Thomas Mann

An argument that the election of President Donald Trump is a symptom of U.S. democracy's dysfunction and citizen action is needed to repair it.

Two political scholars wrote a book back in 2012 about "the new politics of extremism." Hear what they have to say about the most polarizing moments of the 2016 campaigns so far.

The audio posted here is from October 24, when this segment originally aired. An edited version was included in a best-of episode of The Brian Lehrer Show from December 27. 

What are the structural reasons for - and solutions to - the recent budget gridlock in Washington? Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Thomas Mann, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, discuss their recent book It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.