Peter - Yes and No. Trump has not been supported by the far right. In fact, I believe the vote for him is one against the establishment. We have too many political cronies and Congress is all about raising money to keep getting themselves elected. The far right supported Ted Cruz. The same thing has been happening with Bernie Sanders. Those who are against the establishment (Bush and Clinton) are voting against Clinton. This is one big anti-establishment movement that is going on. Primaries are really very undemocratic and should not be viewed with that much emphasis on their outcome. They are controlled by state party bosses... often the will of the people is not heard. For instance, super delegates are elected by the party bosses to offset what the popular vote may be. Sanders is only behind about 300 delegates that were voted, but way behind when you add in 750 superdelegates voting for Hillary Clinton. Ted Cruz also tried to manipulate votes away from Trump with closed door and back room politics. So both parties can be labeled undemocratic in name and in principle. In primaries, people in some states can cross over and vote. One thing is for sure... Trump is setting records in the numbers turning out to vote Republican. As Sanders brings in independents, Trump brings in huge numbers from both sides.luckyPeterpiper wrote:I do not for one moment think Trump is stupid, after all the man has made an awful lot of money and more importantly kept most of it which only goes to show he's not dumb. However, I do feel that the people who have voted him into his current (probable) position as the Republican candidate come from the right wing of an already right wing party. In truth it's been obvious for some years that the Tea Party has much more support among grass roots Republicans than any other faction and is far better organised especially during Primary races. The Koch brothers have built up a 'machine' similar to that which the Democrats had in the 30's in particular.
What truly worries me about Trump is he seems to believe in very simplistic answers to the many and very real, very complex problems facing the world today. His "ban all Muslims from entering America" statement, his "I've got the guts to drop the A-bomb" and his "Block Mexican immigration by building a wall all along our border" might sound good in the press but in reality they not only don't solve the real problems, they don't even address them.
Also take a good look at who's endorsing the man. Sarah Palin, Michelle Buchanan, Mitch Connelly to name but three very senior Tea Party figures. I am more or less certain that America's business leaders who have also endorsed him (and there are many) are operating under the belief that they can 'control' Trump. Another group of highly influential politicians and business leaders believed that they could control their country's leader after they lobbied to have him installed.
The year was 1932 and the place was Germany. The man was called Adolf Hitler.
And no, I don't think the comparison is alarmist. "He who ignores the past is doomed to repeat it."
There's a very angry electorate and one of the candidates could be indicted. Then what would happen? The next few months may prove interesting.
By the way, none of them have specifics for answers to real world problems. Neither Trump, nor Clinton, or Sanders for that matter have any answers. By the way, the Clinton money machine may have caught up to the Donald's wealth. One can only surmise.