When did politics and trash TV become one in the same? According to author Ross Benes, no question: it was the 1990s. As one reviewer said: “this book helps to explain the election of Donald Trump in ways that most strictly scholarly analyses cannot capture.” Such bizarre spectacles as were on the Jerry Springer Show connected with those millions who feel society has it out for them. They celebrated the elimination of rules. And being “deplorable” is, to these folks, a badge of honor. In the process this has enabled today’s unprecedented concentration of wealth and power.