is it really possible that Donald trump could be president?????

[Bishopsbuddy]

I have zero understanding of American politics and wondered could some one give me an idiots explanation pls. Could trump really win???

I don't think he'll get in, I reckon Cruz will get the Republican nom. He's a prick of the worst kind but at the same time I don't think the left in the UK takes the threat of him seriously enough. It's like he's a terribly funny little joke, oh those backward Americans, what will they think of next?

I had a long chat with a taxi driver in New Jersey. He was a lovely guy, mid-50s, recently been laid off from a white collar job. Then he told me he was voting Trump, because Trump is a businessman and the country needs to be run like a business to get employment up and get the economy healthy. He said he disagreed with lots of what Trump said but that someone who understood money needed to be in charge. All I could do was listen because I'm not American, I don't know what living there is like. As I said, I think Trump is a tool, and dangerous to lots of people's rights and welfare. But he's not a joke and chuckling at his idiocy disrespect those who support him out of fear and those who could suffer a great deal of he gets in.

Never say never in the land of the people who voted W Bush for presidency. Twice. So there is a very small chance that Trump might be president.

However, claig supports Trump and nobody claig has so heavily campaigned for ever won office (e.g. Sarah Palin and UKIP), so my bet is on Trump losing the election even if he wins Republican candidacy.

'I reckon Cruz will get the Republican nom'

The Republican Establishment can't stand Cruz and he is an ultra conservative who won't have any cross-party appeal. I can't see him being the nominee.

Yes, I see what you mean var. I'm following Sanders on Twitter now just to see what he (his people) are saying. He's interesting.

It seriously frightens me that he could win - i think it would absolutely end up in world war, either that or no one will take america seriously ever again. I thought he lost his election thing anyway?

I really don't think he'll win. Moderate Republicans would vote Democrat rather than vote him, I suspect.

Yes he could become President, but he won't, thankfully. He can say what he wants right now, he can make wild and crazy promises about policy change which he could never implement; he doesn't even have the support of the party he's running for.

He's bought his way into candidacy and he won't bow out quietly, but he will not make it to the White House. It'd be like Jim Davidson becoming PM.

they voted George Bush twice

No, we didn't. Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 and he should also have been awarded Florida's electoral votes.

No. There's no way in hell Trump will when. He's alienated the Hispanic voters.

And if Cruz gets in and the birthers remain silent, my head will explode from raging at the hypocrisy.

Will win

Also, and for the record I never voted for him and wasn't a fan in the slightest, George W was not stupid. An appallingly bad public speaker maybe, but not stupid.

Trump won't win.

Cruz is more horrifying than Trump, because he actually believes the evil nonsense that he says. Trump doesn't believe anything, just likes to make a scene, and sees this as a hell of a good Reality TV show.

I think the analysis was that if Trump had left his inheritance in investments he would be significantly more wealthy than he has been from being a 'successful businessman'..

What claraschu said. Neither is particularly electable, but in a straight fight between the two I think I'd back Trump as the lesser of two evils :-/

I don't think a Trump presidency is impossible - this is the country that elected an ageing actor with dementia, and Jeb Bush's older and much stupider brother - but demographic changes in the last 20 years make it unlikely.

There is one thing I find truly incredible about USA. That George bush was president. As was his son. And now another son is running. And then that Bill Clintons wife is now having a go too. Has that happened anywhere else in the world?

I really can't work out whether claig is being serious. I'm reading her posts in a Sarah Palin voice. "He works sooooo hard!", "He cares so so much!", "He has a great family!"

Bishopsbuddy, the father Bush was CIA, the Bushes are New England elite.
Trump is an outsider, not part of the inner circle, which is one of the reasons that the Republican Establishment is against him.

ArgyMargy, I like Trump, I think he is the best thing to hit world politics. I think he will change everything and so do many Republican voters.

'Has that happened anywhere else in the world?'

It has happened in Canada. Justin Trudeau is the new Prime Minister there and is the son of former Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.

Even our political class has examples of children following the tradition. Kinnock was Prime Minister and his son recently became an MP. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets promoted up the ladder but to make it to the top usually requires certain qualities that not all of them have got.

I think Trump's UK equivalent would be more like Jeremy Clarkson! Mind you, there are some that would like him to be PM...

You're not wrong there destiny.

Re the Bushes and the Clintons, political dynasties aren't unusual in democracies like the US where it takes shed loads of cash and (usually) political patronage in order to run for office.

While I find Trump repulsive, it does make a refreshing change to have two serious candidates that have not (yet) been purchased by big business and their lobbyists.

Bishopsbuddy some other countries have political dynasties like the Bush and Clinton families - e.g. Pakistan and the Bhuttos.

Perhaps if the US had limits on the amount that can be spent as election expenses it would deter the mad millionaires.

A British Trump would be:-
Jeremy Clarkson's bullishness
Richard Branson entrepreneurial flair
Richard Branson's love of publicity
Boris Johnson's attitude to fidelity
Tony Blair (the Iraq period)'s tunnel vision

but whose ego? and whose (lack of) attention to detail when making policy statements?

Didn't trump say rape doesn't count in marriage?!
My heart sank a bit when he won. The man is bloody bonkers, I can see why people want a "change" but my god, not him

I think the policy detail and lack of thinking things through before speaking would have to be one of those pop stars or actors who make bold but silly statements at election time.