[RodericDay]

Best post by a mile. Not only did America elect Trump, Sanders also did mighty fine for someone who in years past would be considered unelectable.

People pass around figures about GDP and low unemployment to prove to themselves things are absolutely fine, but then you dig further and you find that many feel lost and desperate.

Obama said "America is already great", and many people found it a vomit-inducing quip. In many ways liberals brought this upon themselves.

I find similarities in how liberals deal with Trump and how americans in general dealt with 9/11. "They hate us for our freedoms" is a much more palatable idea than thinking about systemic dynamics.

[spydum]

I think both trump and sanders were symptoms. The people wanted change (which is why Obama did so well). What they got was very moderate change. Government doesn't change as fast as people want, so they continue to vote more extreme for change. As others said, just about every other candidate in the running, aside from those two, were about the status quo.

So I agree: the last decade was about change. The downside I think is, we spend waaaay too much time working about the executive, when it's the local/state folks which can really drive the narrative. We need more principled folks running there, and leading from those levels.

[rdtsc]

> Not only did America elect Trump, Sanders also did mighty fine for someone who in years past would be considered unelectable.

Oh yes. Here was someone very leftist (by American standards), almost unknown, old white male who almost won over Hillary in the primaries. Even with all the mass media ignoring him. Have you seen his followers and his rallies... It was breathtaking. So much consistent enthusiasm wasn't a fluke. People have been saying stop talking about Sanders he lost fair and square... Sure, but I an still stunned how many votes he got, not how few (a bit of both in a way).

DNC should have stopped everything and reevaluated their strategy right there and then. Oh well