2016 Postmortem

This is particularly true, given possible developments of parties in the future.

Think how much things have changed since Bill Clinton ran in 1992 - entities that are now large institutions, hadn't ever been heard of - Yahoo (arguably, has come and gone), Google, Facebook - and even the internet itself

Compare this to the 'old guard' of American companies:

Ford - created 1903

General Electric - 1892

But both of these companies are 49 and 38 years (respectively) newer than the creation of the last political party, the GOP.

Trump didn't just defy the expectations of the Democratic party, he defied the GOP as well, breaking every rule known to politics to do it, at a fraction of the budget. Howard Dean was the first social media candidate, President Obama perfected it. Trump created news cycles with Tweets. Sanders went a very long way with mostly small donors. Jeb Bush had perhaps the largest war chest, yet went nowhere and out with record dispatch. So much so that many have already forgotten him

This election wasn't left vs right, it was populist vs establishment. I remember being bored in 'flyover' territory years ago, nothing but fundamentalist Christian radio for the drive, and tired of my own CDs. But it was interesting, a guy talking about how evangelicals were being 'played' by the GOP, strung along for social issues, but sold out on economic ones, the issues they raise their families on, and pointing out that the biggest 'family value' is feeding it. They're not all as dumb as you think. And they could be shaken out of the GOP, not into this party perhaps, but something else. (a lot of them have already become independent, George Will, for instance)

With the advance of technology, the 'proof of concept' of Trump's completely unconventional campaign style, I would not be shocked to see the rise of a 3rd populist party, somewhat libertarian on social issues but populist on economic ones. I think it could pull 1/4 of Democrats, 1/4 of Republicans, and 1/4 of Independents, giving it parity with other parties almost overnight. Please understand I'm not advocating such a thing, I'm stating that such a possibility is out there and must be considered, when assessing next elections. They say generals always fight the last war, but true preparation means some vision of a possible landscape. Ross Perot tried this in 1992, but it was 15 minutes before the internet, and still in the 'old rules' era. I don't see the 'Reform party' coming back, as it went FUBAR, but something fresh could start up