2016: the Campaign Chronicles

The 2016 campaign ended with Donald J. Trump as president-elect of the United States, astounding just about everyone. More than two dozen candidates had vied for the two parties’ nominations, leaving Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her flaws standing in rough proportion to her strengths, Clinton had been the presumed Democratic nominee, though Bernie Sanders had nearly upended her run. In contrast, Trump’s capturing the Republican nomination seemed preposterous before and after the fact. The campaign overall was far more than the result. It was a long, tumultuous, outrageous frolic of American politics. The Campaign Chronicles was written contemporaneously with events as they happened so as to capture the sense of each amazing if horrific moment. Even weeks after the election, the country remained stunned by the outcome, which as we learned foretold of a presidency unlike any before it. But, before the presidency, there was a campaign, about which many histories will be written. But before the histories must come the chronicling, history stripped of faded memories and coherent perspective. Herewith, such a chronicling written from a determinedly neutral posture, presenting the good with the bad for all concerned.