Monday night will mark the official beginning of the election cycle with the Iowa Caucuses. I have been very transparent about my opinion of Donald Trump as a candidate, and of my fears if he were to become the GOP nominee.
I have put forth my view, that as more of the legitimate candidates drop out of the race, we will see other candidates benefit from garnering their supporters. This would close the lead that Trump currently enjoys.
I felt Jeb Bush was the likely candidate to benefit from candidates like Gov. Christie leaving the race, and this is still possible, but I have to admit I may have underestimated the anger of the American people, and Trump’s ability to tap into and to pander to it.
Of course we will know more after Monday, most likely their will be at least one or two fewer candidates. The question is, will this actually be the year of the Republican “Obama”?
And by this I mean, when Pres. Obama was running for his first term, it was common to hear Republicans point out how Mr. Obama had no experience to qualify him to be president, that he was an empty suit, that he was all talk. Well I don’t think I am alone in my opinion that Donald Trump has no experience to qualify him to be president, that he is an empty suit, that he is all talk.
If Donald Trump becomes the GOP nominee, in my opinion, not only will the Republicans miss out on the Oval Office, it could set back the Republican Party a generation. But I have to admit I am coming to feel it may be a real possibility, that he will be the nominee.
This all began back around 2010 when the so-called TEA movement came into being. The people who identified themselves as TEA Party people considered themselves true conservatives, while every other Republican in their view were RINOs. This TEA movement caused the party to shift to the right, not a totally bad thing, except the TEA people were unwilling to share space within the party with anyone who did not hold to their check-box politics, and the fracture grew.
What we are now seeing is a new movement, and the people within this movement are the people who support Trump. To say they are to the right of even the TEA people is an understatement. One might call this the Anger Movement. Anger is what fuels them, anger is what Trump gives them, and anger is all there is to this new movement. They are so far right they see TEA people as soft and liberal.
The real problem with this new movement is, it is populated with less informed voters, and so we are seeing less qualified candidates. Not just in the presidential race, but here in Delaware we have several candidates for office who have no qualifications for office, they are empty suits, and they are all talk.
You need look no further than the Governor’s race in which we have one candidate, Sen.Colin Bonini, 
who up until now has been the no see candidate. He has spent a lot of time calling himself the underdog, and explaining what a good guy Rep. John Carney is, who is the presumed Democrat candidate.
And then we have Lacey Lafferty, 
who like Trump, has the potential to set back the Delaware GOP a generation. Like Trump she has nothing but empty rhetoric.
And then we have space fillers, candidates that simply are the best we could do, to insure that we had someone running in the race. We see this in the Senate race in the 7th District, with my good friend Anthony Delcollo, 
and while he may not be the complete empty suit, he is at best a flawed candidate.
And if that is not enough, we see a case of a primary for the sake revenge in the 35th Representative District, where Republican incumbent Dave Wilson, will likely be challenged by new comer Bob Mitchell, 
who is looking more and more like a political puppet of the Greenwood MOB who support Cindy Green. Ms. Green and her supporters are still stinging from Rep. Wilson’s opposition to Ms. Green’s last election bid.
If this is what will pass for Republican strategy to win control of anything, then it may well be time to form another conservative party.
By this time Tuesday we will know what Iowans think. It will take a little longer to find out what Delawareans think. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, predictions or opinions.
Remember when Delaware had state wide elected Republicans? How they were reasonable and even liberal on some issues and could draw more than just angry white uneducated types?
Trump is an interesting candidate. Even as mostly a liberal, there is still a small chance I would vote for him in the general election just to blow up the entrenched political system. But his bellicose reality show rude bravado and long with blatant racist appeals to people obsessed over Hispanic immigrants makes it a long show anyway.
To call Trump a “Republican Obama” is fairly accurate. As with BO in 2008, candidate Trump is drawing large, rabid crowds, and seems to have an almost Messianic appeal. The Trump campaign has all the earmarks of a movement.
And this is just what was needed. “Independents” who vote for members of both parties are likely to be caught in the snowball effect which may become an avalanche. Momentum has the power to generate more momentum. It is highly likely that Trump will carry the blue-collar “Reagan Democrats,” and that will help in Ohio. And he might well surprise a few pundits when it comes to his support among Hispanics and blacks.
Of course, first he must win the nomination.
Go Trump!!! NH, SC, NV, Super Tuesday and beyond. This is happening. Deal with it.
Cruz won’t do anything in NH. The “establishment” and big media will likely unite behind Rubio. He will be seen as having the best chance at derailing Trump.
Personally, I can’t see Rubio defeating Hillary.
Though I don’t have a favorite in the race yet. (The quality of the candidates is marginal at best) I would say Cruz is more of the Republican Obama (no, I’m not giving Trump a pass) Too many similarities there plus look at his supporters. I see history repeating itself but on our side this time.
It’s called fighting fire with fire. Trump is the solution to an unfortunate circumstance. It’s the yin and yang. It’s the political pendulum. It’s what goes around comes around.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…….. Look up the game “Roshambo” or correctly, “Rochambeau”?
Why do Republicans believe a reality show entertainer with no core values or a theist extremist from Canada who looks like a Joe McCarthy villain can win a general election lol?
Cruz probably can’t win. Trump can win, if Sanders becomes the nominee. There is probably no Republican who is not rooting for Sanders at this point. They may not like Trump but when it comes to Trump vs Sanders, Trump wins the Rs and the Is. After all, Trump is really more of Reagan kind of Republican, who today would be considered a RINO or even a liberal. So a Trump trumps a Sanders.