Most reasonable Americans whether they are Republicans or Democrats know that Donald Trump lacks the prerequisites to be a good president. This is why the rank-and-file members of the Republican Party are not supportive of his candidacy.
Two presidential election cycles ago, Donald Trump would not have made it through the early primary rounds. With his lack of political experience, bad case of narcissism, and penchant for name-calling and insulting people, Trump would not have lasted a month in the primaries. In fact, he should not have been a Republican presidential candidate after promoting the malicious birther conspiracy against Pres. Obama to delegitimize him.
Considering the negative problems associated with Donald Trump, it is mind boggling to understand how he was able to trump (no pun intended) the large Republican field of presidential candidates that opposed him. Yes, they were all losers but Trump was a bigger loser.
Several reasons could be advanced as to why a political neophyte like Donald Trump was able to do this – they include: the media has not vetted him properly, he is a TV reality star, he is a wealthy businessman, he is anti-political correctness, he is not a politician, and he is not beholden to anyone. None of these reasons however is the real answer to Trump now knocking at the White House door. Let's hope for Americans say that he keeps knocking but can't come in.
The real reason why Donald Trump was able to secure the Republican presidential nomination and is now contending with Hillary Clinton to be elected president has to do with the media. The media in this case is cable television. Cable television with its talk shows has changed the political landscape of America.
Prior to the advent of cable TV, Americans got their news from qualified journalist (news anchors) on ABC, CBS, and NBC. The news then was the real news that anchors like Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw reported without their opinions or the opinions of guests. Americans had no choice but to listen to these news anchors. If a presidential candidate had flaws, all Americans would know it and they would know it's not propaganda.
The cable TV talk shows with their regular guest commentators that we see on MSNBC, CNN, and the Fox News have changed the perception of politics with their political bias. They can make a bad politician look good or vice a versa. What is even worse is that cable TVs are partisan – MSNBC is for Democrats and Fox News is for the Republicans. With CNN, it is not so obvious which party they support.
It is not just that the TV talk shows are aligned to the major political parties, but Fox News tends to be more biased than MSNBC and CNN. Fox News exploits any perceived problems the Democrats have while ignoring the problems of the Republicans. They also misinform their audience by distorting political news and promoting propaganda against Democratic politicians or candidates.
Most Republicans exclusively watch Fox News and so they rarely hear about the flaws of Trump or that he does not have the temperament and right stuff to be president. If they do hear about his flaws, they write it off as lies or propaganda. Conservative talk shows on Fox News talk shows are the main reason why Donald Trump has remained a viable presidential candidate.
Cable TV talk shows and especially the conservative ones like Fox News tend to be more effective in promoting propaganda. They do this so well that they often tell their audience that it is the liberal media that is the problem.
With cable TV talk shows covering news in a tabloid fashion, they have done a great disservice to America. Talk show hosts don't care about the harm they are doing to America or how much they are undermining democracy. They look straight in the camera and tell their audience that the spin stops here then proceed to distort political news.