Last August there were 10 Republican presidential candidates, and in my judgment, nine were more qualified than Trump. His status as a non-professional politician was intriguing, but I hoped Ben Carson, Marco Rubio or Carly Fiorina would carry the day.
Then a strange thing happened. Trump kept prevailing – despite getting whacked on substance in debates, despite terrible polling numbers, despite ignoring all of the normal campaign traditions, and despite the lack of the Republican machine behind him. He didn’t just win, record numbers of primary voters turned out to support him. Why?
I’m not clairvoyant, but I had an “aha!” moment a year ago into how this election might go, at least on the Republican side. My good friend, D, is one of the hardest working, most responsible and insightful American patriots I’ve ever met. He isn’t educated beyond high school nor did he serve in the military. Yet he has more common sense and love of the USA than many folks I’ve met with lots of letters piled by their names or stars on their shoulders. His annual vacation is a week of solitary deer hunting on the Cumberland Plateau. He’s worked for years for a major local business; he also farms and he pays his bills.
D knew I wrote columns for the Times Free Press, and he knew I like to stay abreast of political affairs. Humbly, he asked what I thought about his “friend” Donald Trump.
I was stunned since my friend has absolutely nothing in common with Donald Trump. What about Trump appealed to him, I asked?