We finally have a third party

America’s political system has essentially always been dominated by two parties, long before the Democrats and the Republicans morphed into their current iterations. At the nation’s founding, Jefferson and Madison led the Democratic-Republican Party, which competed for dominance against Hamilton’s Federalist Party. This should not be surprising given Maurice Duverger and his “law.” The late French political scientist argued that winner-take-all systems, like ours, tend to produce two-party dominance. With few exceptions, the two-party system prevails in the U.S., even when there is “ranked choice” voting. Thus, there has never been a viable third party in America — at least at the national level. Until now. Sort of. Enter Donald Trump, whose seismic impact on American politics generally, and the Republican Party in particular, cannot be overstated. His takeover (or takedown) of the GOP is stunning given his eclectic political history. Trump’s journey — Republican to Reform Party member, then Democrat, and back to Republican — reads like a cautionary tale of political fluidity that would earn any other politician the derogatory moniker of “RINO” (Republican in Name Only). Yet, somehow, Trump defies that pejorative. Further, Trump is not constrained by his party’s traditional conservatism or its long-standing dogma. Since...