White House race 2016 - Could Trump be elected president?

DISENCHANTMENT with traditional politics is being expressed right around the world in sometimes bizarre but always energising ways.

In Britain Jermy Corbyn, the newly-elected Labour leader, has tapped into the growing determination to stop the gap between the mega-rich and the vast majority of workaday citizens growing ever wider.

Despite suggesting that his leadership makes Labour unelectable, those who scoff at his achievements must envy the groundswell he has generated by doing no more than suggesting that there is a different, better way of doing things.

In Spain this disenchantment found expression last week when Catalonia’s pro-independence parties were swept to power on a commitment to declare independence within 18 months. The newly-established Podermos has already put the cat among the pigeons in Spanish politics by challenging inequality and sleaze.

In Greece, Syriza has, even if the reponsibilities of power clipped its wings, replaced a conservative party almost married to power in that troubled country. In France this mood is manifested in the growing vote for the far right National Party led by Marine Le Pen.

In Ireland this shift has given the Government parties a drum to beat as an election date draws ever closer. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has repeatedly warned about how a disparate Dáíl might struggle to secure economic recovery.

In America, where things are done on a far grander and more colourlful scale, it has given us Donald Trump. It may be premature to imagine, much less accept, that The Donald might be a serious contender to succeed President Obama — Trump’s polar opposite.

But, even if his opinion poll ratings are slipping, the Republican party has not identified a candidate who might confidently hope to beat him in 2016. That single fact should encourage anyone who cares for America to listen to what Mr Trump promises to do and wonder what our world might be like if President Trump ever gets to implement his tirade-driven fantasies.

Just this weekend, in a response to the Umpqua College massacre, Trump invoked the spirit of the psycohpathic film vigilante in Death Wish played by Charles Bronson and argued that teachers and pupils should be armed.

Earlier, he said he wanted to deport 11.3 million undocumented workers (6 million Mexicans) and strip babies born to undocumented immigrants of their American birthright citizenship. He also promised to build a “human-proof” wall to stop Mexico “sending us their criminals and rapists”.

Subsequently, he suggested that he would send Syrian refugees home and that bringing Syrian refugees to the US could result in “one of the great military coups of all time.” How he might deal with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping or, heaven forbid, Kim Jong-un hardly bears thinking about.

There may be comfort though in the advice offered by former Obama advisor David Axelrod: “In a parlance Trump would appreciate: We’re still in the swimsuit competition. It gets harder in the talent rounds.” Let us hope, for America and all of the world, that he is vindicated.