Leading US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump thrives on insulting and degrading people, which is a shameful aspect of the American political culture, a political analyst in Virginia says.
“He has a very crude, very boorish style but also ironically appeals to a lot of people,” said Keith Preston, the chief editor and director of AttacktheSystem.com.
Offending people “is a big part of the American political culture and celebrity culture and popular culture and what’s interesting is that we’ve got a guy like that that’s actually entering into the [US] presidential race,” Preston told Press TV on Sunday.
Trump’s presidential campaign has been marked by controversial statements, mainly directed against immigrants, refugees and Muslims.
During a campaign rally in Sioux Center, Iowa, on Saturday, Trump said he could gun down some Americans and still be popular among his loyal supporters.
“I have the most loyal people, did you ever see that? I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters,” he said.
Trump made the remarks after he denounced the National Review, the conservative magazine, which published a series of articles against the New York billionaire.
Glenn Beck and Brent Bozell, two conservative commentators who endorsed GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz, were among the writers who published essays criticizing Trump.
According to a new poll, Trump has opened up a 30-point lead nationally over his rivals for the Republican nomination.
The billionaire businessman is trouncing his opponents with a 40.6 percent support, a Reuters-Ipsos tracking poll, released on Friday, has found. Senator Cruz of Texas, his closest competitor, stood at 10.5 percent.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was the third with 9.7 percent, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was the choice of 9.2 percent of those surveyed and Florida Senator Marco Rubio received 7.2 percent support.