Things change over time, De. I believe the frog (i.e., the American people) sitting in the pot on top of the stove was not feeling the heat near as much in 2012 as it did by 2016. Layer by layer, more and more corruption and overt disdain for the rule of law accumulated from 2012 to 2016. I think it finally reached such a level that the majority of Americans could no longer ignore it. Enter Donald J. Trump to continuously highlight the fact that the water surrounding the American people was reaching the boiling point.
Obama's appeal was more a cult-personality thing ... and Democrats are far more susceptible to being led around by the nose by smooth-talking charlatans because they tend to emote, rather than think. I submit that Trump tapped into a movement that was already percolating, rather than creating a movement out of whole cloth that was based on his not inconsiderable personality.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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