Brash and Bern: The Presidential Election of 2016
This election seems to have no room for conventional politicians. Watching the race has been exciting thus far, with bombastic and fiery statements from unconventional candidates, but things are just heating up. Republican hopeful Donald Trump has been rooted in newspaper headlines for several months now and his support from the Republican party appears to be growing with each snappy comeback and volatile remark. On the other side of the political spectrum, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has decided she will try to avoid any confrontations whatsoever in order to prevent possible slip-ups.
Every time Donald Trump makes a statement that would seemingly hurt his campaign, his support from the Republican voting bloc grows. The biggest reason for this unprecedented development is that many Americans are tired of political correctness and government inaction on certain issues such as illegal immigration and the outsourcing of factory jobs. When other Republican candidates catch up to Donald Trump’s arguments, he unexpectedly takes the conversation in a new direction, going from the deportation of anchor babies to the Iran Deal. Other candidates have done well in polls because of volatile comments, such as Rick Perry in the 2008 election. He peaked in the polls shortly during the summer, but most if not all candidates fizzled out shortly afterwards. However, Republican front-runner Donald Trump seems to be building on his current momentum rather than exhausting his ideas and confidence.
If the current battle for the Republican Party Presidential nomination was a horse race there would certainly be a large number of angry top hat wearing yuppies mumbling to themselves about “fixed races”, thanks to the unexpected results. Who could possibly predict the politically inexperienced neurosurgeon Ben Carson would be polling second place to billionaire Donald Trump? Who could predict that philanthropist and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina would be doing so well? These upsets will hopefully breathe some new life into the Grand Old Party.
However, things look quite different for the Democratic party and unlike the Republicans the race is being heavily dominated by long time politician Hillary Clinton. While Vermont Senator and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders is starting to poll closer and closer to Clinton, his chance of winning the Democratic nomination still seems shockingly low. Other Democratic hopefuls such as O’Malley and Webb are polling so low that they are barely worth any mention. It looks as if there is a chance that current Vice President, Joe Biden, may jump into the race and give Hillary Clinton a run for her money, but many doubt he would commit for a third Presidential run.
The chance for a Bernie Sanders and Trump race is becoming more and more likely with every passing week. In an RCP Average poll Trump is currently dominating the Republican field with a whopping 30.5% of Republicans saying that he is their preferred candidate and despite what some pundits are claiming his popularity continues to grow with each new exciting statement. While Sanders is not as effective as Trump in spreading his message, Hillary Clinton is simply too troublesome to run as a candidate.
Clinton may have too much baggage to be an effective candidate to field for the presidential campaign. Republicans could attack Clinton for taking donations amidst a deal that increased Russian holdings of uranium ore, the coverup of the Benghazi tragedy, and clearing her personal servers before handing them over to the FBI. Simply put, she is a very risky candidate to put into the presidential race, and it seems as if growing amounts of Democrats are starting to transfer their support to Vice President Joe Biden or Senator Sanders. However, with Biden hesitant to join the race, it is quite possible that it will be Sanders who will lead the Democrats into the battle for the White House.
What could possibly be more fun than a self proclaimed socialist running for President against a billionaire? The country appears to be increasingly polarized. Nothing has been as bad for this country as inactivity and constant pandering to the middle ground. Many Republicans and Democrats aim to please everyone and are too scared to make the brave decisions that could bring real change to the nation. Professional politicians want a safe job, their name in a book, and easy university admissions for their kids. Radicals like Trump or Sanders think that they have solutions and want to be President to implement their plans instead of being in a dusty history book. If another “middle-ground” professional politician enters the Presidency, the political class can bet their belt buckles that the country will only grow more divided and their time in power will start disappearing faster than they can say “reach across the aisle”.
