Alex Seitzwald

Every decade, you're going to go through something different.

So be really happy with who you are right now because things change.

We're back with John Alsop.

He's a contributing writer at The New Yorker.

All right, John.

So the people calling Graham Plattner authentic are largely members of a kind of consultant class.

When they say that a candidate is authentic, what do the politicos mean?

So those are personality traits.

But with Platner, there's also some like visual signifiers, aren't there?

Is Graham Plattner authentic, for real, for real, in the way that the political class has kind of mapped onto him?

Where do our current ideas about authenticity in politicians, where do they come from?

You said this has been going on for generations.

You cited Carter.

Do you think it changes our politics?

Do you think it changes ultimately who ends up in office and therefore how the United States, the sort of path that the United States ends up on?

John Alsop writes for The New Yorker.

Danielle Hewitt produced today and Amin El-Sadi edited.

Patrick Boyd and David Tadishore are our engineers and Gabriel Donatov checked the facts.

I'm Noelle King.

It's Today Explained.