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Thing is Trump is neither as extreme or as principled on hard right positions as his rivals are. He's not as anti-abortion as Cruz or Rubio, he doesn't emphasise Christianity as much, he's not as opposed to gay marriage, he doesn't care much for Israel and he's not too worried about Russia. Even on immigration his record is not that hostile to it and in the past he's been close to the Clintons and in 2012 he supported the moderate Romney rather than any extreme Republicans.

Most polls also show that Americans back Trump more than Hilary on the economy, on terrorism and on immigration. He appeals to blue-collar Democrats as well as Republicans because he's the anti-politician; none of the slick polish of career senators, no interest in towing a party line, not beholden to vested political interests, no past political scandals. From a Republican point of view they've had two establishment candidates in the last two elections who came nowhere near to beating Obama. For anyone else, he might appeal as a breath of fresh air. This isn't our election in the UK and it's time we tried to understand the Trump phenomenon rather than just dismissing it.