There is nothing in Donald Trump’s background as a semi-successful developer, reality show star, and product pitchman that qualifies him to be a man on horseback, or suggests that he is a passionate bigot (misogynist, I will grant you). He has said nothing during the campaign which suggests that he rejects the democratic process. And yet, the outbreaks of violence at his rallies over the last week or so could be the beginning of a dangerous new phase in his candidacy. Why has this happened, and where is it going?
In my opinion, it is the logical result of his decision to run for President. He can’t run on his qualifications, because he doesn’t have any. He can’t run on his mastery of policy, or his ideology, because he doesn’t know anything about policy, and he makes up his positions as he goes along. His success is based on two things: he learned from the 2012 Romney campaign that you can’t be too far to the right on illegal immigration; and you have to project swagger to the nth degree. Everything else is a detail.
Once you have decided that your only chance to win is as a bigot and a strong man, where do you stop? How can you deal with the inevitable protesters, except to beat them up?
In the likely event that he gets the nomination, the next question, of course, is whether he will surround himself with party regulars and default to the GOP norm during the general election, or double down on his Captain Outrageous routine. I addressed this in a previous post. If it is the latter, and I think it will be, the violence is only going to get worse with time. Whether that would work to his benefit or detriment is an open question.