This is a good article, and I have considered the parallels between this upcoming election and the election of 1968.
In 1968, America was concluding eight years of Democrat control, we had crime and craziness in the streets, the economy was not at all doing as well as it should, we had a continuing war in Vietnam that we were not winning because that clown LBJ wouldn’t let our military do the job they were trained to do.
Enter Richard Nixon. The ‘NEW’ Nixon. Lost in 1960, lost the California governship in ‘62, everyone had pretty much written him off, but by tapping into the discontent of the American electorate, he repackaged himself as the traditional Cold Warrior he was known as in prior years, he pushed the law & order angle (emphasized later by his VP selection of Governor Spiro Agnew), and the voters responded, why?
Because Nixon represented the possibility of changing course from the consistent foul ups of the LBJ years, and I maintain that many Republicans remembered how LBJ screwed over Barry Goldwater in ‘64 with that campaign of smears and lies, and that is why they got behind Nixon.
Now it is Trump who is appealing to those who are tired of the screw ups, corruption and incompetence of the Obama years (and the GWB years too, truth be told), and because Trump is NOT an established politician, his message is resonating with Americans who say “enough is enough!”.
Anyway, I see similarities. Whether or not they will be validated or not remains to be seen, however at this early point, the race to the GOP nomination AND the White House is Trump’s to lose. If he stays on message, I don’t think he can be stopped.
I agree that it is his to lose...and the best way to lose it is for him to continue to be ultra-sensitive to criticism. I'd like to see him become a LITTLE more like a politician (of the good variety) - IOW, put forth policies (yeah, I know, they are coming), get informed on foreign and defense policy, and stop the petty attacks on fellow Republicans (even Bush). Criticize them for bad policies, a bad record, etc., but stop with the personal attacks. Let the others do that, because otherwise you give the media more ammo. Trump, unfortunately, created Fiorina's perceived win in the last debate - without those remarks about her face, and her response to it in the debate, there would be nothing very memorable in her performance.