Fantastic essay, Cole. This is an amazing pastiche of the American Zeitgeist and how movies have informed politics (and vice-versa). I've never read such a perfect distillation of the similarities between the 1980 election and that of today. This is educational and terrifying and I have to say you've really messed me up here. After reading your words, it feels as if the coming election is a foregone conclusion even if the latest iteration of John Wayne is a bloated and profane parody of itself. Yikes.