more seriously, i'm not sure i could be much more clear: i think trump is divisive, abrasive, insulting, bullying, and ignorant. i think his personality is awful, i think his policies are dogshit, and i think the nationalism he's trying to rile up is dangerous and disturbing. i don't think the other candidates share all of those qualities. kasich, for example, is even-keeled and smart. i disagree with many of his policies, but they're at least debatable. kasich wouldn't completely fracture the gop as trump is doing now. he wouldn't be a daily embarrassment to our country. foreign heads of state probably wouldn't fantasize about strangling him.
Well, that's a lot of opinions people clearly disagree with. Sure, you can have your own views, but I think a lot of what you've said is symptomatic of shaming people for holding a different view - perhaps due to not fully understanding their perspective.
You want to hear my take on it? It's precisely because of the leftist culture of shaming that Trump is gaining traction - people see a constant increase in identity politics and silencing of dissenting views, and a public condoning of hate groups like BLM. They're up against people with an "it's fine if I do it" mentality, people who scream at and spit on Trump supporters for simply wearing a MAGA hat, and they're infuriated that nobody is condemning their actions. People can complain all they want about Trump "inciting violence", but at the end of day, it's not Trump supporters that are actually violent - it's their opponents. Yet whenever a 78 year old redneck punches a protester, it's Trump's supporters that are under the magnifying glass.
You can't blame Trump for starting it. He's not divisive; the country was already divided before he stepped into the ring. What he's doing is simply bringing attention to it and giving people a voice. It's true that Trump is reckless and many of his policies don't hold up, but I think it's just a gamble Trump supporters are willing to take - they see in Trump a catalyst of change in the cultural mind set, and really Trump is the only person who could make it happen - an iconoclast that
can be abrasive and insulting while using it to his advantage. Nobody plays the media like Trump does, and it's fundamental to his success.
And what of his "dangerous" policies? No problem - the US government has plenty of checks in place to prevent the president from doing anything too extreme. It's probably not something Bernie supporters have realised yet. I think a Trump presidency and a Bernie presidency would look pretty similar in practice. Neither would sign TPP, neither would start any wars and neither are beholden to the rich elite and special interests. Trump wouldn't get his tariffs and mass deportation, and Bernie wouldn't give free shit to everyone. And I think that's just fine - it's certainly preferable to the cronyism of Hillary, or the theocracy of Cruz.
Also, don't worry about Trump being an embarrassment - America already is an embarrassment to the rest of the world.