In the summer of 2016, America witnessed both peaceful protest and civil unrest after the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Amidst the rhetoric, a string of police assassinations took place, notably in Dallas, Baton Rouge and later in Des Moines. That melodrama began a bitter election season with jaundiced press coverage leaving major swaths of the country unprepared for the idea that Donald Trump could really, actually win the presidency. That in turn led to the attacks on the election’s legitimacy launched almost immediately afterward and stirred by a media class casting about to explain what just occurred....