[quote=temeculaguy]
I figured out why Trump is so popular, why the pendulum has swung against PC. It’s precisely because of comments like this. [/quote]
Interesting theory. It’s not the conclusion I’ve come to.
A few months ago when Trump’s nomination started looking like a real possibility, I started really getting curious. I think that I stumbled across a few articles that helped explain his appeal in a way that seems plausible to me.
For the last few elections, the Republican nominee has been someone who started out a fairly moderate Republican but was forced way right to get the votes for the nomination during the primaries. My theory here is that the Republican Powers That Be (PTB) knew it would take someone fairly moderate to get the independent votes (needed in the general election). Think McCain and Romney here. The PTB knew the candidate would be forced right during the primaries, but that the general electorate would forget about that as the candidate came back to center in the period between the convention and the election.
This didn’t work out so well for them either time. Not enough independents forgot about statements during the primary season for McCain or Romney to get elected, and the far righters in the Republican party are not happy about the return to center part of the campaigns. This is amplified by the cleansing that has gone on in the Republican party in the last decade: candidates that weren’t right enough were ousted, and as the party became more and more extreme, the moderate Republican voters left to become independents. This makes the Republican party membership more and more extreme.
And a little more fuel was added to the fire: the Supreme Court lifted the restrictions on campaign contributions. This scared me greatly thinking that rich Republicans would buy elections. Problem is, it infuriated the rank and file Republican membership even more! They felt the same way and it convinced them (rightly, in my opinion) that their vote wasn’t being heard, that their party was being controlled by puppeteers and that they were merely puppets!
The result of all this: the extreme right Republicans (most of the party now) have said screw it, we want someone extreme right this time. Not someone who drifted right during the primaries. Someone who talks to us in raw terms with a devil may care attitude. And they picked Trump as the messenger.
I doubt he has a snowball’s chance in November, but who knows. If Clinton gets indicted (not likely), then that changes everything. And some Novembers are mighty cold after all.
