The (Re)Rise of the Blowhard Culture in American Public Discourse.
This is a remarkably insightful look into the historical and cultural precedent for the carnival barkers stomping through this cycle's U.S. presidential campaign, and the bloviators wheeled in to fill the round-the-clock needs of the cable news channels.
PDF of 'fake' front page imagining a President Trump: http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/04/09/etrump/JPOQJZK9hUBdBx5rdPkWFK/story.html