The US election campaign is in full swing and in just a few months on 8th November the die will be cast. There are 4 candidates, but only 2 matter. These are the Republican and Democratic party who have shaped the destiny of America ever since the 1776 War of Independence.
The two candidates are Donald Trump from the GOP or Republican Party and Hillary Clinton from the Democratic party. Out of these two Donald Trump is the dark horse. When he stood for the nomination of the Republican party no one gave him a chance. many even commented that he was a Buffon who would soon fade away. It didn't happen as per the script because Donald outboxed all his opponents like Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, and Kasich and wrested the nomination.
The surprise is that Donald won despite making some statements that seemed out of character with the American ethos of liberalism and tolerance. He was castigated for his comments by many of the intellectuals , but he stuck to his guns and won. In short, the statements of Donald centered on the theme of making America Great. He repeatedly attacked the Obama administration as having let America down. he squarely blamed Obama and the Democratic party for the rise of the ISIS and Daesh.
Donald also mouthed words against the Muslim community as a group. He wanted to stop the coming of Muslims to the uSA and those who were in America needed to be racially profiled. He was able to strike a chord with the average American who felt that Islam was a threat to his way of life. Many Americans felt that Muslims had abused the freedom enshrined in the America constitution by following their own agenda and undermining the life in America by terror attacks.
At that time he said what to many American was a sacrilege. He praised Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. What did he say? He said that both these leaders were 'strong' leaders who were very bad guys, but they fought America's war on terror by hanging scores of Muslim fundamentalists. ISIS was not in existence then but there were Muslims who espoused the Wahabbi concept of Islam and all were hanged to death by both Gaddafi and Saddam. Thus Donald said that it was a mistake to overthrow and help execute both these leaders.
The fact is that both these leaders when in power had decimated Muslim extremists and believers in the Wahabbi concept. Yes, they executed people but they ensured that there was a semblance of order all round. Donald admired them for being strong leaders. This surprisingly struck a chord with the average American who faced a Muslim threat.
Donald went on to articulate about constructing a wall on the Mexico- USA border for keeping out the illegal immigrants. Ther are 11 million illegal immigrants in the USa who do a lot of menial jobs, but in the perception of the average American they are a drain on the economy and taking the jobs of the locals. So Donald stretches a tune with the lower economic class of the US voters who felt that the Hispanic immigrants were a threat. His concept of a wall cannot be taken seriously but as an election ploy, it has worked.
Now Donald has stated twice that Putin was a strong leader'. He has gone on to say that Putin was a better president than Obama. Putin also has mouthed his admiration for Trump as a leader though he has been muted on the latest comment of Donald.
The surprise is the many in America do feel that Obama is a failure on many grounds. He is held responsible for the rise of Daesh nd ISIS and failure to modernize Saudi Arabia. He has perceived a failure in controlling North Korea and China and has made overtures to Iran for which thIraniansas are not gratefull but have snubbed America repeatedly. Right from the time of the hostage crisis during the time of Carter, Iran is a foe of the USA and now it appears in the Russian orbit by allowing Russian bombers to operate from its airfield.
These statements of Trump seem to have been liked among the common voters and now we can see that Donald has emerged neck and neck with Clinton though at one time he was trailing by 8 percentage points. This is a tremendous achievement and in case Donald can keep up the momentum he could be home and dry. In short, it will be the greatest upset in American electoral history.
The election is two months away and one can't be sure what will happen, but Hillary does look stale and carrying the legacy of Obama. This could be a double edge sword and she stands to lose a lot of voters who are diehard against a colored man as president and have an a paranoid fear of Islam.