>>Don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for my scraps I didn't. I took your meaning. I think you're actually agreeing with me. What I think that the illiterati of the Alt Right fail to grasp, besides the pendulum effect of politics which they do grasp, is that politics is a brand and every two to twenty years people get tired of that brand in the same way that they want a new dog or a new car for no other reason than that they want something new. I am a middle aged man, so I can identify that I think Kennedy won because people were at the time interested in a brand where a young politician was able to demonstrate merit. He was charming and had a good war record. Johnson was just flat out unlikable and so we got Nixon. Now here is where we see the brand effect kick in again - Nixon got fucked by the media, and so we get Ford whom people liked because he wasn't Nixon. Ford was seen as clean cut and honest, but a bit of a dope so we get Carter. Carter was an astute politician, but people weren't into the Poindexter thing so they picked glib charming Reagan. And Reagan just crushed it, so much so that Bush was able to ride in on his coat tails. You've already admitted that Bush was somewhat robotic so we see a change in brands yet again. People voted for Clinton, who "felt our pain." He was compassionate. I'd say for no better way to explain it that Monicagate didn't so much damage Clinton's reputation as it gave the public a desire for someone wholesome again, and so people voted for a brand and almost exclusively a brand, the Bush name. Bush was fairly bland and trustworthy, if a bit of a hick. The hick thing didn't work out and so after 8 years of that people wanted someone slick and urban, Obama in this case. But he was such a crook that people were sick of everything and only wanted an outsider. So given the choice between a core insider and a ridiculous outsider, people picked the ridiculous (game show host) outsider. Much as you said, not that I'm complaining. And he's crushing it so I'll be surprised if he doesn't win again. Does this result in the Bush effect, where we get Pence? I don't know. If I were young I'd sure like to do some volunteer work in Pence's office, though. Putin's brand has been successful, for example in Russia for something like twenty years. I'm not seeing Trump as a twenty year man, but admit that I don't really know.