Instead, voters in 1976 reacted to Vietnam and Watergate by electing an unknown Georgia governor who promised to never tell a lie. In 1980, millions who voted for him the first time around concluded that he was overmatched by the job. They threw Carter out and chose a president who promised to stare down Islamic extremism and and make America great again.
If that sounds all-too-familiar on the last day of 2016, it may be because history is rhyming with itself once again.
Trump is not Reagan. But he is the the latest and most extreme version of a long line of disrupters who fed off of voters’ discontent. And while Trump has dominated this year’s political debate, the story that will have a more lasting impact on the character of America’s political soul is the collapse of the Democratic Party.
History will show that the Republican’s presidential nominee won because he peaked at the perfect time. He drew the inside straight that analysts said he needed to beat Hillary Clinton. If the election were held a week earlier or a few days later, Clinton probably would have won. But she didn’t. Uncovering the causes of her shocking loss may be easier than explaining her party’s collapse over the past decade. But getting to the bottom of that mystery will do more to reveal what America has become than the results of a presidential race that still has experts reeling as our country heads into a new year.
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