Donald Trump Continues to Bode Ill for the GOP

While no one seems to seriously believe that Donald Trump will be the eventual GOP presidential nominee, there seems to be agreement that his candidacy is bad for the GOP brand because it is showcasing just how ugly and extreme the racist, Christofascist leaning GOP base has become. Then too, there is the prospect of the bombastic trump on the debate stage where there's no telling what batshitery he will let loose or what kind of craziness he will prompt from others on the debate stage.  As noted frequently on this blog, for years now the GOP has cynically courted crazies and extremists and the resulting Frankenstein monster can no longer be controlled by the self-styled GOP establishment.  NBC News looks at Trump's rise in the polls and what it is revealing about the GOP brand.  Here are highlights:

It seems inevitable that Donald Trump’s standing in national polls will fade, but for now, that shift remains on the horizon. Politico reported overnight on the new Fox News poll:

Donald Trump leads all Republican presidential candidates for the GOP primary, according to a new Fox national poll of registered voters released Thursday.

 

Eighteen percent of GOP voters said they supported Trump, up 7 percent from last month and 15 percent from March.

Trailing Trump’s 18% support is Scott Walker, who’s in second with 15%, and Jeb Bush with 14%. No other candidate reached double digits in the Fox poll.

 

[T]he significance of polls like these is not in their predictive value – the results shed little light on who’s likely to win the Republicans’ presidential nomination – but this year, national surveys will dictate who participates in televised debates, making the polls more important than they’ve ever been.

 

And in this specific poll, that’s not all. Consider this question Fox asked respondents:

“Recently, presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. He said Mexico is quote, ‘sending people that have lots of problems…. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.’ Setting aside how Trump worded his comments, do you think he’s basically right on this, or not?”

A total of 70% of Republican voters said they believe Trump’s racially charged rhetoric is correct. That’s not a typo – seven in 10.

 

There are some ugly attitudes that have pushed Trump to the top of the crowded GOP field, and Republican officials have to come to terms with that.

 

Personally, I can't wait to watch Trump in the first debate and to see what kind of mayhem he ignites. :)