PJ O’Rourke’s next book, How the Hell Did This happen?: The Election of 2016 is by necessity a work in progress, and not without its challenges.

Speaking to Talking Books’ Gavin Esler at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, he explains why, as a political satirist and journalist, the 2016 race to The White House has been particularly difficult to cover.

“It’s been a terrible 18 months,” he explains. “I’m a political satirist… and the election has been completely self-satirising. I am a political humourist, and it’s been impossible to be funnier than Hillary’s pantsuits; and I’m a political commentator and I simply can't get a word in edgewise with Donald Trump around.”

O’Rourke was once a hippie and a communist and is now a self-styled “Republican reptile”. So why has he come out in support of Hillary Clinton? As he reveals before reading an extract from his book, his is hardly a ringing endorsement. “She’s the second worst thing that could happen to America”, he says.

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