The only GOP candidate who is remotely similar to Donald Trump is Ted Cruz. He is a TEA Party and religious extremist who does not represent the vast majority of the American people. He is anti-Hispanic, anti-LGBT, and anti-woman. He supported the TEA Party oath by never compromising once. He also led the GOP shut down of our government; he tried to do it again over the defunding of Planned Parenthood. He told blatant lies about Planned Parenthood’s primary purpose.

Cruz is now in second place in the GOP polls, but continues to trail by double digits. Ben Carson has dropped to third and Marco Rubio fourth. Cruz has received most of his support from evangelicals. In 2012 Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucus and was supported by the Christian religious right. Will history repeat?

Of course there is a twofold question hanging over the GOP. If Trump wins the nomination, could he defeat Hillary Clinton next November? Secondly, if he fails to win the nomination, will he run as a third party candidate?

It is highly likely that we Independents will decide the outcome in 2016, and if that’s true, Trump would lose. If he runs as an independent candidate, a divided GOP cannot win.

In a recent poll, Independent voters were not enamored by Trump or Clinton, but they were more afraid of a Trump presidency than a Clinton win by 67 to 59 percent.

I remain unable to convince myself that someone so unqualified as Trump could possibly win the GOP nomination. So the question becomes, ‘could Cruz defeat Clinton?’

The average number of six polls, including the highly biased FOX Noise, gives Ms. Clinton a 2.5 percent margin; 47.0 to Cruz’ 44.5. Seven polls taken to measure Clinton against Trump gave Clinton the win by an average of 3.3 percent, including FOX; Clinton 47percent and Trump 43.7 percent.

With eleven months until the election, there are sure to be many changes in the GOP. The more effort Trump makes to discredit himself, the higher his poll numbers climb. Which candidate the GOP chooses will be decided by the primaries and caucuses. At the end of February, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada will have spoken. History shows that if a GOP candidate wins all four, he or she will win be standing center state at the convention.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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Author’s Page http://www.amazon.com/By-James-turnage/e/B00LOCJ2Z2