Trump enlivens US prez race

If the maverick Donald trumps the Republican field into becoming the party’s presidential candidate, the Democrats may start believing it is a shoo-in for Hillary Clinton into the White House. In just a few months, the eccentric hotel and real estate mogul has contributed more to political satire than two entire campaigns in which Barack Obama held the US in thrall. Trump’s lead in the polls giving him twice as many votes as his nearest Republican competitor even forced David Letterman to come out of retirement and poke fun at him.

The US presidential race, with Trump in it, could be one big comedy if it were not so tragic because of the issue of illegal immigrants. Trump waded into it, denouncing Mexicans as rapists, and even as John McCain accused him of having “fired up the crazies”, Trump responded with a cheap jibe at McCain’s Vietnam War record — “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” The comment, that went too far, cost him numbers on the polls but, extraordinarily, Trump picked them up soon.

While Trump’s salience must be troubling conventional politics as he has a history of having donated more to the Democrats, it is probably also true that the more the political class screams about Trump, the more credible he becomes with the voters. Analysts are crediting the media with helping the Trump phenomenon, which means he is very much a creature of the age. Since more gaffes and jibes are bound to come from a man unafraid to be combative, it is going to be fun and games from here.