Dobbs entered the election as an outsider. While he eventually did develop his own issue-based platform, his beyond-the-beltway-ness was his main appeal: If the political system is broken, surely only someone with no ties to it can be the one to save us. Likewise, a certain 2016 presidential candidate has risen on a wave of anger about the state of politics, holding up his outsider status as proof he is the one who can change things for the better. Of course, Dobbs was an endearing, liberal-minded Jon Stewart-type figure. Our outsider makes our current situation a lot more bleak — and it certainly seems unlikely that he would back down with any grace, even if he did somehow happen to win in error.Of course, the appeal of Man of the Year might have something to do with how the American people are looking for something different in an actual president than they might in a fictional commander-in-chief. A Refinery29 poll conducted in August showed, unsurprisingly, The West Wing's President Bartlet is our readers' favorite fictional president. But just three characters below the Aaron Sorkin orator is House of Card's Frank Underwood, an actual murderer. Some viewers want their TV and movie presidents to remind them that things in IRL Washington could be worse. Others want to watch an idealistic picture of the Shakespeare quoting leader we could have.But watching Man of the Year as my Facebook feed fills with news of this election cycle, one thing is clear: In these unsettling times, political satire that hits too close to home is no longer funny.