Thomas F. Schaller, “The Stronghold: How Republicans Captured Congress but Surrendered the White House”

Summary: Thomas F. Schaller is the author of The Stronghold: How Republicans Captured Congress but Surrendered the White House (Yale University Press, 2015). Schaller is professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. With a new Congress up and running, Republican control of Capitol Hill is back. But has the Republican Party sacrificed presidential aspirations as it pursues a strategy to control Congress? That’s the subject and thesis of Schaller’s new book. He traces the political history of the GOP from 1989 through the 2000s, as the party develops a new political strategy in Washington. Schaller’s original interviews with key Republican leaders shapes his narrative of retrenchment over the last 25 years, highlighting the two Bush presidencies, the Contract with America, and the emergence of a new cadre of conservative Republican leaders.