Everyone points to Sarah Palin as the moment the GOP shifted - but in a way, Herman Cain laid the foundation for Trump's campaign in 2016. They were very similar in scope: both played up the outsider card, both were businessmen, both were largely dismissed early on, both played to ignorance and both trolled their way to front-runner status in the GOP primary.
Focus on the troll part, though. Cain was a troll. Quoting Pokemon, his ad with the dude smoking, his 999 economic plan that was lifted, literally, from Sim City, he was a troll just like Trump. And the right-wing ate it up because he was trollin' to own the libs.
Both also had to push back against infidelity.
But there is one difference:
Cain was black.
Trump wasn't.
Cain was sunk by the allegations of sexual assault. Trump never was touched by the countless accusations.
Had Cain been white, there is a good chance he survives those scandals and goes on to win the GOP nomination.
He would have been laughed out of the election by Obama in 2012, and likely Trump never rises to power with his campaign mirroring the joke of Herman Cain's ... but it wasn't meant to be because he was a black guy and even black conservatives struggle with racism.
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