Looking at this from the perspective of 2020, this couldn’t happen. By this time the entire country just lost its sense of humor. Misinformation exploded as culture and info wars became truer than ever, lived out in the climactic storming of the Capitol on January, 6, 2021.
Who would have thought that in 2016, when a lone individual who disagreed with the eventual Leader, and could stand with the Leader’s people, as if this was the United States of America, a place where the dream of free speech, being kept as peaceful performance, is a bit unreal, especially in hindsight.