Donald Trump's triumph in the race for the Republican nomination is no reason to stop seeing his act as stand-up comedy. Perhaps his remarkable run, however it ends, is a harbinger of things to come, and future races may well be won by the person with the best stand-up routine.
Don Waisanen of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs, who has devoted himself to the study of political humor, wrote in a 2013 article that until the 1990s, "by and large, the public thought politicians were supposed to be serious."
"From the 1990s through the present, comedy and politics have become inseparable, with candidates like Arnold Schwarzenegger announcing their gubernatorial ambitions on 'The Tonight Show,' and figures like Sarah Palin paradoxically both being mocked by and interjecting themselves into programs like 'Saturday Night Live.' This evolving trend of what some have termed infotainment continues unabated through popular programs like 'The Daily Show.' "