Trump is not an exceptional phenomenon.  Rather, he is a symptom of a long running trend: the fusion of the entertainment industry with politics. I'll look at the comic strip Little Orphan Annie as a precursor to Trumpism and also the trajectory of entertainment and politics from Ronald Reagan to Sarah Palin to Trump.

Jeet Heer is a Senior Editor of the New Republic. He's the author of two books (In Love With Art and Sweet Lechery). He's also edited or contributed to 50 other books, including A Comics Studies Reader, which was awarded a prize by the Popular Studies Association's annual conference.  He is a well-known commentator on current political issues, on Twitter and other social media

SNID Talks run most Thursdays during the school term.  These free lectures are open to everyone to attend.