Brendan Nyhan

That's why I'm dubious about all the root cause psychologizing - where's data showing economic anxiety or racial hatred is that much higher?

Trump's rise represents a failure in American parties, media, and civic institutions - and they're continuing to fail right now

Shockingly few public figures and elites are defending the norms of public debate and restraint from violence that Trump is bulldozing.

These norms are fragile precisely because, per @emilythorson, they are not formal or legal. And they are hard to restore once breached.

No one person or institution is at fault for Trump. Everyone has their favorite monocausal explanation. They're all incomplete.

We can sort through root causes later. Here's where we are: Someone could capture a major party nom who endorses violence & few seem alarmed

I honestly thought our institutions were more robust to a Trump-like figure & that others in public life were more committed to dem. norms

@BrendanNyhan and, I wd argue, a pattern of delegitimizing authorities--media, parties, fact-checkers &c--that wd once have checked him.

@BrendanNyhan I'm curious: what do you think should have happened instead, and when?

@BrendanNyhan I’d argue that there were never institutional bulwarks preventing Trump-type figures — just norms of behavior.

@emilythorson @BrendanNyhan Something very peculiar has happened with cable news this cycle.