Anthony Weiner is the most important politician of the 2010s

Anthony Weiner changed the course of American history when he tweeted out a picture of his dick on May 27, 2011.

This is not an exaggeration. There is a direct line between Anthony Weiner’s penis and the rise of far-right media, the current state of the country’s biggest city, and the election of Donald Trump. Anthony Weiner is omnipresent over the last 10 years: It is inevitable that if there is a major political moment, Weiner is somewhere on its edges.

He personifies the decade in US politics: Weiner began the 2010s with roaring hope and ended it in total defeat. His scandal is unquestionably funny — until you question it, then recognize how much personal tragedy undergirds the whole thing.