On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 10:16 AM, 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV <
[email protected]> wrote:

> I don't want to drag this into the political realm, rather than being
> TV-related, but I couldn't disagree with Kevin more about Trump. I think
> the hardcore, lunatic-fringe base of the Republican party (which, I hasten
> to add, is not all of them) is delighted that anyone (in this case, Trump)
> is speaking their truths so boldly and unashamedly. While I do believe he
> has a limited shelf-life, I think he's giving voice to a lot of things that
> many of the other GOP candidates would say if they thought they could get
> away with it. (I mean, it's not that far from the idiocies that Huckabee
> and Carson, in particular, are spouting.)
>
> That Colbert wants to raise the level of discussion is admirable, but as
> long as at least one of the two major parties is willing to trot out
> lunatics as candidates, he's doomed to failure.
>

I think what will always make this TV-related is that Donald Trump is,
first and always, a creature of television, and is currently leading the
polls for the presidential nomination of a major political party. Also, the
first Republican Debate on Fox set new standards for being produced as a
reality television program.

It is easy to misinterpret the polls however. Nate Silver and his boys have
been going over this in a couple of ways the last week. It is still true
that a majority of Republicans polled do not prefer Trump - even when
second choice votes are counted in. In a poll that limits choices to Trump,
Bush and Walker, Bush and Walker do much better.

Still, Dave makes an important point - around one fifth of Republican
voters are supporting Trump, and most of them are not just bedazzled by his
celebrity, but resonate with his angry white male, Know-Nothing political
ideology. Huckabee is not doing that well in the latest Fox poll, when you
add Trump, Carson and Cruz together, more than half of Republican voters
are supporting these three "outsiders" (and, though their constituencies
have significant differences, they share in common a disdain for
compromise, or what is usually understood as responsible governing).

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