Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2013 that struck down pre-clearance requirements from the Voting Rights Act, Republican-controlled state legislatures jumped at the opportunity to impose restrictions on who could register and vote.

Laws implemented in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Florida are said to have had major impacts on the outcome of the presidential election in those states. Republicans in Arizona, Texas, Kansas, as well as others continue to explore legislation clearly aimed at suppressing the Democratic vote.

If we want to learn a little bit more about Trump's path to the presidency, we can look to recent history. It's not actually totally unprecedented.

Spain, going through its own very tough economic times, has vaulted the populist-left Podemos to the fore, seemingly out of nowhere. Podemos is a bunch of political outsiders with a Marxist approach to campaigning -- and they adopted this style very deliberately. They have a lot to teach us about what might become the new politics of the 21st century.