Few among us would fault someone for wanting to keep his or her most unfavorable traits or personality quirks hidden whenever possible. Certainly a presidential candidate is no exception. But when such a candidate deliberately cultivates a public image that is almost entirely at extreme odds with his actual nature and historical record — which show a pattern of brash recklessness, irresponsibility and placing ambition over country — we can only hope the truth is revealed in time for voters to take that into account as they cast their ballots. Rolling Stone has performed just such a public service…

In the final weeks preceding every presidential election, the media drive the American electorate into extreme fits of either boredom or anxiety, depending on one’s level of engagement in the electoral process, by hopelessly obsessing over polls and a mysterious segment of voters that — it turns out — may barely even exist at all. Entire truck caravans laden with barrels of ink — and their present-day electronic equivalent — are devoted each election cycle to analyzing the thoughts, attitudes and leanings of the “undecided” voter.