Just like Thiel said before becoming the most hated famous person in the valley, voters were desperate for an outsider. The politicians == liar equivalency was

Just like Thiel said before becoming the most hated famous person in the valley, voters were desperate for an outsider. The politicians == liar equivalency was well established in people's minds and they wanted to try something different. "Drain the swamp" was an amazing slogan that worked perfectly for them. (Italian here). And as an Italian I will say that sounds like what Berlusconi was riding on during his first election.