How Donald Trump Won the GOP Nomination The New Yorker

If Republican voters hadn’t been so disillusioned by their usual leaders, Trump would have remained a fringe candidate. Instead, aided by some prominent right-wing media figures, such as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity, the New York businessman was able to present himself as the heir to the Tea Party revolution, which many activists felt had been quashed or betrayed. He was also able to tap into many Republicans’ anger, some of it tinged with racism, about President Obama and his policies; into broader fears of terrorism and economic decline; and into a general disgust with professional politicians, some of which was brought about by the G.O.P.’s own obstructionism.

Contented countries don’t produce politicians like Trump. For many years now, a majority of Americans have told pollsters that they believe the nation is on the wrong track. A decade and a half marked by foreign wars, terrorist threats, recession, slow growth, political gridlock, culture wars, and (for many voters) declining incomes have further undermined faith in the political system, creating space for insurgent candidates like Trump and Bernie Sanders.

It's over for Bernie Sanders -- he needs to stop attacking Hillary before he helps Donald Trump become president The Independent

America has got a lot more right-wing sadists than it does happy-go-lucky millennials.

Bernie Sanders has a dream. He wants to create an America that provides free higher education to all, never drops another bomb and ends the war on drugs. He wants to keep the government from reading our emails, cut pollution by 80 per cent and dismantle Wall Street brick-by-brick.

You’ve got to admit, that’s an incredible dream. And when Bernie goes to dance with the sugarplum fairies in the clouds every night, all these lofty political goals probably feel like they’re within reach. But here on planet earth, his utopian vision for America reads more like a dime store sci-fi novel.

At the end of the day, his entire presidential bid has amounted to little more than a much-welcome distraction for America’s disenfranchised millennials. Bernie has totally convinced the nation’s hipsters he can pay off their college loans and get every Texas oil baron behind the wheel of an electric car – earning himself a huge social media following in the process. He’s also forced liberals to do a heavy bit of soul-searching, which is a good thing."