Why Trump is ahead in the polls
This is just thinking out loud, but I believe it has some validity.
First we see that Trump is ahead by double digits and the next person is Ben Carson. now it is still only 20% or so of Republicans so we don't know how much of that is because the rest of the field is weak and similar candidates dividing the votes.
We must also remember that the Republican Party is less than 25% of the voters. So they are close to fringe RW group, and a large part of that is Tea Partiers.
Now one of the things the Tea Party hammers at is how much we should distrust Government and how bad Government is. Now who running isn't a part of Government, isn't an elected politician?...Trump and Carson.
So perhaps part of his success is a result of Trump comes from their own disingenuous attacks on our Democracy.
Chickens coming home to roost and all.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I think quite a few Republicans are not very independent-minded and will fall in line with "the flock" regardless of where it's headed--including the nearest cliff.
I suspect some others may believe that if they follow and learn to think like tRump they, too, will end up the big "winners" with tons of money and influence. They sure wouldn't want to end up with the "losers"!
I disagree with the general idea out there he's just the most outrageous, or the most right-wing.
His main attitude is contempt, largely aimed at the Republican establishment. Look at the way he's attacked Graham, McCain, and Rick Perry.
He seems to be playing on the continuing crisis within the Republican Party, where they take their support from ludicrous propositions, then get into office and focus on distributing funds to their friends (and, for some reason, trying to destroy women's right to equal pay and reproductive care).
Has he gone after any Dem that hard?
And Trump's immigration bombshell yesterday is potentially a big mess for them. He "went there" and argued for eliminating birthright citizenship -- the provision in the 14th Amendment that being born on American soil grants citizenship.
Think about that. Rightwing nativists are all het up about "anchor babies," furious that people here without proper documentation can give birth to a child who will have the full rights and privileges of an American.
Actually changing the 14th Amendment, though, is huge loser of a position. It would tear families apart. "Deport babies," as the media is characterizing it. Anyone seriously pushing it will be destroyed in a general election.
But that leaves no room to the right on immigration. Scott Walker is already dodging the issue -- he doesn't want to disagree with Trump, but he's afraid to agree.
On immigration, Trump is bringing base-pandering RW rhetoric to life in a way Republicans
a) Can't disclaim, for fear of alienating their base, but
b) Can't embrace because these ideas are insane, would destroy the economy, and ensure Republican defeat at the polls.
Something is up with this guy. I do not think he is a "plant" 
or anything so explicit as that. But he IS functioning to disrupt the Republican primaries, without any discernible harm to Dems.
Look at Trump's "misogyny" problem. He has said rude, crude, disrespectful things about individual women. But then he defends Planned Parenthood, points out that abortion is a sliver of what it actually does, and refuses to play ball while Huckabee and Rubio and Walker are talking about giving fetuses (but not pregnant women) full Constitutional "rights." By doing that, he is de-legitimizing the entire Republican crusade to destroy abortion rights. He doesn't subscribe to it, and he's in front.
However, whyever, for however long, Trump is PLAYING THEM.
It would a very bad idea for Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States. But I don't think that's likely in any event, and for now, I don't mind that Trump is driving the GOP bus. He's got it up on two wheels, headed for a cliff, and the rest of the party appears to be strapped to the roof rack.
Good.
