Trumpiversary

We had a presidential election a year ago today.  It's still hard to believe what happened.

I didn't expect Trump to take his party's nomination, much less win the general election.  I'm certainly not alone in this:



It's still one of the biggest shocks in American political history.

In retrospect, it's clear Trump had a populist economic message that resonated with enough people--and with the right people--to hand him the nomination and an Electoral College victory.  There were a number of factors in the general election, including a lackluster campaign from his opponent, as well as a country in the doldrums, but it was his message (as muddled as it may have seemed at times) that made the difference.

Perhaps another Republican nominee could have swept to victory if they had a similar message, and made the case credibly, but we'll never know.

In fact, it's hard not to wonder what would have happened if another Republican ran.  It's possible a different candidate would have gotten more votes than Trump--perhaps more than Clinton--but still not won because Blue Wall states Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania wouldn't have switched.

Or maybe, who knows, any halfway presentable Republican was going to win that night--people wanted something that Trump delivered, and if he weren't in the race, they would have gone for the closest available candidate, which likely would have been a Republican.