Is Trump the Right's Jimmy Carter?

[Mr. Smith]

Almost precisely the case.

But this was likely to be the case anyway, unless Hillary won, in which case she would've likely fallen out the same way Bush Sr did [which itself is ironic considering '92].

There were some Reagan-y and Nixony aspects to Obama from the start, I'd argue more Nixony since they both overstayed unpopular wars they promised to end, tried playing nice to the opposition on healthcare when they had little reason too, and generally had pragmatic foreign policy rather than anything moralist.

This pretty much set Hillary up to go the way of Gerald Ford or Bush Sr, both of whom, like her, were long-runners in Washington. Like the latter, she did lots of office hopping. Like the former, she was directly in Washington for 25+ years.

Turns out she ended up more like Ford.

Then there was the primary, which really should have been an obvious foreshadowing, since as it turns out, fending off lots of conflict early can make one strong if they come out on top. There were 15 people all trying to hit the same, really tired ideas...oh and one foreign policy oddball.  In '76, there were 14...and one foreign policy oddball. This is perfect room for a complete outsider to build cred the others can't.

And build this cred did, quite nicely too. Well, everywhere except in The West.

Then comes the GE stuff, everyone's complaining about how negative the whole thing is, both candidates appear to be too moderate to the cultural base, even if a chord got struck, so they pick a milequetoast-but-ideologically-pure Midwesterner to hold things down.

This manages to wrest over Ohio and Wisconsin, the former is critical and the latter had a 30+ record on the other side. This manages to nab The South...except for Virginia...specifically because of NoVA.

But most critical in this equation, the same West that didn't want 'em in the Primaries...didn't want 'em much again.

And now as President, the Trump-Ryan relations share a very eerie resemblance to Carter's with Tip O'Neill. AHCA might very well be what The Water Wars were for Carter.

2020 is likely going to be in The West exactly what it was for Carter in 1980 if things keep going as they are.

[Mr. Smith]

No, Jimmy has a soul and is honest.

Two words: Shadow Archetype.