" However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. "

President George Washington FAREWELL ADDRESS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1796

According to Reuters, Edison exit polling data showed that Independents contributed to 34% of votes cast in the 2024 General Election (matching registered Republicans at 34% of the share and surpassing registered Democrats at 32% of total votes)

As someone who changed to Independent after Mitt Romney was nominated as the Republican Candidate in the 2012 election (I'm still bitter about Ron Paul😭)...I have felt the shift in a lot of voters, maybe just in my close circles or even the Gen-X population, moving away from the establishment bureaucracy that our generation has grown to distrust and loathe over the past three decades.

Personally, I think this is what I believe is what carried Trump across the finish line. Love him or hate him, what you see is what you get. People are tired of getting played, IMHO.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?