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I have long thought that this sort of thing may be true (the link is to a piece by Rich Lowry):

But every indication is that Obama and Trump are similar in that their modes of operating work much better for them than their parties.

Both pioneered a different way of doing presidential politics, and built a new coalition for victory. But no one could replicate Obamas model, and so far, no one has shown any signs of successfully adapting to, let alone copying, Trumps

As a result, the only Democrat left standing after the Obama years was Obama himself. Trump could be creating a similar dynamic.

Lowry goes on to criticize the Bannon approach:

This gets to the idiocy of Steve Bannons project to try to run Trump-like insurgents everywhere. Bannon is trying to recapture the magic of 2016, without the one indispensable ingredient Trump himself.

I agree about the similarity between Trump and Obama in this respect. But I disagree with Lowry in that I dont see it as really being about Trump or about Obama. I believe that the election of each of these untested newcomers (Trump even more of a newcomer than Obama) to the highest office in the land was a symptom of a change that had already happened in the US and in the electorate itself.

We are more polarized now is a cliche. But its true, and it didnt just happenits been building and building for at least two decades (and almost certainly longer that that). I would add that we are more cynical now, more conspiracy-minded, more disgusted with institutions that used to be more admired: the press, Congress, the FBI, and the establishment of both parties. The entire system by which party leaders came up through the ranks and were at least somewhat respected is broken; the electorate isnt buying it, for the most part. Outsiders and/or charismatic extremists are elected, and then they are found wanting and the pendulum swings to someone seen as an outsider and/or charismatic extremist on the other side.

Obama and Trump (and Bannon, for that matter) didnt cause thisthey are the results of it.

Originally posted here:
The similarities between Obama and Trump