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Tall and imposing physically, both had commanding voices that could hold a crowd for an hour or more. Having made a national name for themselves, both men then pivoted to politics and found success as live performers. Generations later, the sustained NBC-TV success of The Apprentice and its celebrity sequel would make Trump a household name in much of America. For Bryan, it was the editor's title at the Omaha World-Herald when he was 34, which allowed him to travel widely and become an influential speaker.

#Ronald reagan library monkey free

He soon became an outspoken champion for farmers, free trade and 'free silver' – an effort to ease the repayment of debts by breaking away from the gold standard for fixing the value of currency.īryan was a lawyer and Trump a businessman, but both had found 'second careers' in high-profile roles in the media. Born and educated in Illinois, Bryan moved to Nebraska after law school and was elected to Congress at 30. 'Populism' was in common use as a political label when Bryan emerged on the national scene. Battling over a term with a complex legacy And even if he were to lose the popular vote a third time, he might prevail again in the Electoral College - as he did after Hillary Clinton outpolled him by 2.8 million votes. That enabled him to appoint three Supreme Court justices and hundreds of federal court judges and leave a mark on federal policy as well as national politics. Whatever similarities attach to Bryan and Trump, there will always be a defining difference between the two: Trump won the Electoral College in 2016 and served a term in the White House. The NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist Poll released in April even found that to be the view of 68% of independents, a large and growing group. His status can only be compared to that of an actual incumbent president, which many of his supporters continue to claim he is.īut some of the same polling that shows Trump dominating among Republican primary voters shows a clear majority of voters overall do not want him back in the White House. He is as formidable within the GOP as any nonincumbent presidential candidate has ever been at this point in the cycle.

The proliferation of rival candidates only reproduces the dynamic that elevated him over a crowded GOP field in 2016. But right now, Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Of course, it is far too soon to know how 2024 will turn out. Beyond that, if a nominated Trump failed to win the popular vote for a third time, he would match the record of Bryan, who lost the popular vote for the White House in 1896, 19. We can be sure Trump will continue striving to strike the populist chord as a candidate.

We are likely to see that linkage between Trump and Bryan again in the 2024 election cycle. Yet comparisons between the two began cropping up early in 2016, right about the time Trump's candidacy was bringing the word 'populist' back into the daily political conversation. Trump and William Jennings Bryan would appear to have little in common beyond their middle initial. Former President Donald Trump greets supporters at a campaign rally on Apin Manchester, N.H.īorn generations apart in vastly different worldly circumstances, Donald J.