Followed by Jeb Bush and Rand Paul. Apparently nativists, libertarians, and neocons are now the dominant GOP factions. The religious right is apparently declining in influence.

by Dartagnan

The Daily Kos

The Republican voters have finally embraced the core message of their Party platform, elevating unabashed racism against Latinos and Hispanics to the pre-eminent place in their Party’s politics.

A new national poll by YouGov.com says Donald Trump is the frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates. Fifteen percent of GOP voters back Trump. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul tie for second.

This appears to be the first national poll affirming Trump’s status as the authoritative voice of the Republican Party.

One has to admire the soul-searching that must have gone on in the Republican voters’ minds as they weighed their decision on whom to anoint as their standard-bearer. But in the end it seems to have come down to a matter of shared values. Even as the much beloved Confederate Flag is hauled down in such places as South Carolina, the GOP base has collectively and seamlessly shifted its focus to a new target for their abject hatred of anyone not wealthy and white.

Further cementing his frontrunner status, Trump delivered some some choice assessments of other Republicans who might seek his mantle:

“Bush is weak on immigration … I could be much more offensive to Ricky Perry…every time I watch Lindsey Graham he wants to bomb everybody? … (Carly Fiorina) lost her job at Hewlett Packard. Viciously was fired. Viciously,” he said.

Cognizant of his new leadership role in the Party, Trump also had some reassuring words to placate the people whose vilification has prompted his success with the Republicans who will vote in the GOP primary:

“I’ll tell you something. If I get the nomination, I’ll win the Latino vote. I will win it,” he said. “Because I’m going to create jobs. Hillary Clinton is not going to be able to create jobs. I will tell you right now. Neither is Jeb Bush going to be able to create jobs. I will create jobs. And the Latinos will have jobs that they don’t have right now.”

It’s not yet certain whether “the Latinos” will take Trump’s assurances to heart. Accusations that their friends, family and relatives are mostly rapists, drug dealers and murderers still raise questions for some as to whether he has their true interests in mind.

But such questions have been cast aside by the Republican electorate. For his starry-eyed Republican supporters, Trump’s words condemning Latinos and Hispanics resonate like true manna falling from heaven:

“I heard his speech in which he talked about the illegals and there being criminals and murderers and I told my wife right then, ‘What he’s saying is what everybody I work with believes,’ ” said Chester from San Diego. “I’d vote for him right now.”

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