March 2 – Predicting the Unpredictable 2016 Elections; Why the Democrats Underestimate Trump; Historical Comparisons to a Divided GOP Heading Into the 2016 Elections

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of the post-Super Tuesday electoral landscape ahead for Donald Trump, the increasingly likely Republican presidential candidate and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. Allan Lichtman, a political historian at American University and author of “White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement”, joins us to discuss this wildly unpredictable election year and how it relates to his book “The Keys to the White House: A Surefire Way to Predicting the Next President”, Allan Lichtman’s predicting system that has correctly predicted the outcomes of all U.S. presidential elections since 1984.

Part 2

Then George Lakoff a Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at U.C. Berkeley joins us to discuss his work in identifying the authoritarian patriarchal strain in Republican politics in contrast to the yielding matriarchal nature of Democratic politics and how his theories are coming to life with the emergence of a likely Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton presidential race in this election year. We examine why the Democrats continue to underestimate Trump and how they might be able to blunt his momentum.

Part 3

The finally we explore some historical comparisons to a possibly divided Republican Party heading into the 2016 election and the election of 1860 when the country was divided over slavery with Abraham Lincoln’s Democratic opponents splitting into three parties thus ensuring the election of the antislavery Republican candidate. David Reynolds, a distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center and author of “Lincoln’s Selected Writings” joins us to discuss this and other historical examples of divisive and vitriolic election campaigns.