But this year, Donald Trump has zeroed in on an issue that the party elites and the voting public are out of synch on; and that issue is racism. Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC last night pointed out that Donald Trump actually began his political junket years ago when he led the charges that Barack Obama was not a native born citizen and that his birth certificate was a fake. What was that if not an appeal to people's racial fears? I would agree with both Iglesias and O'Donnell -- but broaden it from a narrow focus on race to the more inclusive issue of "those others" who are changing the American way of life, as they see it.
This broader view encompasses issues that involve antipathy toward others who are not like you: immigrants, Muslims, Hispanics, the ascendency of African-Americans both economically and politically (epitomized by our black president), gays and trans, and all those "others" who have taken their jobs that were shipped overseas by corporations.
Donald Trump hits on most of those issue, especially the fears about security and jobs and all those hordes coming across our borders. And his promise to "Make America Great Again" is code for restoring all those privileges that his voters feel they have lost.
The problem for the Republican elites is that they cannot bring themselves to get down and dirty with those Trump voters but are trying to hold on to their country-club, Wall Street wing as well. The question is whether Trump can bridge those two groups, He seems comfortable in both, but are the elites comfortable with him? And beyond that is the question of his lack of competence as commander-in-chief.
So here's how Iglesias sums it up in a great sound bite quote:
So [Trump] is going to be the nominee.
Not because he's an unstoppable juggernaut,
but because it's going to take a Democrat to stop him.
Ralph
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