For nearly a decade, Stephen Colbert pulled off a piece of political theater unmatched in entertainment history. Unless Donald Trump is a Trojan Horse candidate like none we’ve ever seen in the republican party.
What if The Donald made the strategic calculation that giving voice to the republican party’s greatest fears would be the surest way to capture the nomination? In that mode, as Colbert before him, nothing is too outrageous.
Immigration reform?
Build the Trump Wall along the southern border, terrifying and beautiful and fifty-feet high.
Foreign policy?
Fire up the guns and beat our enemies into submission. Friends, too, if they get in our way.
Trade negotiations?
Trump beats China all the time. Just ask him. In a year, Ford and Chevy will dominate Asia.
The Donald for President campaign is so over the top with xenophobia, nationalism and fear that it can only be a well-crafted act meant to strike all the right Tea Party chords while ensuring a virtual domination of the news cycles.
I’ll conclude with an interview Trump did on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1988. He was much more your garden variety Rockefeller republican back then and not at all complementary of the administrations trade and tax policies.