Caleb Bolin
Contributing Writer
Donald Trump has gained increasing support from Republican voters in his campaign for presidential office despite having made several nasty comments about various groups of people.
The latest poll shows Trump with 27 percent of the backing when compared to the rest of the Republican field, with Ben Carson in second with 23 percent of support. Both Trump and Carson are not politicians.
Normally, a presidential candidate would suffer after making the kind of comments about Megyn Kelly, Fox News reporter, and Mexicans, among other people and categories of people, that Trump has made. However, when renowned political experts and journalists have speculated that Trump would crash and burn, he has seemed to defy the laws of political gravity and fly higher.
On Meet the Press on Aug. 23, discussion about Trump echoed this belief that he is defying the laws of political physics.
Amy Walter, National Editor of The Cook Political Report, said, “All of our assumptions have sort of blown up in our face.”
Jon Ralston of The Las Vegas Sun, also on Meet the Press, said of Trump, “No one wants to say, including people in our business, the real answer, ‘I don’t know.’ Nobody knows.”
It is true that Trump’s campaign has surpassed the expectations of many. The same political commentators and reporters who have repeatedly predicted Trump’s downfall have repeatedly been proven wrong. The truth is, like Ralston said, nobody knows how Trump’s campaign will play out. Journalists and political experts alike have been too quick to try and predict Trump’s catastrophic end.
The fatal error in the predictions of the media and political commentators is they treat Trump like a politician running for president. If Trump were another candidate who was running for office, maybe he would have succumbed to the outcries at his politically incorrect, and insensitive, comments.
Trump is no politician, and his comments have only made him seem more genuine. Those who support him are tired of politicians, and tired of being too “politically correct.”
Those who are opposed to him find his off the cuff remarks to be a liability.
Junior Olivia Dell, Trump supporter, said that Trump would fix the country by, “Getting rid of illegal immigrants, and fixing crime and jobs.” Dell, like other Trump supporters, likes that he is outspoken and tough on immigration and fiscal issues. However, she said that his closed-mindedness and stubbornness are also weaknesses.
Junior Easton Culver, who opposes Trump, said, “[He is] decisive, strong-willed and rich;” however Culver added that, “[Trump] is sexist, homophobic and stuck in the past. Trump doesn’t represent the nation’s values.”
Trump speaks his mind and speaks it honestly, and he comes off as “real” to voters. After all, as insensitive as his comments about Mexicans and others were, his words were his own, and nobody else’s.
Besides being the front runner for candidate, Trump’s celebrity and bold remarks are also drawing attention to the Republican Party and the issues that face our country. After having Trump on the first Republican Debate, Fox News got its highest ever ratings for any presidential debate, reaching 24 million viewers.
The big questions remaining for Donald J. Trump and the GOP won’t be answered any time soon. Will Trump receive the Republican Party nomination? It is far from decided. Will Trump win the election?
It seems only time will tell, but for now he is leading the Republican Party. The show will continue with the second Republican debate on Sept. 16, on CNN.
Perhaps the media and political experts should stop comparing Trump’s campaign to that of a politician and realize that Trump is unlike his contemporaries or any who have run before him.
