Top 10 Reasons Why Donald Trump Won the 2016 Republican Nomination
There were 17 candidates and none of the other candidates were particularly strong. Trump only had to win over 40% of his party and by the time it narrowed down, he gained momentum.
George W. Bush's legacy remains controversial amongst Republicans. McCain and Romney were relatively moderate and they lost their elections.
Not everyone knows who Kasich, Rubio and Cruz are, but almost everyone has heard of Trump.
Trump knew how to energize voters and make the election entertaining. He's grandiose and makes memorable headlines every week.
Central to his platform is to blame the Mexicans, Muslims and Chinese for most of the country's problems. Many Republicans held this view.
It was not an appeal to "xenophobia." It was recognition of the need to stop a massive, decades-long problem with illegal immigration.
Many Republicans are frustrated with their party as well as the Democrats, and they view Trump as a complete outsider.
I completely agree. Trump doesn't have any consistently held principles, nor does he have the mental ability to comprehend public policy, but because a feminist YouTuber pointed out that certain aspects of video games might be sexist, I voted for him anyways.
His policies are causing millions of people to lose their health insurance, and a job killing trade war, and a hastening of climate change, and an even more bloated military, but none of that matters because at least voting for him triggered all the SJW's. It was worth it, no matter how much damage Trump inflicts on the country.
Every time an SJW got in the face of an innocent, ordinary citizen going about their day, and unjustly screamed racist, sexist, misogynist, etc, right into their face, they created yet another vote for Trump.
Good work.
The PC enforcers had gotten to where they literally could not hear themselves, and expressed outrage at everyone and everything. It had to stop.
Above anything else, people love toughness. They'll tolerate an ignorant ill-equipped immoral candidate who can talk tough. Things like building a wall, stealing ISIS's oil, killing their family members and hating the establishment sound tough.
Particularly around here.
Many Republican voters were very angry at politics. Other candidates dismissed the anger and thought it was just a phase. Trump embraced it.
Many Republicans who were against Iraq loved it when he attacked the Bush Administration for wasting trillions in the middle east.
He was seen as the candidate of change. Other candidates in the field were easily portrayed as more of the same.
