General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The GOP will not revert to "normal" after Trump. [View all]DFW
(54,755 posts)There was a book by Theodore H. White published after the election of 1960 that analyzed the whole election. It was called "The Making of the President, 1960." It was considered ground-breaking analysis.
As a contrast, a book appeared after the 1968 election called "The Selling of the President, 1968," written by a 26 year old Joe McGuinness. It was called a "classic of campaign reporting that first introduced many readers to the stage-managed world of political theater." It exposed how the Nixon campaign was run like a cigarette advertising campaign, getting the public to favorably view something that was inherently bad for them. The cover even was a pack of "Nixon cigarettes."
The Republican Party (whose inner circle already included a young Roger Ailes) that year adopted the cynical view that only trickery and lying gets one into the White House, and it is a philosophy they have never strayed from since.