WASHINGTON — A consortium of prominent political analysts confirmed Thursday that while searching for Donald Trump's enduring presence in American politics, they accidentally located the former president himself, seated in a booth at a Steak 'n Shake off I-65 near Merrillville, Indiana.

The panel, convened by the Brookings Institution to dissect the "spectral influence" of Trumpism on local elections, realized their error when a junior fellow cross-referenced the GPS coordinates of their polling models with Yelp reviews. "We were deep into regressing the data on low-propensity voter enthusiasm in the Terre Haute suburbs," said lead researcher Dr. Glenn Holloway, "when we noticed the statistical epicenter of his 'enduring presence' kept resolving to Section 3, Table 12, where a 78-year-old man was sending back an overcooked Frisco Melt."

The analysts described the discovery as "methodologically humiliating," noting that while they had spent six months quantifying an intangible political vibe, the actual subject was ordering a side of onion rings to go. He left a 18 percent tip.