Trump has voiced the same concerns that many Americans, both Democrat and Republicans have and was the first one to really hammer home his sincere concern about the illegal invader problem. The rest have all jumped on the band wagon now that they can see it is not going to sink them. But I believe the one of the primary reason he has such wide appeal is that people want to believe that there is someone who can lead this country out of the mess we are now in.
Who are they most likely to put their faith in? A typical politician like Jeb, Marco, Kasich, Santorum, or Christie, the firebrand politicians, Paul or Cruz, the black surgeon, Carson, the former woman CEO, Fiorina, the sleaziest woman whoever lived, Hillary, an old communist hippy Sanders, or a bigger than life reality TV Star Billionaire, Trump whose name they are very familiar with and is synonymous with success...
Who they would choose is a no-brainer, and then when it turns out that Trump has seemingly limitless energy and puts on a better more professional show than any of the other candidates it is even more impressive. Then it turns out he has a unique ability to push the media around like they are a bunch of chumps. There is no question that he outshines all the other characters in the Demopublican greatest show on earth. Even before the voting begins he looks like an unstoppable force.
We are very lucky that Trump has many conservative views and has chosen to be on our side and wants to turn back the crap Obama has saddled our country with. Our country is in a crisis, Trump has successfully cast himself as the powerful leader we need to dig ourselves out of the mess we are now in.
I am not sensing that he is backing away from any of the conservative principles he now claims to have. As far as his followers... who knows... he seems to have a great deal of crossover appeal and like Obama people tend to project their beliefs on him.
Having the ability to campaign well is only good if the person is fighting for your values. Not so good if they’re for expanding NSA powers of surveillance, for a health care system that covers everybody universally (another socialist safety net), and for opening relations with Cuba, all positions Trump is currently for. Nevermind if they recently flip-flopped on core issues like abortion. Someone who doesn’t have a clear, longstanding devotion to the conservative cause will not even be able to understand what kind of judges he should appoint, and that goes for all judges, not just Supreme Court. I don’t want the judges Trump “likes” to be appointed...they’ll probably include a lot of good New York values judges.
As for immigration, Trump didn’t make it an issue. Cruz and other conservatives made it an issue by vigorously opposing Gang of 8. It was an issue in the last primary too. Trump’s plan had been to give amnesty to the “good ones,” as he told O’Reilly 5 years ago. Now he added in that they’ll be deported first, then brought back. It’s an insignificant difference. And I don’t believe that will ever happen. I’m sure he’ll fall right back to letting the “good ones” stay and tell us something like he got us a great deal because it’ll save us money.