In 2010, voters certainly hit the brakes on the Obama presidency. Fast forward to the 2016 election, where voters yanked up on the emergency brake and did a donut in the parking lot. Now, the car has stopped. We sit here dizzy for a moment, looking to get on the road again.
There's no question that a Democratic Congress plus a Trump presidency would equal gridlock. Nothing moves, nothing changes, nothing gets accomplished, nothing gets reformed. Voters know this.
Electing Democrats means nothing happens. Elect Republicans, and at least there's a chance.
There's no counting the number of times the media have asked, 'Will this be the thing that drives Donald Trump's supporters away from him? Is this finally the time?'
Obama's numbers fell by a slightly larger amount over his first few months because he enjoyed much more support right at the start from Republicans, support that eroded quickly.
'Staunch conservatives' and 'free marketeers' are fairly typical Republicans, while the 'American preservationists' are far less reliably a part of a GOP coalition.
Candidates, of course, often claim that they want to run 'a purely positive campaign,' but this rarely materializes.
Tax reform exists, sort of, as an outline - miles away from being actual passed legislation.
The idea that someone, somewhere will campaign in a positive, uplifting way on an agenda that can inspire Americans? I'm sadly done holding my breath.
Let's think about where things stood in December 2015. By that time, Republicans had already had such epic and long-standing struggles with young people that I'd written a whole book about it. Additionally, Republicans had already had a bruising start to their primary season.
What is a fair way to structure our economy? To handle those who did not come to America legally? To distribute scarce public resources and benefits?
On paper, Emmanuel Macron should be a candidate tailor-made for young voters. He himself is young. He pushes for more entrepreneurship, modernization, and a loosening of regulations that prevent young workers from working as they please when they please.
When polled on Donald Trump's agenda, though pluralities of young people oppose his policies on immigration and healthcare, there is one issue where Trump's position wins outright majority support, even among young Democrats: trade.
Young voters may be growing up in an era of increased global connection, cooperation and commerce. But they're very open to politicians who tell them it is these very things that are keeping elites in power and keeping their generation down.
Fast-moving views are not likely to be strongly held views. Instead, they're much more likely to be about people mirroring back the signals they see coming from the leaders they support. People can resolve dissonance by shifting their own view on issues that aren't top of mind.
In the year 2000, the very youngest members of the Baby Boomer crew were in their mid-30s while the oldest Boomers were mid-50s. That year, the Boomers were a generation divided somewhat equally between the GOP and Democrats.
When the oldest batch of millennials really first began voting around the mid-2000s, they leaned a little toward the Democrats, looking a lot like the Gen Xers also did at that time.
Major realigning events can reshape coalitions and change how large groups of people view politics, policy, and the parties.
Maybe President Trump will turn out to be a fabulously successful president who will endear the millennial generation to the Right anew.
I remember fancying myself a junior 'McCainiac' in 2000, though politics were rarely discussed in our household.
