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This book holds up the mirror of truth that America badly needs. While it analyses Trump-era politics and the divisive cracks that developed, it shows how they became wider since his 2020 election loss. Firstly, how Trump won the 2016 election against all odds is explored. When people lose their livelihoods while their traditional values are under siege, the result is populist rage and scapegoating in a vicious cultural war. Trump so exploited and exacerbated the situation that it ultimately drove a wedge between friends, and even family. His misogyny and anti-woman agenda while pandering to patriarchal grievances created fractures that insidiously bled into marriage and romantic markets. As matchmaker eHarmony put it: "politics are on the minds of daters more than ever" while marriage fell to a 118-year low. When polarization gets to the stage that singleton becomes the new normal, you sense the country is in the Loveless Age and in trouble.
Terry's research traces how Trump's MAGA promise failed men given their work got automated while women got hired in a post-industrial economy more congenial to female skills. The crisis in masculinity in a changing world prompted many yearning for marriage and fatherhood to re-evaluate traditional masculinity. Enter ambitious women (who didn't vote the anti-feminist Trump) recognizing their smartest career move is to marry down to helpmate "daddy-trackers" (this is contrasted with marry-up strategies where patriarchy is still seen as the solution to the American Dream). Could this new mating convention with more women the primary breadwinner calling the shots on how households vote ultimately scorch a Trump/clone comeback in 2024?
