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How­ev­er the pres­i­den­tial elec­tion turns out, one thing is clear, half the coun­try will believe that the man offi­cial­ly sit­ting in the White House is an ille­git­i­mate pretender.

And that’s the way it’s been through­out this century.

The cri­sis of pres­i­den­tial legit­i­ma­cy real­ly kicked into gear in 2000. Before that peo­ple might hate the pres­i­dent, but the oppos­ing polit­i­cal par­ty wouldn’t insist on his ille­git­i­ma­cy. After­ward every pres­i­dent has been treat­ed as an ille­git­i­mate crim­i­nal to be opposed and dri­ven out.