[kergonath]

It kind of makes sense on an intellectual level, but I don’t think it is very plausible. Trump promised a lot of things when he was elected, most of which are practically impossible. I think he just promised the right things for his audience, whereas most politicians are so far up their arses that they don’t know what actual people want or care about.

[chmod775]

I don't think that's what GP meant: Voters just wanted to set the whole circus on fire. That the person they chose for the job also made impossible promises didn't matter.

This happens a lot on a smaller scale in other democracies that aren't a two party system - people vote for some nonsense radicals or weirdo upstart party to signal the establishment it needs to change. Sometimes this has quite funny outcomes: Pirate party, the Greens in Germany in 1983, etc. Other times it's scary nutjobs. Rarely the parties stick around for longer, slowly becoming the establishment.

[Aloha]

How is that different than anyone else?

Republicans and Democrats alike say whatever they need to win a primary and general election, democrats do that in smaller quantities - but it's still the same bullshit.

And before anyone says I'm "both sidesing" the green new deal (which was little more than a messaging bill with lots of words and little substance) was no more passable than building a southern border wall was, or repealing Obamacare (though this got close) for that matter.