Same Circus, Different Clowns: Nothing Has Changed Since Hunter S. Thompson's '72 Campaign Coverage

In preparation for the 2024 election (and out of love for Thompson's writing), I read "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72." To my surprise, I found more similarities between Thompson's words (being 52 years old) and today's political climate than I had previously anticipated. There were many moments that reflected the last five years: the state of both major political parties, the Trump/Harris differences, accusations of voter fraud, and the "MAGA cult," to name a few. I also have a sneaking suspicion that these words will be true for many years to come.

Although I didn't pick up the book thinking it would lead to a Long Knuckle article, I eventually realized that Thompson's words provided humor, solace, misery, wisdom, or catharsis—perhaps all the reasons we elect to pick up books in the first place. To wit, I wanted to share some of these lines, compiled into six buckets:

• General American Politics
• President Donald Trump
• Vice President Kamala Harris
• Trump & Harris
• The Republican Party
• The Democratic Party

Feel free to skip around; this compilation doesn't need to be read straight through. Some lines are accompanied by sources or my own thoughts, while other lines are left standalone. For any lines that are not contiguous (whether by appearing in different paragraphs or different parts of the same paragraph), I separated the quotes with a slash (/).

As a final note, the pages I am referencing are with respect to the 40^th Anniversary Edition released in June 2012.

General American Politics

• Page 34: "The prevailing wisdom today is that any candidate in a standard-brand, two-party election will get about 40 percent of the vote." (According to Reuters, Trump won 49.9% of the popular vote and ~57.9% of the electoral vote, while Harris won 48.3% of the popular vote and ~41.9% of the electoral vote.)
• Page 74: "What seems like mass paranoia in Washington is really just a sprawling, hyper-tense boredom—and the people who actually live and thrive here in the great web of Government are the first ones to tell you, on the basis of long experience, that the name or even the Party Affiliation of the next President won't make any difference at all, except on the surface." / "The leaves change, they say, but the roots stay the same. So just lie back and live with it." (Public sentiment does not seem to agree with this adage. Most would be quick to say that Trump's/Harris's policies are too different to elicit an indifferent response.)
• Page 79: "But they all seemed very depressed; not only about the '72 election, but about the whole long-range future of politics and democracy in America."
• Pages 96-97: "'It's taken me half the goddamn day to figure out what it is that bothers me about these people.'" / "'I've covered a lot of Democratic campaigns,' he continued, 'but I’ve never felt out of place before—never personally uncomfortable with the people.'" / "'It's obvious—and I've finally figured out why.'" / "'It's because these people act like goddamned Republicans! That's the problem. It took me a while, but I finally figured it out.'" (These comments come from one of Edmund Muskie's (Democratic candidate) staffers. Although I surmise that the political atmosphere of 52 years ago was milquetoast in comparison to today's climate, I believe these comments have a way of hinting at Jean-Pierre Faye's "Horseshoe Theory"—which, interestingly enough, was coined in Faye's 1972 book "Théorie du récit: introduction aux langages totalitaires" (Theory of Narrative: Introduction to Totalitarian Languages). It is worth noting that this theory is heavily scrutinized for its reductive premise in comparing both far-left and far-right political ideologies. Nevertheless, many comparisons continue to be made regarding left- and right-leaning people taking on their opposing party's views and/or behaviors. Although this would take too long to analyze in this article, if you are interested in a Long Knuckle article about this, email me and I'll be sure to make note!)
• Page 107: "'Remember when you go out to vote tomorrow that the eyes of America are upon you, all the live-long day. The eyes of America are upon you, they will not go away.'—Senator George McGovern at a rally at the University of Miami the night before the Florida primary." (McGovern's quote has a religious undertone and is underpinned by psychological tactics best articulated by panopticism and the Hawthorne effect. Religion continues to be present in contemporary politics with Trump's rallies starting in prayer as an example.)
• Page 110: "Crowds seem to turn him off, instead of on. He lacks that sense of drama—that instinct for timing & orchestration that is the real secret of success in American politics." (This comment was made in reference to McGovern. Political ads, debates, and conventions—to name a few—continue to become increasingly more dramatized, oftentimes with a greater correlation between drama and political success.)
• Page 111: "Kennedy, like Wallace, was able to connect with people on some kind of visceral, instinctive level that is probably both above & below 'rational politics.'" (Trump's McDonalds and garbage truck bits had a way of humorously appealing to the masses without appearing cringy. This worked well to connect with voters on an emotional, rather than intellectual, level. However, this only works if accomplished naturally, unlike Hillary Clinton's "Pokémon Go to the polls" comment.)
• Page 114: "'The reason people didn't vote for Ed Muskie here is that they didn't have any reason to.'" (This quote comes from "a nameless 'key aide/advisor.'")
• Page 146: "'I'll only answer your question if you promise not to print it.'" (This was presented as a hypothetical response from somebody related to Muskie's campaign.)
• Page 166: "According to the political pros, there is no other way to get elected: Go out and meet the voters on their own turf, shake their hands, look them straight in the eye, and introduce yourself… there is no other way." (Many attributed Trump's success in the 2024 election to being more available to voters, whether by conducting more campaign rallies or by appearing on more podcasts.)
• Page 185: "'I will seek support wherever I can get it, if I can convince them to be for me.'" (This quote comes from Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.) / "Quotes like this are hard to come by—especially in presidential elections, where most candidates are smart enough to know better than to call a press conference and then announce—on the record—an overweening eagerness to peddle their asses to the highest bidder."
• Page 206: "… a sense of doomed alienation on your own turf is nothing new."
• Page 208: "… now that the Republicans are running The War, the Democrats are against it…"
• Page 224: "All he was offering, he said, was a rare and admittedly longshot opportunity to vote for an honest and intelligent presidential candidate." / "Nobody argued with the things McGovern said. He was right, of course—but nobody took him very seriously, either…" (This reminded me of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and his history as a presidential candidate.)
• Page 312: "First, he tacks in one direction, and this is reported. Then he tacks back the other way, and that too is reported. But the reports of these movements do not necessarily reveal where he is ultimately headed." / "McGovern apparently wants it that way. Let others seem to speak for you. Hint at your intentions, but don't state them directly. Retreat, move forward. Shave the angle of your words. Keep your objective sufficiently flexible so that, if you must, you can always change it."
• Page 319: "Fuck the polls. They always follow reality instead of predicting it..."
• Page 469: "We've come to the point where every four years this national fever rises up—this hunger for the Saviour, the White Knight, the Man on Horseback—and whoever wins becomes so immensely powerful, like Nixon is now, that when you vote for President today you're talking about giving a man dictatorial power for four years."
• Page 469: "The whole framework of the presidency is getting out of hand. It's come to the point where you almost can't run unless you can cause people to salivate and whip on each other with big sticks. You almost have to be a rock star to get the kind of fever you need to survive in American politics."