I can’t help but notice there are numerous parallels between the Republicans and the Democrats this election cycle even though all anyone can say it seems is that “this never happened before”….here are a few of the parallels…
- Hillary’s opposition on both sides of the aisle, Bernie and Trump, are 70 or over
- This is lucky for Hillary as she would be the oldest president after Reagan, yet both Bernie and Trump are older
- Hillary’s opposition on both sides of the aisle are both highly polarizing characters whose previous presidential runs had been laughed off the air by the mainstream media, but this season they both have been pumped like mad by a “reluctant” media that can’t seem to help itself
- polarizing opponents are a Godsend to a candidate like Hillary with unprecedentedly high unlikeability scores
- Both races have been unpredictable and emotional
- Both Bernie and Trump eschewed Big Money and SuperPacs
- Both Bernie and Trump are from New York
- Bernie and Trump are from New York and Hillary was a Senator from New York–not generally a positive on the national stage
Just to be fair, as Hillary has long known Rupert Murdoch, head of Fox, so too has Trump long known Jeff Zucker, head of CNN.
- Bernie and Trump are from New York and Hillary was a Senator from New York–not generally a positive on the national stage
- Both the Republican and Democratic primaries were tight races to the bitter end
- Both conventions are highly contentious with supporters of the runners up calling foul and threatening to make trouble
- Both Hillary and Trump presented as distancing from loyal allies (Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Corey Lewandowski, respectively)
- Both Hillary and Trump picked plain vanilla unknown politicians as running mates
- Both conventions opening to contention and chaos
- Both conventions open with calls for a vote to change the rules on the floor – for the RNC to unpledge delegates, for the DNC to do away with superdelegates
Notice any others?
Update (7/28/2016): I just thought of this one…Bernie was always a self-described “Independent” not a registered Democrat and Trump was a registered Democrat until 2009 (right after Hillary graciously conceded defeat and joined the Obama camp.)
Another parallel worthy of note is not between Bernie and Trump but between Trump and Bill Clinton. Of the handful of people in the whole country who is actually listed with Bill Clinton in convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book, Hillary sure got lucky that one of them is running against her in the general election–Trump is literally the only Republican I can think of who simply could not bring up this scandal. Actually, he can’t really open up the issue of horrendous sexual allegations at all given his own history from leaving his wife and the mother of his children for a sexpot (and then leaving her for someone even hotter), to being accused of rape or attempted rape not only by his own wife but also by others such as Jill Harth and “Katie Johnson.” Though neither Bill nor The Donald have been tried and convicted on these charges, such testimony can be very damaging (just ask Bill Cosby!) and, lucky for Hillary, it would not be in Trump’s interest to pursue her “feminist” talking point’s greatest weakness: letting Bill back in the White House.