Okay, some things really are bad for Democrats after Trump’s rise to the presidency, such as Supreme Court nominations and fear of the unknown. But Democrats looking for a tiny shred of positive news – and I’m one of them – can take a small amount of comfort from this: Trump may not be as bad as we […]

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People who hate Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders (or both) can take a small bit of comfort in the story behind their ascension: Politics in America is changing. At its core, politics is the art of manipulation. An unruly crowd of rightwing or leftwing voters needs corralled into voting booths and enticed to flip the […]

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Maybe it’s not all middle-class discontent, a desire for outside-the-beltway candidates or angry Americans. Maybe the core reason Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump enjoy a surprising number of followers is something far simpler: Maybe it’s television shows. In 1939, Jimmy Stewart played a U.S. Senator in a movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” and Americans […]

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