'Set the stage for a demagogue': Presidential historian explains rise of Trump

Former President Donald Trump's uniquely successful rise to power over the Republican Party, and his durable support even in the face of criminal indictments, is a product of unique changes to the cultural and media landscape that have only recently become possible.

That's the view of presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who joined MSNBC's Ari Melber to explain his thinking.

"I'm curious what you think we can make of the history as it unfolds," said Melber. "And what in our past shows us guidance for things that were unprecedented and then have a precedent, like holding these government officials, who are presumed innocent, accountable? Putting them on trial for coup attempts?"

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"I think one way to look at it, Ari, is let's travel back to the not-entirely-wonderful world of the mid-1990s," said Beschloss. "That was a time that two things happened. Number one, the internet was beginning to spread, so you could have social media sites, in this case, right-wing radical sites that spread all sorts of information to potentially billions of people. That had never happened before in history. Before then, it would have to be some guy standing on a street corner with some crazy flyer. That was a big difference in our country."

"The other thing is that we have the beginning of Fox News and imitators in 1996, untethered by fact, very eager to push right-wing radical narratives that didn't connect to actual evidence," Beschloss continued. "I'm not blaming them entirely, but maybe not entirely a coincidence that in 2004, you remember how many Americans thought that Saddam was behind 9/11? Which he was not. After 2008, the number of Americans who thought that Barack Obama was a Muslim, not a Christian? And that went up. That was possible because of this new technology. And particularly that cable network and its imitators. So that set the stage for a demagogue, Donald Trump, to come in, 2016, use this technology — the cable network, websites that would amplify his message, reaching all sorts of people that Richard Nixon couldn't have in 1974, and projecting a view of himself that was not true. A moderate, successful businessman. That's what he campaigned as."

"The point I'm making is, for most of American history, we might have had a demagogue run for president, but that person would have been stopped by a party structure, who would say, you can't have our nomination," added Beschloss. "Or might have been stopped by traditional news media saying, this is what he's saying that is not true, and he should be barred from the presidency, as Richard Nixon was in Watergate."

Watch the video below or at the link.

Michael Beschloss explains how Trump rosewww.youtube.com