CLASSIC LOVATO AT LARGE Does Trump want to be the next Hitler?

(Originally published in Dec. 2015)

I call it “Trumping,” and here's how it works.

The media tries to force The Donald into being politically correct and shaming him for offending certain groups of people.

He then Trumps them by not only reiterating his stance, but actually strengthening it.

Then, the media and certain groups then call him racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, etc. But he Trumps them again by reiterating his stance and actually strengthening it...again.

A few months ago I thought his candidacy was a joke. But he has maintained his poll numbers and the more politically incorrect he appears, the higher they seem to go.

Now, I am convinced he is the fulfillment of a prediction I made a few years ago. But first, a quick history lesson, as I believe we have seen something similar before.

In a country about 100 years ago, there was a great Bohemian movement that created great reform but might have gone a little too far. The movement stalled due to a major international conflict that was eventually lost. The costs of the war and the reform were too much for this country. An entire generation of young people were disenfranchised, angry because they felt like the previous generations stole any chance at personal prosperity. All the things that were promised by the reformers were actually further away then they were when the movement started: No middle class, no labor jobs, inflation, stagnation and promises of better things from politicians and the media, alike. But social reform starts to take a back seat when 20-somethings are still living in their parents' basements. So old and young start looking for someone who can make those radical changes, a political snap-back. After a few years of promises from one side and milquetoast from the other, one man steps to the fore with radical ideas that fly in the face of politics and social perception. That man gets elected on a slim majority and goes on to build and destroy one of the strongest nations in history. Any guesses what country that might have been? Or countries, for that matter? Back to the present. Most people I know are sick and tired of Thought Crimes. It started as a very noble cause back in the 60s to establish some civil rights and social justice for those who needed it most. Those Hippies and Beatniks and counter-culturalists were fighting The Man and through civil disobedience, legal wrangling, politics and outright violence, they won some greatly needed equality for a great number of people who needed it.

As they are apt to do, the political and social scales tipped farther and farther left until those who were fighting The Man became The Man back in the 1990s.

And, like any group with power, it kept pushing from the reasonable to the insane. It seems like too many people are victims of something. There are health and mental issues we never heard of a few years back. College campuses, government agencies and many big businesses have become the dens of coddling, telling students and employees that the world is, or should be, fair, and that anyone who does anything to offend you (which often means just disagreeing with them) is worthy of scorn, disgrace, punishment and, even, criminal prosecution.

Did we need the social reform movement of the 1960s and 70s? Yes we did. Has it gone too far? Absolutely. And what do these parties offer up as presidential candidates every four years? Democrats who are great campaigners but struggle to deliver when the bills come due. And Republicans too socially stifled to veer from the middle. I mean, really. If I was a Democrat, I'd be disappointed by Mr. Obama. Remember Hope and Change? That has become Hopeless and Changeless.

So how did he get re-elected? Because the best the Republicans can offer up are John McCain, a great war hero who has lost contact with both party bases, and Mitt Romney, the safest, dry toast person the Conservatives could think of. Compared to Clinton, or Obama, Romney has the personality of a paper plate.

So here we are and the snapback I predicted might have arrived. The farther right Trump goes, the bigger his poll numbers are. Despite his billions, he has become the standard-bearer for the downtrodden who feel oppressed by The Man. He is saying things many people are afraid to say out loud. He doesn't want to be perceived as clinging to the center. Centerists usually decide presidential elections since it's really the undecided voters in the middle who make the difference.

But if Trump maintains his margins, he can also help frame the debate and pushing the party platform to the right. There is already Trump camp talk of getting more Conservatives registered to vote to counter the Centerists.

Can a billionaire who never held office become the next president of the United States? It's never even come close to happening before. Which is exactly why I'm starting to think Trump very well might win.