Conspicuously absent from mention is the outsize influence of Fox News and right-wing talk radio in shaping the beliefs of those who listen to them and only them every single day and have been in the habit of doing so for decades. As Jon Stewart put it, "If you only listen to right-wing talk radio and Fox News, everything Donald Trump says makes perfect sense even if very little of it is rooted in actual fact." 

There's your answer as to what happened during this election, but no one wants to talk about the great big WHITE elephant in the room. Perhaps the time has come to do so.