Donald Trump and the 2016 Race for President

Donald Trump is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. Of course, with nearly 24/7 media coverage, you probably know that already as it is nearly impossible to miss. Trump is the current political novelty. More and more, media outlets like Fox News, NPR and others are not letting you go very long not knowing what "charming Donaldism" the Donald is foisting on his mesmerized followers today. The bandwagon is loading and people are embracing their angst because Donald Trump has said you should, not in so many words but it seems to be the backbone of his movement. Is the media right on how many are flocking to Trump? Could Donald Trump really be our next president?

Both the New York Times and Rolling Stone have -- whether they realized it or not -- legitimized Trump on the national stage. The New York Times online noted, "A review of public polling, extensive interviews with a host of his supporters in two states and a new private survey that tracks voting records all point to the conclusion that Mr. Trump has built a broad, demographically and ideologically diverse coalition, constructed around personality, not substance, that bridges demographic and political divides." The tone gives the impression that Trump popularity is snowballing, that he is touching a sore point in people that was created by the corrupt avalanche that is Washington DC.

Only, Trump is playing an old game. He appears to be the current political novelty act and they rarely succeed in the end. History provides us with guideposts with which to understand political novelty acts. They are, in no particular order, Upton Sinclair, George Wallace, Barry Goldwater and Adolph Hitler. Yes, I said Adolph Hitler. The thing that binds these four together is their populist agendas. Granted, Sinclair to Hitler covers almost the entire political spectrum but, at the heart, they, along with Trump capitalize on the fear of average voters who feel disenfranchised.

A quote by Adolph Hitler summarizes this idea of campaigning on fear. From Brainy Quotes, "All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people." These movements that he refer to strike seek to exploit a fear in the heart of the common masses. For Hitler, it was the Jews. For Upton Sinclair, when he ran for California governor, it was poverty. For George Wallace, it was desegregation. For Barry Goldwater, Communism and unfettered liberal ideals. For Trump, illegal immigration and the loss of jobs by Americans.

A stretch to compare these people, you say? A recent article in Rolling Stone suggests that some on the fringes of society are taking Trump's inflammatory rhetoric on illegal immigration to another level, violence. From a recent article by Matt Taibbi, "So two yahoos from Southie in my hometown of Boston severely beat up a Hispanic homeless guy earlier this week. While being arrested, one of the brothers reportedly told police that 'Donald Trump was right, all of these illegals need to be deported.'"

Trump, for his part did very little to distance himself from such behavior, merely lamenting briefly, this via The New York Times, "It would be a shame." However, he then added in what some construed as condoning the act, "I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate." Lest we forget, in the name of love and patriotism, Hitler convinced Germany of that wiping the Jews out would make Germany great again.

I am not suggesting by any means that Donald Trump would condone the slaughter of illegal immigrants. In fact, Trump later tweeted comments denouncing the violence but the first comments stand out in many minds. Other political novelties have tried their hands at public office over the years. All of them, including Sinclair, Wallace and Goldwater, put scares into the established order in some way in order to rally voters to their side. Sometimes political novelty acts turn out to create great change, other times they fizzle. Unfortunately, it is often only 20/20 hindsight that allows us to judge whether these great changes were good or ultimately undesirable.