Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made a centerpiece of his campaign saying some truly outrageous shit. And it is outrageous—but it's also mainstream conservative policy. It's just not concealed beneath eleventy metric fucktons of carefully crafted rhetoric devised by highly paid strategists to make it more palatable to the average voter.
The institutional Republican Party leadership only pretends to be reviled by the things that Trump says. They don't hate Trump. They secretly love him because he makes assholes like Scott Walker look reasonable by comparison.
The truth is, when Trump asserts he's only saying out loud what other people believe, he's talking about the other candidates. Those are the things that they believe. It's frankly the most honest thing he says.
The biggest difference between Trump and the other GOP candidates isn't policy. It's how they talk about that policy. Trump doesn't dogwhistle. He marches through town decorated with bells banging pots and pans. But the policies are mostly indistinguishable.
Trump isn't a punchline. He's the Cliffs Notes.
For that reason, the GOP would love it if we continue to treat Trump like a sideshow, instead of the uncensored id of their disgusting party that he really is.
Instead of dismissing Trump as a joke, we should point out over and over that he's just plainly articulating mainstream GOP policies. Every chance we get.
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