By STONEY KALANGO
Columnist
The real estate mogul worth over four billion dollars has totally reshaped American politics.
Donald Trump kicked off his presidential bid last summer by accusing Mexico of sending drug dealers and rapists through the border in the form of illegal immigrants.
His remarks come off to so many people in the media as racist and xenophobic. What they didn’t know was Mr. Trump was only getting started.
In the first Republican debate of the presidential election cycle, Trump got into a feud with a debate moderator and Fox News reporter after she had brought up disparaging remarks he had made in the past about women.
After the debate, Trump took to social media to call Mrs. Kelly a bimbo.
To a lot of onlookers this was a no brainer. Every politician running for office does their best to stay away from anything that has the potential to hurt their ratings. Well that doesn’t apply to Trump.
Trump had not been actively involved in politics for one day in his entire life, but towards the end of the summer of 2015, he was leading in the Republican polls.
The other opponents running for the same office began hurling stones at Trump. Political juggernauts like Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham felt he was easy fame and sought to use his comments to wage war against him, but instead his polls went up and theirs went down.
Suddenly everyone starts to wonder why nothing disparaging this guy says pulls him down.
It is March now and he is still topping the polls. He has won more than a dozen state primaries by a wide margin, and the Republican establishment is confused as to what strategy they can employ to halt the momentum.
Since last summer, Trump has made every single disparaging comment the brain can think of and none of that has halted his rise.
He called John McCain, a former Republican presidential nominee, a loser for being captured when he served in the military.
He called the people of Iowa who won’t vote for him stupid. He has attacked the Pope, all of his opponents called for ban of Muslims entering the United States.
He even said “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, Ok?”
Every political pundit in the media shake their heads in disbelief after he makes these comments, and think he will lose influence. Unfortunately, he grows stronger and stronger. They wonder how this is possible.
No politician running for an office ever acts like this. Trump does the opposite of what others will do and still stands head and shoulders above the rest of his opponents.
Trump’s rise is not hard to understand. It is fueled by a deep hatred for the establishment. His base feels that Washington has betrayed them and they don’t care anymore. They have been looking for someone who will go to Washington and shake it to its foundations.
They feel that the past politicians they have voted in are liars and don’t fight for their cause. They believe Trump offers to do the opposite of what the others have done and will excuses his pattern to get what they want. To the Trump supporters, he is a savior. His brash, bold and tell it like it is style endears so many to him.
Trump knows how to use the media to his advantage, and he has done that for the past year. He knows he has to be in the headlines every single week. That is why even when there is no controversy he stirs up one.
What politician would want to take on the Pope in an election cycle?
Trump knows he has to keep his name always ringing in the ears of people whether it is in a positive or negative light.
He was the most mentioned person on Twitter by far in the month of February. He beat out the likes of Justin Bieber, Adele and Kanye West. Trump may never be the president. He may not even get the Republican nominee.
But, he has done something in American politics that has never been done. He has defied every political rule in the book. He has flipped the script and turned table around.
Love him or hate him, Trump has become an American phenomenon.