Live from La Farine: : What Reagan Tells Us About Trump: "Like Trump, Reagan, the 800-pound gorilla of Republican politics...
...was once dismissed as a joke as well.... And we all know how that story ends....
Trump is a very different figure from Reagan.... They are similar, however, in that they were both top-rated TV stars for years before they ever sought office, Reagan as host of G.E. Theater anthology programs, and Trump as the billionaire host on 14 seasons of The Apprentice.
Because of this, both men had a profound head start over their opponents, having already imprinted themselves in voters' minds exactly as they wished to be seen--Reagan as the genial curator of stories that always had happy endings, Trump as the omni-competent boardroom warrior before whom weaker mortals can only grovel. But more than that, Reagan, and now Trump, reveal our own tendency to repress our fear of demagogues by dismissing them. And ultimately, it's all about us. Follow the bouncing beach ball. Take demagogues seriously. Voters love them. And they're only a joke until they win...
