How Did We Get Here?

Before I address the myriad reasons why I find Donald Trump utterly ill-equipped to be Commander-in-Chief, I think it’s important to analyze his political rise and understand the environment that incubated it and the motivating factors behind it.

Over the past 15 months or so, I’m not the first to remark, “we have never had a presidential candidate like Donald Trump”, nor will I be the last. But what’s more interesting to me than figuring out how he’s different (I think that’s fairly apparent), is how he’s come to occupy the role of presidential nominee for the Republican Party.

Is it because the situation was set up perfectly for Mr. Trump and he is merely the benefactor of a unique political landscape rather than a real agent of change?

Or…

Is it because he’s tapped into some underlying sentiment that’s been bubbling just below the surface of the American citizenry?

While there’s some truth in each of these statements, I ultimately feel the former is much closer to reality than the latter.

There were three critical factors that created this perfect storm for Mr. Trump to gain the Republican Party nomination.

1.    Quality > Quantity

Simply put, too many republicans ran for president in 2016. There were 17 of them for God’s sake, and save for maybe two or three of them, they were all substandard candidates. The Republican National Committee, led by Wisconsin’s very own Reince Priebus, completely botched the primary process.

While most of the candidates were equally poor in quality, each had their own little niche-Rubio for foreign policy voters, Cruz for budget and spending voters, Kasich for moderate voters and so on. This deeply fractured the republican base, opening the door for an outsider, someone that was totally different. And thanks to the RNC not taking Mr. Trump seriously, they failed to usher hopeless candidates out of the race in a timely manner, thereby deepening the fracture and preventing republican voters the ability to rally behind a more qualified candidate.

Typically, the debates would help whittle down the number of nominees, but since the RNC decided it was a good idea to have 10, (10!) people on stage for the first six debates, they ended up being a chaotic circus of nonsense. And with so much bickering and so little policy discussion, the loudest, most bombastic voice rose above the din, positioning its owner, Mr. Trump, to lead out of the gates and never look back. 

2.    The Perfect Opponent

I don’t think there’s a member of the American Left that engenders as much visceral hatred than Hillary Clinton. People flat out despise her and are afraid that if she occupies the Oval Office, our country is doomed.

This is a critical point to make, as I believe many of Mr. Trump’s supporters have become so blinded by their rage and fear of Mrs. Clinton, that they will support, literally, anyone to stop her.  And since Mr. Trump had an early lead amongst his group of mediocre republican cohorts, many got on board with him because they felt he was the only one who could possibly defeat Mrs. Clinton in a general election.   

I feel that if a John Kerry-type or Joe Biden-type of candidate was the democratic nominee for president, I seriously doubt so many who claim to stand for conservative ideals and high morals would turn their backs on said beliefs simply to stop the democrats.

3.    A Complicit Media

The man clearly knows how to promote himself.  Combining his larger-than-life personality, strong name recognition from “The Apprentice” and penchant for saying outlandish things, Mr. Trump makes people take notice of him. In fact, there are few better self-promoters on the planet than him.

However, during the primary season, the media was more than happy to give Mr. Trump unprecedented access, seemingly, anytime he wanted. From treating his campaign stops like rock concerts to going to him whenever they needed an interesting quote, the media force fed Mr. Trump to us in a remarkable manner.

This New York Times article from March shows that Mr. Trump accrued just under $2 billion in free publicity at that point during the primaries. That was six times more than Ted Cruz and nine times more than Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio at that time.

You just don’t see this type of discrepancy in a typical election cycle; where one candidate, literally, dominates the news cycle on a seemingly nightly basis for months at a time.

So while some of Mr. Trump’s messaging resonated with large groups of voters (particularly his comments regarding immigration, political correctness and a disillusionment with Washington), I feel his ascension to the top of the Republican Party was largely the product of good fortune.