Matt Taibbi writes a year-ender about Donald Trump and makes a good point: Trump's career is largely about building buildings that protect richer folks from having to associate with the kind of people who now form Trump's base.
I have friends, both Republican and Democratic, who lately need to be talked off the window ledge, so fearful are they that Trump will be our next president. It does raise the question we sometimes ponder in these elections: Do you hope the opposition party will nominate the worst possible candidate (as far as you're concerned) because he'd be the easiest to beat? Or the best possible candidate (as far as you're concerned) because if he does win, he'd be better for the country than the worst guy?
In any case, my nervous colleagues point out that Trump is currently at 39% (or whatever) among Republican voters. To which I point out that that number might mean something if we had a national G.O.P. primary but we don't. The nominee is chosen by a series of individual elections starting with Iowa. And how the candidates do in the first election may significantly alter how they do in the second and the second may impact the third and each primary can change the whole dynamic of that race. We've still got a long way to go.