Trump has pushed the envelope about as far as he possibly can in South Carolina. If the polls are right, and he wins easily, it is difficult to imagine how he can be stopped. That, of course, raises a question about how he would conduct himself as the nominee, and how the Democrats would run against him.
As the nominee, Trump basically has two choices: he can either try to rebuild his bridges with the rest of the GOP, surround himself with establishment figures, and run a conventional race; or he can continue with his Captain Outrageous approach. In my opinion, it is too late for the first option; his best chance of uniting the party at this point is to come out with his guns blazing and hope that tribal loyalty will take care of the rest.
Assuming, for purposes of argument, that Hillary is the Democratic nominee, I think her argument against him will consist of the following:
- He has no experience that qualifies him to be President;
- His temperament is such that he cannot be trusted to be the Commander-in-Chief;
- His history indicates that, notwithstanding his rhetoric, he’s just another rich guy who tramples on less powerful people to get his way. His tax plan, which is a huge gift to the very wealthy, is evidence of that; and
- He’s a bigot who will tear apart our country and damage our standing in the world. He may be popular with Putin, but not with our allies.
Most of this is proved by Trump’s own words. It will not be necessary to do much research.