This produces another irony: Trump, despite being literally the former president, and Kennedy, despite being literally a Kennedy, have both worked to depict themselves as outsiders. For Trump to claim to be an outsider requires asking voters to forget about the four years he was president—which, to be fair, does seem to be a central aim of his campaign. We likely won’t hear Biden touting himself as an outsider candidate, which produces a third irony of the 2024 presidential race: Notwithstanding his anti-system policies, Biden is running as the institutionalist candidate who will preserve American democracy, while Trump is working to destroy it—all in an effort to protect and serve the most entrenched interests around.