The 2016 presidential election shattered assumptions about the normal rules of politics. We have come to expect a struggle between liberalism and conservatism in national politics; this time, that was not the case. Donald Trump ran to the left of Hillary Clinton on both trade and foreign policy, pushing for greater protectionism and a conciliatory attitude toward Russia, while simultaneously—and ostentatiously—running to the right of traditional Republicans on the issue of immigration. The Democrat, not the Republican, was accused of being too cozy with the financial industry and tyrannical governments in the Middle East. The leading voices of the organized conservative movement questioned whether they would support the GOP candidate. Some conservatives went so far as to endorse Hillary Clinton—a figure openly loathed by conservatives for at least two decades. As Election Day approached, more oddities appeared. A month before Americans cast their ballots, mainstream commentators seriously asked whether the Democratic candidate could carry the deep red state of Utah, even though the race at the national level still looked fairly close. 1 Both candidates faced an unrelenting barrage of scandals, real or illusory.