We Should’ve Seen it Coming by Gerald Seib is a forty year history/memoir charting roughly the last forty years of Republican politics from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. While it has been easy for a lot of authors to draw the line from Reagan to Trump, Seib presents a much more nuanced view of the conservative and populist movements that have risen within the Republican Party over the last forty years.

While the Reagan revolution brought Republicans back to the White House it has often brought a curse of sorts upon the party as moderate conservatives often had to deal with the demands of a more populist conservatism. This process began in 1992 when Pat Buchanan challenged George H. W. Bush, and has impacted every Republican presidential campaign and presidency since leading to Donald Trump riding a populist wave to the presidency while paying lip service to conservatism where it suits him.

Seib has writing a very lively engaging history that includes such seminal moments and colorful characters as Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, the Rise of Rush Limbaugh and Talk Radio, Newt Gingrich and The Contract with America, FOX News, the Rise of Donald Trump and everything in between.

We Should’ve Seen it Coming gave me an appreciation for the nuances that have developed within the Republican Party over the last forty years and should be read by anyone wanting to understand how we got to the United States in 2020.