The question, then, is which image of Warren will stick: one is a balm to the country’s economic anxiety; the other is unacceptable to its cultural grievances. Right now we can only speculate, though it seems certain that Trump will try to define her as the latter while much of the media will intervene in the other direction. Regardless, what we can conclude is that Democrats are underestimating how much Fauxcahontas could damage Warren while Republicans are underestimating how much traction she could get from her “socialist” policies. Remember, the political spectrum these days is less drawn between left and right as between perceived classes, people and elites. Warren, politically Janus-faced, could come off as either one.

There’s also the matter of what will happen to the right if Warren is elected. Voters tend to support muscular government when their guy is in charge and distrust it when the other side wins. Thus in retrospect was it the “Obama” in “Obamacare” that was the primary driver of opposition from conservatives, only for their concerns over federal intrusion to mostly disappear once Trump was at the controls. Under a President Warren, it would flip back the other way. Deficits would suddenly matter again. The feds would be bankrupting our children. “Make America great” would make at least a little room for “leave me alone.”