David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, believes that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has dominance of the party within reach, calling it a "hostile takeover."
"What seemed impossible now seems more than plausible: Donald J. Trump, the self-referential deal maker, could pull off a hostile takeover of the Grand Old Party," wrote Axelrod in an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times.
In the piece, Axelrod tries to explain why Trump is doing so well at this very moment by recalling words he shared with then-Senator Obama, according to Politico. "Here's the gist. Open-seat presidential elections are shaped by perceptions of the style and personality of the outgoing incumbent. Voters rarely seek the replica of what they have," Axelrod wrote. "They almost always seek the remedy, the candidate who has the personal qualities the public finds lacking in the departing executive."
The former adviser to Obama enumerated the ways in which Trump is the anti-Obama, according to The Hill. "Relentlessly edgy, confrontational and contemptuous of the niceties of governance and policy making, Mr. Trump is the perfect counterpoint to a president whose preternatural cool and deliberate nature drives his critics mad," he wrote. "The Republican base is infuriated by Mr. Obama's activist view of government and progressive initiatives, from health care reform and immigration, gay rights to climate change."
Axelrod also pointed out that voters may tire of Trump's over-the-top style, saying, "It's far too early to picture the iconic Trump logo affixed to the White House portico. But as the most ardent and conspicuous counterpoint to the man in the White House today, the irrepressible Mr. Trump already has defied all expectations. So, in the parlance of one of his signature businesses, 'Who wants to bet?'"
Currently, Trump sits atop the polls. In recent polling averages, Trump has a wide margin on the national level with 34.6 percent support compared to Ted Cruz in second with 18.8 percent support, according to averages of recent polls compiled by RealClear Politics. Trump is also ahead of Cruz by five percent in Iowa just ahead of the state's caucuses. In New Hampshire, Trump leads 32.2 percent to Cruz's 12.6 percent.
