Douthat on plausibility:

"Reagan’s path to power in 1979 and 1980 didn’t just involve selling voters on Goldwaterite conservatism; it also involved selling Reagan as a pragmatist as well as an ideologue, a plausible president and not just the leader of a movement.

For Sanders to become a Democratic front-runner again, that might be the pitch he needs to make — not that he’s the truest lefty, the purest socialist, but that it’s safe to vote for him even if you aren’t."

Read the article here.

Once again, we live in an era of implausible presidents and implausible movements.