Politics has always been downstream of culture
(C1) This is not new “news” we just are in 2025 and are always looking to recreate the wheel
A common phrase that people that are interested in politics might read about or hear about is how “Politics is downstream from Culture.”
Last, I can remember, this has certainly been the case since the emergence of Bill Clinton in 1992.
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For the seven gentlemen that served as President in my lifetime (as well as the 8th and current occupier of the White House), 1992 appeared to be a real turning-point in how we the American people view our Presidents.
The two major candidates for President in 1992 included Ross Perot. But the main event matched up the tall, stiff, statuesque incumbent President, George H.W. Bush against the cool, silky-smooth saxophonist, the upstart challenger, William Jefferson Clinton
Something about how we expect our Presidents to conduct themselves, and what they represent to us and for us, has fundamentally changed during the 1992 race between those two gentlemen (and Ross Perot, too).
And since the 1992 Presidential Election, it has never been, nor will it ever be the same.
Prior to Bush Sr. and Clinton was Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor who came across during his time in office as everyone’s avuncular uncle or grandpa. Before Reagan was President there was this peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter who became President.
Prior to Carter, for a blink of an eye was President Gerald Ford, best remembered for falling down, as famously captured by SNL. Before Ford, there was the “I am not a crook Richard Nixon”. And prior to Nixon was the good old boy who happened to be a Progressive Democrat, LBJ.
Of course, before when LBJ was only the VP, the Gold Standard for “Modern” Presidents was his original boss, John F. Kennedy (elected on November 8th, 1960).
JFK in many ways started the standard, set the standard and has maintained the standard for how a modern-day President should appear.
He was the first TV President in the history of America, checking all the boxes from
Tall
Handsome
Smart sounding
Telegenic
Groundbreaking (he was the first Catholic President)
All around charismatic presence
People in Television could not have cast a better President, even if they tried.
“In 1950 only 9 percent of American households had a television set, but by 1960 the figure had reached 90 percent”. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: American Women: Resources from the Moving Image Collections "TELEVISION”
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I would argue that the assassination of JFK actually further glorified his Presidency, as his time in office was so brief and marred with such tragedy, that not only did people not want to dare expose his warts, but some of his warts in office never fully formed.
Now, after that brief history lesson on the former Presidents from 1961-1992 has commenced - I ultimately land on Bill Clinton as being our first truly cross-over President, blending culture and politics in a way that the American people now expect from all their candidates for President.
MTV was where it was at in the 1990s, now a relic of a distant past. If you argue otherwise, you either weren’t alive or have a bad or hazy memory of that decade.
Think of it like this - In 1995 (right in the teeth of Clinton’s first term) teenagers and pre-teens were 25 plus years removed from the 1960s hippy-dippy era. In 2025 teenagers and pre-teens are now 25 plus years removed from the 1990s “*Pre-Cell Phone & Grunge Era”
*Yes, people did have cell phones in the 1990s, but they were the size of a shoebox, or the newer ones were these clumsy flip-phones, and nobody outright replaced house phones with cell phones, just yet.
In 2000 Al Gore had a Presidential election stolen… I mean lost a nail-biter to George W. Bush.
The world looks unkindly at this election for a number of reasons, from Clinton costing Gore votes to Ralph Nader costing Gore votes. To George W. Bush just being so well-connected (his brother Jeb Bush was Governor of Florida), that the fix was in early for him to win.
The twilight of the Clinton years created a desire for a more wholesome politician.
What people tend to forget is that Gore twisted himself in pretzels to promote himself as being the bearer of Clinton’s good economic times, yet saying he’s nothing like Bill Clinton
Meanwhile, Bush called himself a “compassionate conservative” while setting up a dream team of advisors and “brilliant” people to serve with him while President.
Heading into this 2000 election, for those that didn’t pay much attention, there appeared to be little difference between the two candidates.
Al Gore choked the Presidency away in too many missteps to keep track of. His willingness to accept defeat so many steps along the way, ensured a Bush Presidency. He should be glad that Trump wasn’t involved in politics during this time, or else he’d eviscerate Gore as an all-time loser, who didn’t know how to win.
You could just picture Trump making some type of statement about Gore playing a part in the 2000 election, and how he’s a loser. I don’t want to be mean, but Gore absolutely blew it.
While 2004 was an interesting election that has drawn comparisons to 2024, I’m not sure if the setting for it quite had the same underlying circumstances. After-all, 2004’s Democratic Primary can be summarized in one catchy phrase:
In politics, the guy that calls the shots, doesn’t always go to the smartest guy in the room, often-times it’s the richest guy. If that wasn’t the case, would a guy like Elon Musk be so prominent in America’s political ecosystem in 2025???
John Kerry, the Junior US Senator from Massachusetts and the husband to the Heinz Ketchup Heiress, to me represented so much wrong with American politics. The guy wasn’t a horrible speaker, but he wasn’t a particularly captivating one. He wasn’t a guy that came off as warm and fuzzy, but I guess he was likeable enough.
Ultimately three things were to Kerry’s benefit in securing the Democratic nominee in 2004:
Vietnam War Veteran
He was tall, and good looking enough (I suppose)
He was married to the Heinz lady, which made him incredibly rich!!!
Bush v. Kerry was often considered the election that pinned the evil of two lessors against one another. Often you hear the lesser of two evils, but instead this election reeked of a partisan food-fight.
JibJab.com "This Land!" - Bush v. Kerry - 2004 Presidential Election
Maybe 2008, between Obama and McCain was a quasi-aberration.
McCain largely avoided hitting his opponent below the belt. And, Obama did seem to have a bit of crossover appeal among partisans, this election. But, just like most things in the 21st century, it was short lived.
Speaking of 2008; I sometimes wonder how our memory of the Obama years is shaping out, as we grow further and further away from that historic election.
We forget that during the 2008 campaign, Obama’s challenger John McCain had a very effective ad about Obama being too big of a celebrity for his own good.
Aside from the first Black President in American history, what 2008 cemented was the need for Presidents to be celebrities. 2012 saw Obama defeat Mitt Romney, a man that was a carbon copy of what a rich plutocrat President should look like.
Let us not forget, that since 1960, the three Democratic Party Presidents that have had the most resonance with the American public and the world at large are Kennedy, Clinton and Obama.
2016 saw a tragic ending to the Clinton dynasty for a variety of reasons inside and outside Hillary’s control. But Trump certainly brought his own kind of celebrity to the White House no matter how you slice it or dice it.
Yet, we also saw something else in 2016. A truly organic populist movement from what was at first glimpse an obscure little-known US Senator out of Vermont who wasn’t even officially a member of the Democratic Party.
Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialist, representing rural Vermont, yet also with NY roots, really took the country by storm.
What the Democratic Party did in handing the nomination to Hillary after Bernie captured the hearts and minds of millions of voters, is a tragedy. Some argue Obama prevented Bernie from being the nominee, as Bernie would have passed Medicare for all, making “Obama Care” look weak in comparison. Some argue the fix was in with the DNC the whole time.
Either way, once Bernie was no longer the guy, the people spoke.
“Fully 12 percent of people who voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries voted for President Trump in the general election. That is according to the data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study — a massive election survey of around 50,000 people”. Here's How Many Bernie Sanders Supporters Ultimately Voted for Trump
I always look at 2020 as the COVID-19 election. And part of me thinks if it weren’t for COVID Trump might have very well held on for re-election. I even got into a debate on a Substack forum with a prominent writer as to whether America would have been better off if Trump won in 2020, instead of losing and re-grouping for four years, and then beating the pants off of Kamala Harris (and Joe Biden) in 2024.
Would Project-2025 or some version of it emerged in Trump's second term, if it were four years earlier? My initial take was that Biden winning in 2020 was better for America, and even though Trump won in 2024, we were still better off having that interlude with Biden for four years.
I’m honestly not sure anymore. Biden comes across as such a tragic figure to me now. Some might argue again that while Obama muffled a Bernie Presidency, Obama certainly put Joe Biden on ice when the 2016 Presidential Candidates were just taking shape.
Should Biden have run in 2016 and potentially been finishing out his 2nd term in 2024? … It’s no use in discussing that now.
The 2024 election was not just a textbook example of gross negligence and complete and utter political malpractice by the Democratic party; 2024 represents the further drifting away from our institutions that our society desperately needs to uphold.
For myself, and millions of others like me, I often get a pulse of the culture through the prism of professional and collegiate sports. Even as an old man, Trump dominated the sports scene, from playing friendly golf games with Professional Golfers, who also cross over as celebrities.
Trump also never missed a UFC event that wouldn’t catch a bunch of eyeballs. He yucked it up with everyone’s favorite meathead…I mean podcaster, Joe Rogan.
Trump used a playbook to great effect, and the Democratic Party was boxed in with Joe friggin Biden, and then his successor, Kamala Harris, who Biden never had any faith in.
In fact, it is now revealed Obama never had any faith in Harris either.
The insecurity this country faces with Trump just in his fourth month in office, is at a height I have never experienced in my lifetime. I’m exhausted by the whiplash of the Trump Era. I’m literally at this point just trying to live my life the best I can. But I have to worry about this clown and how he’s screwing everything up for so many people. Not only that, but he’s also ruining lives.
I honestly have yet to meet a Trump voter who isn’t innately
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