In late 2015 I spoke to a friend, a black woman who grew up in one of America's southern states and was visiting New Zealand. I told her as someone who has watched US politics closely for over 50 years, that she should watch the just announced presidential hopeful Donald Trump who had that day joined the group of Republicans vying to be the party's candidate in 2016.
Laughingly she said to me, "Dick, don't be ridiculous. He is a joke. He may be good as a prime time TV games show host but no American in their right mind would be silly enough to vote for him to be our next President. We aren't that stupid."
I insisted Trump was the man to watch as he broke the mould of normal presidential candidates and people were judging him on the basis he was a normal candidate.
I said he alone of the Republican hopefuls had "tuned in" very astutely to the enormous dissatisfaction and division in American politics and spoke for the unhappy white males in particular who had suffered throughout the American economy's restructuring in the 1980s and 1990s.
I added that since the 1970's, professional groups such as teachers, skilled trades people and older unionised workers in industries such as steel and car manufacturing had lost jobs or status and were angry, confused and resentful, and they as a group, would not be voting for the Democrat Party.
