By now, even the news-adverse among us have been introduced to the lightning-rod presidential candidate, whose hair it seems has been been struck by lightning. He is the controversial billionaire that the country can’t stop watching, whether on his former TV show “The Apprentice,” or making his entrance to the presidential field descending an escalator.
He is running in the already-crowded Republican field, and certainly not sugar-coating his thoughts. Recently, in his now-infamous campaign launch speech, he said this about illegal immigrants coming through the border from Mexico: “They are bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they are rapists,” which he so masterfully softened by following with “and some, I assume, are good people.”
He has predictably caught quite a bit of flak for this, and yet, surprisingly, this has not seemed to hurt him in the national polls (although it certainly did among Hispanic voters), but instead precipitated this:
.@realDonaldTrump leads a new national poll of the GOP presidential field: http://t.co/Y1Cbo3breI via @CNNPolitics pic.twitter.com/m3fGUaLlDW
— CNN (@CNN) July 14, 2015
Donald Trump is tied with Jeb Bush for lead in national poll http://t.co/V1innOiSXW pic.twitter.com/5dfwns8M0T
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 15, 2015
Perhaps attesting to the “any attention is good attention,” philosophy, he has enjoyed a huge surge in his poll numbers since those remarks. This sparked, let’s say … mixed reaction.
Absolutely floored by people claiming they want "better" for president the last 16 years, & somehow Donald Trump leads in a national poll.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) July 14, 2015
Is Donald Trump really leading the poll as a frontrunner for the Republicans? Wow, the GOP has really fallen.
— ℞bell (@Rxbell) July 16, 2015
Every Democrat should help ensure that @RealDonaldTrump wins the Republican nomination: http://t.co/0K6Si6kGoC
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) July 9, 2015
Family member: “So what do you think about Donald Trump running for president?” Me: “There are no words to describe how I feel."
— Jason Pye (@jaseliberty) July 6, 2015
Donald Trump running for president is probably the funniest thing to ever happen to politics.
— Ryan Young (@RyYoungg) July 16, 2015
Donald Trump running for president is like Joffrey Lannister running for prom king.
— Adam Proteau (@Proteautype) June 16, 2015
Donald Trump refers to himself in the third person. You know who else did that? JULIUS CAESAR! Also, Gollum.
— Chris Addison (@mrchrisaddison) June 16, 2015
Alright, not so mixed. But do not fret, this surge still doesn’t mean he’s in contention for the long-haul. Herman Cain had a similar lead in the months before the nomination last time around, as the “outsider” candidates often do, before losing favor. But this does leave us, as a nation, one very important question to consider:
who would you rather have in office? rt for an avocado. fav for donald trump. pic.twitter.com/aZBQ8uZWG0
— Avocado (@avocadofact) July 1, 2015
