Donald Trump is currently the front runner in the polls for the Republican nomination as their candidate for the next presidential election.
Entertainment Media
One striking fact about media coverage of Mr. Trumps campaign is the preponderance of entertainment media. As a TV star (The Apprentice, Miss Universe) he certainly has significant exposure as an entertainer, and he is milking this fact as part of his campaign for all the value he can get out of it.
Carefully Crafted Message
The other observation I have is how carefully he (and team) craft and present their platform so that it maps to and resonates with his target audience – conservative middle class Americans.
He is also a master at leveraging emotions, whether the message is accurate or not, as long as it raises his popularity.
My Greatest Fear
Recently, following the terrorist attacks in Paris and California, Mr. Trump proposed a temporary ban on allowing Muslims to enter the United States. This really scares me, particularly because how well the message is working in gaining him support.
Realistically, Mr Trump can only desire to stop terrorists from entering the United States. This makes sense. However announcing you are banning terrorists from entering the country is not as powerful, feasible, or nearly as attention getting as saying you are banning Muslims.
Consider how many terrorists are actually practicing Muslims. According to a 2010 study by the Pew Research Center there are about 1.6 billion Muslim adherents in the world. I have read the US Department of Homeland Security has a high level estimate of 184,000 terrorists worldwide. Even if they were all Muslims (which obviously is not the case) this is less than 0.012%. Or said another way 99.99% of Muslims are not terrorists.
Clearly to imply Muslim equals terrorist is a totally inaccurate scare tactic. This tactic has been has been used many times before by politicians and will be used again; fear needs a name if it is to be channeled into support, and often any convenient scapegoat can be used.
The real sad part is how such a high percentage of the population can fall for it.