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This essay is structured around a review of the ‘second wave’ of scholarship extending Stephen Skowronek’s presidentially centered political time theory. It introduces this theory, which is arguably the most prominent account of American long cycles being studied by Political Scientists today. Then it highlights how acolytes are making progress applying political time theory in the Comparative Politics, Public Law, and Americanist / Presidency fields. Finally, the essay turns to bring original thought to questions of interest to all students of historical cycles. Namely, it considers the nature of political time and the drivers that cause the cycle to turn.