2016 isn't the 'year of the political outsider'

Insiders are still doing quite well for themselves, thank you very much

Bernie Sanders is progressing better than most predicted.
(Image credit: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images)

The conventional wisdom goes like this: 2016 is the year of the political outsider. As one, the electorate has risen up to reject the stale, be-suited, lobbyist boot-licking, establishment-approved drones, and has instead opted for edgy populist authenticity — right or left, it hardly matters. Poofy white hair and gaudy orange hair are in; sober perfect coiffures are out. People are sick of broken promises and bank bailouts, and the establishment can do nothing but tremble weakly before all that righteous democratic wrath.

That's the narrative that's generally been used to explain the surprising success of Bernie Sanders on the Democrats' side and the stunning ascendancy of Donald Trump on the Republicans'. The Vermont senator is a self-declared socialist who romped to victory over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and who continues to win the hearts of young voters, despite Clinton's persistent leads elsewhere. Trump, meanwhile, is a businessman and reality television star who has never held public office. Yet he has won primary after primary with a mix of blustering braggadocio and sneering appeals to anti-immigrant nativism.

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Noah Berlatsky

Noah Berlatsky is a freelance writer whose work appears in The New Republic, The Guardian, and other venues. He is the author of Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism from Rutgers University Press.