鈥淕od bless Donald Trump!鈥澛 Thus sings the Democratic chorus.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala recently observed, Donald is proof that:

A) The Deity is a Democrat;
B) He has a sense of humor.

Donald speaks truth to the soul of the GOP base, or at least the truth as a majority of today’s instinctively Republicans voters conceive the truth to be.

And, as the Republican presidential clown-car’s minority-basher-in-chief, in a season when Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and, above all, women will decide the outcome in November 2016, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving 鈥斅爀specially to Hillary, et al.

Donald Trump is gaining traction in the 2016 GOP presidential primary race.

The GOP’s best shots at diffusing Donald with minority voters today include:

1) Ted Cruz, who declares that, anyway, he likes what Trump had to say 鈥 only he’d say it differently;

2) Marco Rubio, whose former pro-immigration positions are day-by-day聽turning more anti-immigrant as a sop to the right;

3) Bobby Jindal, whose only point of agreement with most Indian-Americans聽is that he is not an Indian-American.

Sheldon Adelson’s winnings in Las Vegas notwithstanding, Republican efforts to secure a majority of the pro-Israel vote by pandering to the excesses of Netanyahu are likely to fall flat, given both their performance in recent elections and the historically independent liberality of the Jewish voter in America.

Add to this the current, at least symbolic, demise of the Confederate flag and the necessity imposed upon the Republican leadership to disavow an important leg of their heretofore successful “Southern Strategy,” and we’re looking at a sorry mess that only Jeb Bush has a hope of salvaging.

But can Jeb do it? Can he, in a field of 16 announced or soon to announce candidates, convince a plurality of GOP primary voters to hold their noses and support another Bush presidency as the only credible alternative to another Clinton presidency?

That remains to be seen.

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About the Author

  • Stephen O'Harrow

    Stephen O’Harrow is a professor of Asian Languages and currently one of the longest-serving members of the faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A resident of Hawaii since 1968, he’s been active in local political campaigns since the 1970s and is a member of the Board of Directors, Americans for Democratic Action/Hawaii.