and how his education convinced him Trump was better. He writes, "I hope we exit our echo chambers, abandon the vitriol and name-calling, and find common ground."

In this short essay, Lindy West, author of Shrill, writes about feminist progress and setbacks. She writes, "We, as a culture, do not take women seriously on a profound level. ... I know that many men will read this and laugh, or become defensive, or call me hysterical, or worse, and that’s fine. I am used to it. It doesn’t make me wrong."

Americans seem as divided as ever, unable even to agree on basic facts. Bustillos examines the misinformation, some of it deliberate, that threatens what little common ground remains.

Some of Donald Trump's most dedicated supporters were members of the alt-right, an anti-establishment movement known for propagating hatred and racial resentment. This article examines the memes and home videos that represent the ugliest segment of modern politics.

Donald Trump won West Virginia, once a Democratic stronghold, by 42 points. His supporters there, many of miners in a declining coal industry, defy stereotypes of Appalachia and rail against condescension from liberal elites.

This short essay argues that liberal shaming provoked the white working class backlash that was Trump's election. Lerner writes, "The left needs to stop ignoring people’s inner pain and fear. ... We need to reach out to Trump voters in a spirit of empathy and contrition."

Kai Wright spent two years in Albany, Georgia, a town where the Great Recession never ended. He writes of shuttered factories, disaffected voters, and a "quiet, steady throb" of economic pain.

For despondent Clinton supporters, essayist Rebecca Solnit makes the case against despair. She writes, "Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act."

Many liberals woke up on Wednesday feeling like strangers to their country. This essay points out that America, while divided, is the same one that elected Obama in 2008 and Bush in 2000. It's the same one that existed before November 8.