Donald McGovern?
The presidential election of 2024 has ironic echoes of a race from 52 years ago
In today’s Current magazine, I make an unlikely comparison between the presidential campaigns of 1972 and 2024. In many ways, they have little in common. In 1972, incumbent President Richard Nixon’s re-election seemed like a foregone conclusion; in 2024, it’s currently shaping up as a nail-biter. But Donald Trump’s successful seizure of the GOP machinery does resemble that of Democratic nominee George McGovern in 1972 in the way each candidate pulled both candidates outside the political mainstream. Other points of comparison: both Republican candidates resorted to underhanded and illegal tactics, and the race has a strong age dimension (the young in ’72 and the old in ’24). Have a look!
Later this week: a (new) excerpt from the third revised — expanded and updated — edition of my book Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen in American Life.