It’s so weird that he is leading, or in 2nd place in just about any Republican candidate poll. Hypothetically, if he were running as a Democrat, how do you think he’d be polling?
He strokes the id of the Republican base. Only about a quarter of self-identified Republicans vote in primaries, and they tend to be the most fanatical.
If he gets the nom, he’ll go down like Goldwater.
There is a section of the electorate that wants every brown person deported, that thinks being gay should be illegal, that believes in their heart Obamacare death panels are coming for them, that the solution to gun violence is guns for everyone, that if things keep going as they have Christianity will be outlawed and they will be fed to the lions. Republicans keep courting them for votes with absolutely ZERO intentions of actually doing any of the things they want, they might be, i dunno 10%? of the population but they cannot win at any level if they lose that ten percent and they cannot listen to that 10% on absolutely any issues without alienating the other 90. So those guys are very angry, and honestly they probably have a point. They just handed Republicans a massive historic win and they are going to get nothing at all for it. Anyone who comes out and loudly and vocally supports their idiotic concerns is going to get their support, specially if they are not a real politician.
I think more or less this, but with a different slant. There was a bit by Lewis Black I remember seeing about how rich people are always looking for new and exciting ways to spend their money instead of just more houses, cars, and yachts. In his case, it was a personal ball washer, but politics has, heretofore, been largely untapped as the playground of the rich.
That is, sure, the rich have played vicariously through endorsing certain candidates or have Super PACs or whatever. But they also have agenda regarding where they want those politicians to go. I think Trump is just at the point where he is wealthy enough and conceited enough that he doesn’t care what he may or may not actually think is best and can just have fun with it. Seriously, if you had $10 Billion and you’re a narcissist on his level, why not have fun running for president? Why not just say what’s on your mind and not really caring about whether it polls well or not? What else are you going to spend your time and money on? His show could only get him so much of that, he needed to up the ante.
The funny part is, some people will inevitably agree with his opinions, no matter what they are, that’s just the inevitability of having such a large audience. Some people I’ve even heard say that, while they don’t agree with his opinions so much, they find it refreshing that someone is speaking their mind and not just saying what they think will poll well. And others seem to be favorable to him just because he’s gotten so much press. Someone that’s always in the news, we’ll tend to get strong opinions about, either in favor of or against. And, of course, let us not forget he’s pretty much made himself out to be the Anti-Obama, particularly because of how he’d previously been one of the major voices in the Birther movement. He just seems to be having a perfect storm right now where all these factors seem to be working in his favor and he’s leading in the polls.
But let’s also not forget that four years ago, pretty much every Republican candidate that had even the most remote chance led in the polls at one point, so I don’t think many people actually expect this to last. One can only speak his mind so much before he eventually says something that it turns off the “at least he’s honest” or “I’m familiar with him” crowds.
The closest thing we’re likely to get to Jean-Marie Le Pen.
If he does go third-party, I suggest he call it the National Front.
I predict he’ll drop out of the race, before the October premier of his stupid show. The rift between him and his network will be magically and quietly erased. Advertisers will line up! And I’d bet the network news, on the network that hosts his show, would keep him in the news even if he didn’t say another word! (Like he could EVER do that!) Because they are totally in on the stunt, I suspect.
Remember he still hasn’t filed the documents.
Aw, c’mon, you *know *he’ll call it the Trump Party.
Trump filed the documents.
OK, the National Trump?
But certainly not Trump National Front. Splitters!
He could call it the T-Party for short, which would pick up votes from Teabaggers who are easily confused, which would be most of them.
Keep in mind, he also made his money in real estate. A profession that doesn’t exactly require you to be a genius.
And he’s leading the polls because he’s a celebrity and stands out when surrounded by the other dozen or so identical Republican drones.
Like **BobLibDem **said. Trump appeals to the “loud angry stupid idiot” vote. The white middle-class and working class who believe “they” are coming to rape, rob, steal their jobs and guns and cancel Christmas. The sort of people who believe their “right” to be a racist homophobe are being violated. If the internet is any indication, there are a shitload of them.
Hopefully the new president will respond to the joy of his voters by permitting New York to change it’s name to Trumpton.
Trump — Romney 2016 !
Imagine this scenario - Trump gets elected and in his inaugural address, he says, “Obama - you’re fired!”.
Oh, well, we can dream…
Yeah, I wanted to put in a shot about “what else is he going to do with his money?” but you said it much better.
Every day that Trump stays in this race is a magical gift.
It would be hilarious and pathetic if he stayed in and actually became the president.
Then he would find that being president is not as easy as taking shots at the president.
I can just see the first crisis with Russia and Trump saying “Putin, your fired” and Putin then flying over to Washington and uses his martial arts to kick Trumps butt.
Too bad it will not happen but it is fun to think about
Is there any way we can arrange this without going through all of the inconvenience of actually having him become president?
I dunno, maybe if he insults Putin enough, there will be some Polonium-210 in his tea…
Close.
Cigar.