When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the republican presidential nomination in June 2015, his campaign appeared doomed from inception. Calling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers in the first speech of your campaign is not a typical strategy for winning the hearts and minds of voters. 

Yet, as he has impossibly gained in the polls and won state after state, America now has to very seriously confront the possibility of a Republican nominee known only for real estate and reality television. Trump is a uniquely terrible candidate, lacking not only government experience but also basic human decency. He is sexist, racist, immature, ill-informed and overall unfit for the position for which he is running. Yet, this has not deterred his success. The question now is, “Who is to blame?”

While the Constitution is a living, breathing document meant to be reinterpreted over time, the words which dot its aged, yellowed parchment represent timeless principles. Among these are concepts such as limited government and self-determination. The Founding Fathers did not envision the democracy present today in the United States. The country they helped create was a republic, in which the democratic will was supposed to be vibrant but moderated by checks and balances upon the people. Institutions were not meant to be fully democratic. Both the Senate and the office of the presidency were chosen by state delegates. In this way, the Founders hoped to strike a balance between mob rule and monarchy. They distrusted the average citizen’s capacity to make the right decisions when  picking between candidates for national office. Common people could be trusted to elect representatives to the House and state legislatures to handle local issues, but national issues such as foreign policy were deemed too complex, sensitive and important.

These safeguards, for better or worse, have largely disappeared since the nation’s inception. Now, the 17th Amendment allows for the direct election of senators, the electoral college is largely tied to the popular vote in each state, and the country as a whole places much more importance on democratic values, particularly through the expansion of suffrage through at least seven Constitutional amendments. 

Beyond that, society has changed considerably since the 18th century. For example, mass media, public education standards and other massive transformations have occurred, rendering average citizens much better able to connect to issues and become informed. Despite these changes which should have made average citizens better voters, the success of Trump provides serious reason to question the capacity of American voters. 

Since June, Americans have witnessed the Trump phenomenon: Trump proposes something totally offensive and unfeasible, pundits and candidates alike wait for his campaign to fall apart, and then Trump somehow gains in the polls. The truth is that American voters respond well to Trump’s brand of disrespectful, immature politics. Personal insults, angry rants against Washington policies and crude jokes are at the heart of his candidacy. His policies need not make sense. Whether advertising his wall that Mexico will pay for, banning Muslims or imposing a huge tariff on Chinese goods, Trump should not be seeing such success, and sensible people are left wondering how anyone could possibly sincerely wish to vote for him.

There are many theories regarding Trump’s rise. These include the anti-establishment populism that a gridlocked Congress has largely created, the failure of moderate establishment candidates in the last two presidential elections, the name recognition of the Trump brand — as well as Trump’s association with wealth and success — the appeal of authoritarianism to modern American voters, economic trends which have caused frustration for working-class white Americans and the intensely divided, overcrowded Republican field of candidates which emerged at the start of the season. Whether all, none or any combination of these are the underlying causes of Trump’s popularity, it is clear that his success represents an enormous failure of Republican voters. Anger, economic conditions and especially an overcrowded field are not real justifications for the nomination of a bigoted buffoon. They can only be excuses for an electorate that is totally mislead. 

Trump is a skilled demagogue, preying off American anger and fear. He does this first by monopolizing media attention. Trump, through offensiveness and crude humor, has managed, according to an Aug. 5, 2015 article by the Hill, to dominate Google search trends, as well as social media and the 24-hour news cycles. Secondly, his simplification of complex issues with crude language demonstrates his remarkable ability to create and feed off fear. Immigration is a problem, Trump tells us in his June 26, 2015 announcement speech, because “Mexico is not sending their finest,” and Syrian refugees “could be ISIS — I don’t know,” according to Trump in a Sept. 30, 2015 speech in Keene, New Hampshire. By scapegoating minorities, Trump masterfully makes white Americans believe that their Latino neighbors are criminals and that the Muslim students at their children’s schools are terrorists. According to a Feb. 23 New York Times article drawing on data from Public Policy Polling, 31 percent of South Carolina Trump voters were self-described white supremacists. This third component is perhaps the most important key. When framed this way, the solution seems simple: Elect Donald Trump to be your president, and these problems will disappear.

This Trump phenomenon lends support to the Founders’ distrust of the American public. The strength of Trump’s campaign feeds into three immense problems which the American electorate has when making decisions: susceptibility to sensationalized media, inability to cope with complex problems and prioritization of politicians with entertaining personalities. 24 million viewers tuned into the first Republican debate on Fox News, compared to just 7 million viewers in the most watched Republican debate of 2012. Trump is extremely entertaining, and Americans seem to care more about this than the actual merits and qualifications of candidates. 

This was proven when Trump backed out from the second Fox News debate and viewership halved, according to a Jan. 29 New York Times article. Jefferson might turn in his grave. In addition, the Republicans voting for Trump are proving that a large swath of Americans are unable to engage with complex policy ideas for how to deal with U.S. enemies like ISIS. Carpet bombing, banning Muslims and doing “a lot more than waterboarding” is not a solution to the Middle East. The popularity of such measures begs the question whether Americans know or care that most Muslims in Syria are not extremist fighters. According to a Sept. 29, 2015 New York Times article drawing on data from Public Policy Polling, 40 percent of North Carolina Trump supporters believed Islam should be criminalized in the United States. Finally, the importance of personality in the election has been astounding. Jeb Bush was largely knocked out of the race, not because of inexperience or inability to suggest insightful policy but rather because he was boring and relatively passive. Further, according to a Feb. 10 New York Times article, Marco Rubio’s campaign imploded in New Hampshire because voters thought his debate performances were too repetitive and mechanical. The field of candidates this cycle was diverse and full of experienced, popular candidates. The fact that it has largely come down to a competition between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump must say something about the state of American politics.

While a plethora of factors can be used to justify why Trump has been successful, ultimately, the only group to hold responsible are voters. The repeal of restrictions on democracy in the country have come with responsibility. It is not enough to claim suffrage as a right. American voters must be informed, thoughtful and rational; anger, fear and other emotions can too easily be whipped up into votes for an undeserving candidate. Ultimately, if Trump is brought to a brokered convention and stopped only by GOP party elites, it will be a validation of all the Founders’ beliefs that America at large cannot be trusted to make important decisions unchecked. The electorate has a chance to prove the Founders wrong, to prove that they are capable of making their own decisions without interference. They should take it.