Arguably, the Jacksonian era was the "second American revolution," and the Confederate rebellion the third, retrograde and thankfully failed one. I think today

Arguably, the Jacksonian era was the "second American revolution," and the Confederate rebellion the third, retrograde and thankfully failed one. I think today's political climate is more similar to the 1930s, when widespread disaffection led to adherence to all sorts of populist movements and figures, from the Grange to the Wobblies, Huey Long (Trump's closest antecedent) to Father Coughlin (whose modern echo is perhaps Ted Cruz), and into dangerous fringe groups like the Klan and the Bund. What is concerning now is that the centrifugal tendencies are accelerating in our government, leading to self-sustaining structural dysfunctions that will prompt further contempt for the government and lead to a greater desire for a "man on horseback" figure to set things right. Trump, I fear, is just the beginning.