Thomas Zimmer: The Origins of Trumpism and the Birth of the Present

[keep_left]

5. Pat Buchanan's insurgent candidacy in 1992 was most definitely where the break...

...began on the right. It may have been a disastrous campaign for Buchanan personally, but looking back, one can easily see the fault lines that became obvious years later--fault lines that Buchanan expertly exploited. What many do remember was Buchanan's revolting Kulturkampf tirade that led pretty much directly to the election of Bill Clinton later that year.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218978277#post2
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218978277#post5

While Buchanan may be quite a polarizing figure on the left, he also happened to be correct decades later in his diagnosis of the nation in the aftermath of 9/11: he said that the Kumbaya unity would in time fade, and it would be replaced by recriminations and enmity not seen since the days of the Civil War.