"Trump will be the nominee. He will run a tough campaign against Hillary Clinton ..." Heavens help us all if he prevails.

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COMMENTS: 
*  ... Calling Trump a Neo-Patriot is just plain funny! Big Joke! He's whatever he needs to be for his own benefit on any given day. A "Patriot" Trump is NOT.  Somehow, I think 'Dirty Old Man' is a more fitting label for Trump.
*  Trump is not brilliant. He's not even smart. He's just lucky. And think's he's God. I don't believe a word he says. He's saying what's expected so he can gain followers and get votes. I really tire of his promised wall, the one nobody can build. He'll claim to gain billions upon trillions of followers, I hear him every day bragging. But we all know there's a sucker born every minute, and those will join themselves to him. He's a pretty good con-man.  Yes, I've seen him called Hitler. But that crossed my mind before I saw others saying it. There are just certain sorts of man-men that can pull off their crimes seemingly without a hitch. I'm just hoping all the millions against Trump will stay strong and smart and not let him hang us all.
*  You're coming at this from the wrong direction. Instead of starting wrong - "you can't deny the damage he's done to the country" - which of course you can, since that's what the facts show, you should have said "only a mindless partisan would say something so utterly false and embarrassing as "you can't deny the damage he's done to the country."  Please, feel free to support Trump, it will keep you out of the way and irrelevant while we get on with the country's business.
*  Donald Trump is the quintessential HYPOCRITE. Just a fact. Just like his spokesman Scottie Neil Hughes just said on CNN that Trump's LYING is okay and then "whatever works" with a gleam in her wicked eye.
*  ... Trump is the great Divider. But he'll brag about being the great Unifier. Just like evil men create a crisis so they can come to the rescue with their own selfish solutions, Trump divided us so he can be the savior that will come to the rescue to unite us. But we see thru him. A con-man. And you are swallowing the Kool-Aid.
*   Trump represents the worst America has to offer. The Republican party has never put up with anything even close to being like him before. Pro-Trumpers are just bloodthirsty avengers who want people hurt, innocent or not. That fact alone now divides me from this party. I will vote for Hillary over Trump because she is less destructive than he is. If it's those two we have to choose between...America is screwed. And that's what my bumper-sticker will say..."We're Screwed".... :)
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Memo to George Will, David Brooks and others: Stop being stupid on Trump
By John Feehery, May 2, 2016

The conservative intelligentsia (not necessarily a contradiction in terms) is being stupid about Donald Trump. 

And in the process, they are revealing their biases against democracy and the will of the people. 

We can get all Mencken about the American people (“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard”), but the bottom line is that you either trust the democratic process or you don’t. 

Trump is winning in his presidential primary and winning big. Instead of examining why he has been so successful, the leading lights of the Republican Party continue to bash away at the real estate tycoon and his supporters. 

Here is Mike Gerson: “If the worst enemies of conservatism were to construct a Frankenstein figure that represents the worst elements of right-wing politics, Donald Trump would be it. But it is Republicans who are giving him life. And the damage is already deep.”

And George Will: “Donald Trump’s damage to the Republican Party, although already extensive, has barely begun. Republican quislings will multiply, slinking into support of the most anti-conservative presidential aspirant in their party’s history. These collaborationists will render themselves ineligible to participate in the party’s reconstruction.”

And Ross Douthat: “That clamor is loudest from the Trumpistas and their dear leader. Donald Trump is clearly running to be an American caudillo, not the president of a constitutional republic, and his entire campaign is a cult of personality in the style of (the pro-Trump) Vladimir Putin.”

And of course, David Brooks: “Donald Trump now looks set to be the Republican presidential nominee. So for those of us appalled by this prospect — what are we supposed to do? Well, not what the leaders of the Republican Party are doing. They’re going down meekly and hoping for a quiet convention. They seem blithely unaware that this is a Joe McCarthy moment. People will be judged by where they stood at this time.”

To these so-called smart people, I say: Stop being so stupid. 

Trump will be the nominee. He will run a tough campaign against Hillary Clinton — tougher than Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush. He will scramble the map in ways we don’t quite understand. He is plenty smart, and while he might not be qualified in the conventional sense, he is more qualified than some of the other folks that our so-called smart set thought could do a good job. Remember when Bill Kristol thought Sarah Palin would make a fine president?

So why has Trump, on a relatively small budget and with a tiny campaign staff, done so well, while his competitors have failed so miserably? 

Well, first, because he is a real outsider who represents real change. 

So many voters are so completely fed up with the political class (and the conservative intelligentsia that supports them) that they saw Trump as the only candidate who could blow up the status quo.

I know many of those who voted for Trump, and they are by no means stupid, irrational, racist or anti-democratic. They are frustrated with politics as usual and they are taking their constitutional rights seriously by voting for change. 

Second, Trump says what many of us have come to believe is true: that the Iraq War was a tragic mistake that shouldn’t be replicated. He was the only candidate to be so explicit in his denunciation, and I think it helped him with a big chunk of voters.

Third, he has a clear message on the economy that resonates: The middle class is getting screwed because the political class is looking out for their interests rather than for the broader interests of the American people. From being open to increasing taxes on the very wealthy to expressing concerns about trade deals to promising to protect Social Security, Trump is stating clearly that he will change the direction of the American economy. 

I am not of the opinion that a Trump candidacy will do long-lasting damage to the party or the country. I guess that’s why I am not part of the conservative intelligentsia.
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