Well done. A history of the Troll in the US would be a very worthy topic, and one I lack the time to get into right now. I would conjecture that the nation was effectively founded by Trolls: Paine, Franklin, and Jefferson, et al. rose to power by being trollish, if not barbaric, toward the British crown. That trollish streak runs strong through the US throughout its history in its disgust for other societies and for immigrants. I think that trollishnness was never stronger than in the period of the 1890s to 1910s. The political rhetoric of that time is quite shocking compared to today. Your comments on the Bushes are quite insightful. I would add Gingrich, DeLay and others around that time too who collectively contributed to the current disgusting political environment in which both major parties are hostile toward internal dissent much less toward each other.