Donald wiped his ass with those guys. I still can't believe we're discussing how marvelously they would do in the general when they couldn't come close to catching a guy who says whatever pops into his head at the moment, has less political experience than I do and who has no established position other than "things are fucked up and we want them to be great again."
Bingo. Exactly why he wiped his ass with those guys. He was/is anti-everything every politician in the race stands for on both sides but more importantly, he's taken an anti-PC, don't give a shit what I say or what anybody thinks approach to his campaign. Now as I said in another thread, he's most likely now getting to the point where even many of his own supporters are starting to recognize the waffling, the thin skinned and mindless blather. But initially, a huge segment of society was enamored with someone who would dare go against the social justice warriors and say things a public figure, much less one running for POTUS would say. Think about this:
There are an estimated 11.4 million illegal immigrants in this country with thousands more pouring in right now. It's an enormous problem and no way to sugarcoat it otherwise. Trump brashly said, "If you're here illegally, you got to go. And we're going to secure our borders by building a wall." Is that the right solution? Would/will it work? I have no idea. But what has anyone else offered? I imagine I could chrome the googles and find out but none of them are going to trumpet their plan to the masses for fear of reprisal. And I know there's not a soul on this board that honestly believes that even one of the 30 plus candidates that started this thing would do anything more than visit the border....meet and greet with a few Mayors and Governors...take a few photo ops and declare that "We need immigration reform".
The common man, and I include myself among them, is thinking "Yep, if you're not here legally, you need to go. And yep, we definitely need to find a way to secure our borders."
Is "bombing the shit out of ISIS" the right solution? Not sure. Has anyone offered a better one? People are tired of terrorist attacks on our soil and in France and all over the world. People are tired of hearing about mass decapitations and burning people alive all in the name of Alla Aromashado Achmed. Trump said "I'll build up the military and go hit em' where they live and work. Fuck the consequences. Murrica!"
That's what people wanted to hear. NAFTA was a horrendous deal in my and a ton of other people's opinion. Trump said "First thing we're gonna' do is repeal it. Murrica!"
Black Lives Matter. Trump said "Put a sock in it. The statistics overwhelmingly say you need to look at yourselves first when it comes to white on black/black on black crime. Oh my God, you can't say that...at least not publically.
And on and on and on. I'm not defending Trump and certainly not supporting him. But as to why he bitch slapped all the Repubs and probably would have wiped his ass with Hellary as well 3-4 months ago, that's exactly why. Nobody believed and I doubt will ever believe that ANY other candidate that's been in this race would actually try to take these issues head on and so aggressively. That's what people wanted to hear. Turns out, he's probably what everyone thought from the start but IMO, if nothing else good comes out of this, it's that maybe future candidates with political know how will take the same no holds barred approach and say what needs to be said. Definitely tempered about 74%.