If the Clintons were REALLY using Trump as the straw man, I think they miscalculated, big time. I can see the Perot angle - he appealed to just enough of those on the right to put billyjeff in office, but he did not have a WIDE appeal. Trump, OTOH, has very wide appeal from a large spectrum of voters, from right to left. While I don't think that appeal is big enough to give him an edge as a 3rd party candidate, I think that his appeal would be wide enough that it could hurt Hitlery, too, if Trump were to run 3rd party. His popularity cuts a swath from right to left, from Conservative to Liberal, and I think that if he were to run as a 3rd party, it could tip the scales to the favor of either the dummycrat OR the RINO. This is probably one of the biggest issues I have with Trump. Otherwise, he's spot on, and I love that he is destroying the establishment.
It is just that I have been disappointed so many times you must pardon me if I have become a tad cynical. :-)
As time goes by, I am seeing that you are right.