“What happened?":taking stock following a historic year for American politics and society

The last year has been like no other in US politics, with the perfect storm of a global pandemic and a concurrent botched federal response, and a president who engaged in continual misinformation and incited violence. Our ‘What Happened?‘ mini-series, has documented the key events since the 2020 general election, whilst also mapping important electoral trends. As the Biden administration begins to push through its legislative agenda, and by referring to pieces published in this mini-series as a core part of their source material, Peter Finn and Robert Ledger take stock of the tumultuous events of the past year, and the long term trends which have resulted from, or been accelerated by, the pandemic.