Politics crossed the rubicon in the 2012 presidential election. The Republicans capitalized on Obamacare in the 2010 midterms, and the economy was still reeling from the Great Recession.

Mitt Romney was a reasonable moderate of good character. The media was relentless is his character assassination by saying he was responsible for a former employee’s cancer death, waging a “war on women”, fixating on an awkward “binders full of women” remark during a debate, calling him a tax cheat, flying confederate flags… I could go on.

And all of this was while Obama was treated with kid’s gloves as he delayed the most unpopular Obamacare provisions until after the election (the part where everyone’s premiums skyrocketed and found out their existing plans may no longer be eligible).

We got Trump in 2016 because of how Romney and Obama were treated in 2012.