A Canadian viewpoint of Donald Trump

Via Bryan of Why Now? a wonderful take on the Republican Golem:

The paternal, indulgent smile usually worn by the barbered and tanned Republican establishment is gone. 

In its place is whey-faced fear. The primary-season freakshow that once served the party's interests so nicely now threatens to consume it. 

Mainstream Republicans (admittedly a relative term nowadays) have lost control to a reality show star, a vulgar braggart who somehow manages to evince populism while flaunting extreme wealth and his membership in the .0001 per cent club. 

Donald Trump transcends the freakshow, he's the whole carnival in one man, and taking the car keys away from him isn't going to be easy, if it can be done at all. 

It wasn't supposed to work this way. The freakshow is meant to entertain and pacify the Don't-Tread-On-Me Tea Party bunch during the endless American primary season. 

The idea is to promise unattainable far-right goals until the actual campaign starts, when the adults step in and make the compromises inevitably necessary to attain national power.