Obama ignored the rural areas following the fiscal crisis (this is not true in actual fact, but the perception, which carries much greater weight than real facts, yes?), thus they turned to someone who they felt “listened” to them. Bernie did, and while in many ways Bernie may have been a horrible president - idealistic, not grounded in reality, unable to make compromises (as Obama said, Bernie is a “prophet in the wilderness, pointing to the way we should go, but not a king, able to make the tough choices”, paraphrased) - Hillary’s and more relevant the DNC’s treatment of him pushed many into the act of voting “for” Trump, as a protest “against” her.

As the story goes, his wife Melania cried that night that he won, and not tears of joy. Trump himself even briefly explored turning down the offer… he never had any intention of winning, it was all a publicity stunt for his next TV show, as it always was, every time he did it. Trump - while he is a prime mover / cause all on his own - is nonetheless also a “victim” of the set of circumstances that put him into office, and may yet do so again. The media claims to have learned something from the whole event, but has it, really, when it continues to do exactly as it did before?

Those who do not learn from their history… will be given unlimited chances to do so still yet again and again!:-P