The Republican voters have finally embraced the core message of their Party platform, elevating unabashed racism against Latinos and Hispanics to the pre-eminent place in their Party's politics.
A new national poll by YouGov.com says Donald Trump is the frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates. Fifteen percent of GOP voters back Trump. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul tie for second.
This appears to be the
first national poll affirming Trump's status as the authoritative voice of the Republican Party.
One has to admire the soul-searching that must have gone on in the Republican voters' minds as they weighed their decision on whom to anoint as their standard-bearer. But in the end it seems to have come down to a matter of shared values. Even as the much beloved Confederate Flag is hauled down in such places as South Carolina, the GOP base has collectively and seamlessly shifted its focus to a new target for their abject hatred of anyone not wealthy and white.
Further cementing his frontrunner status, Trump delivered some some choice assessments of other Republicans who might seek his mantle:
"Bush is weak on immigration ... I could be much more offensive to Ricky Perry...every time I watch Lindsey Graham he wants to bomb everybody? ... (Carly Fiorina) lost her job at Hewlett Packard. Viciously was fired. Viciously," he said.
Cognizant of his new leadership role in the Party, Trump also had some
reassuring words to placate the people whose vilification has prompted his success with the Republicans who will vote in the GOP primary:
"I'll tell you something. If I get the nomination, I'll win the Latino vote. I will win it," he said. "Because I'm going to create jobs. Hillary Clinton is not going to be able to create jobs. I will tell you right now. Neither is Jeb Bush going to be able to create jobs. I will create jobs. And the Latinos will have jobs that they don't have right now."
It's not yet certain whether "the Latinos" will take Trump's assurances to heart. Accusations that their friends, family and relatives are mostly
rapists, drug dealers and murderers still raise questions for some as to whether he has their true interests in mind.
But such questions have been cast aside by the Republican electorate. For his starry-eyed Republican supporters, Trump's words condemning Latinos and Hispanics resonate like true manna falling from heaven:
"I heard his speech in which he talked about the illegals and there being criminals and murderers and I told my wife right then, ‘What he’s saying is what everybody I work with believes,’ ” said Chester from San Diego. “I’d vote for him right now.”
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“It’s about time someone tells it like it is!” wrote Maggie Haren. “The libs hate this because the Obama Sheeple are not supposed to be hearing this stuff.”
Other prominent voices in the Republican Party agree: Trump is simply giving voice to their innermost beliefs. For example, the widely acknowledged leader of the Republican Party has fiercely supported Trump's positions, making them, in effect, the official, approved policy of the Party:
“Mr. Limbaugh has devoted substantial air time to Mr. Trump in recent days, praising him for refusing to apologize for calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminal despite widespread protest.
Most people would have buckled long ago,” Mr. Limbaugh said on his radio show this week. “Most people would have cried uncle and begged forgiveness of the new totalitarians long ago. I have an incredible amount of admiration and respect for just this aspect of what Trump has done.”
Here's David Brody writing for the
pro-Republican Christian Broadcasting Network, on why so many Republicans are cheering Trump's opinions about Latinos and Hispanics: he simply says what most have them have always thought:
To chalk it up to the simple fact that he's a TV celebrity is naïve. Donald Trump is resonating because for many Americans he represents their, "inner voice." He’s the guy that actually says out loud what a lot of people think inwardly.
On a wildly popular, pro-Trump
Change.org site Trump's supporters have asked other Republicans to give their reasons for supporting him. And they have responded, with vigor and enthusiasm:
Tom Nu NEW YORK, NY
· about 19 hours ago
If you want to change DC then Donald Trump is the only who can do it. Our current politicians will say and do anything to WIN and nothing will ever get done. He also speaks the TRUTH and he really cares about this country and its people that are legally here. He has already lost hundreds of millions for speaking the TRUTH and the media and others are trying to SHUT him up
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Vicky Knight ROWLETT, TX
· about 14 hours ago
· Liked 0
Donald Trump is doing what our government has failed to do for decades. They are the reason the illegal aliens are destroying our country. I support him 100% and I hope he wins the presidency. Every one of us should be calling Macy's, Serta, NBC and all the rest of the anti-American corporations that place the value of illegal aliens above American Citizens.
Indeed, it appears that Trump has captured the imagination and values of the Republican Party as more of its core voters have flocked to him, with near-messianic joy, over any other candidate among a wide-open field. He now has a near-lock on dominating the upcoming GOP debates with his powerful and unifying message for his Party. And although we as Democrats may recoil in horror and disbelief, we have little choice but to stand back in sheer awe of his achievement.