Donald Trump's success in the polls has stunned many who consider him "an unelectable boor and narcissist," as The Economist put it Friday. Why do people appear willing to vote for him — do they actually agree with the bigoted rubbish he spouts?
That misses the point. More likely, Trump's contempt for the customary constraints on politicians is finding favor. "I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness," he told Megyn Kelly, one of the moderators of the Fox News Republican presidential primary debate Thursday. "If you don't like it, I'm sorry."
Europe has made space for political mavericks by embracing multiparty coalitions. Only three of the European Union's 28 countries — the United Kingdom, Malta and Spain — are currently run by single-party administrations. So in most places the non-PC politicians stand a chance of making their views heard at the highest level and participating in government — but only in constant negotiation with more moderate and disciplined forces. If Trump were Swedish or Polish, he'd set up a party, win 10 percent of the national vote and perhaps become a junior partner in a ruling coalition that would also include some of his rivals in Thursday's debate.