It usually takes longer for things to go this far south. Years, actually.

For example, back in 1980, when Ronald Reagan was running against President Jimmy Carter, he concluded their televised debate with a question that essentially ended Carter’s presidency.

Reagan looked into the camera and asked the viewing audience, who had lived through Carter’s term, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

This was after Carter had been in office for nearly four years. It took a while for things to change over that time, and for Reagan to know that he was asking what essentially was a rhetorical question.

And even then, it wasn’t as if the nation was spiraling into a recession.

On Apr. 3, on the other hand, after Donald Trump has been in office fewer than 100 days, you woke up to headlines reading, “

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