When Donald Trump first publicly announced his run for the 2016 GOP nomination, I was one of those who was guilty of underestimating him. How could I not? Donald Trump is a loud-mouthed, homophobic and xenophobic bigot who “isn’t afraid to say what he thinks,” even though what he thinks is extremely hateful. To get the record straight, I don’t believe half of the shit that spews from his gutter of a mouth, but we’ll touch on that a bit later. What I find interesting is how someone like Donald Trump could ever win the GOP nomination. It can be argued that the majority of the GOP base is just as bigoted as he is. While that may be somewhat true, I want to analyze his run for the presidency to come to a conclusion that may shed some light on and assign some blame for the rise of Donald Trump.

First of all, we have to discuss the theory that the only reason that Donald Trump entered the race was to assure Hillary Clinton the presidency. I hesitate to believe that (I’m not some conspiracy nut who keeps his tin foil hat always at hand), but let's entertain the idea for a second, shall we? From the beginning of his campaign, I've said that Donald Trump never really wanted to be president. I still believe that. So, why did he enter the race to begin with? Well, that’s up for debate. Was it to assure Clinton the White House, or was for some other unknown reason? I believe that it is for the same reason that he entered the race in 2014 to buy the Buffalo Bills. With a bid of $1 billion (and no intention to go any higher) he never wanted to be the owner of the Buffalo Bills. What did he want? Donald Trump is the definition of a narcissist. He had a reality TV show for a reason. He wanted his name in the press. That’s all he cared about. That is why his bid was so low. He didn’t want to own the Buffalo Bills, and I suspect the same could be said with the presidential race. He never really wanted to be president, which would explain why he continues to spew bigoted and hateful comments. He thought he wouldn’t have a chance, and in reality, he probably shouldn’t.

That begs the question: who is to blame for the rise of Donald Trump? The answer is simple: there are a few people and organizations to blame. One reason for the rise of Donald Trump is poor media representation. The mainstream media has been at its worst during the election of 2016. CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS (of course), they have all absolutely sucked. The MSM bought into the idea of Donald Trump. They aired his bigoted speeches time after time and didn’t once try to call him out on it. They let him say whatever he wanted and didn’t dare challenge it, because it was good for ratings. They allowed their greed and hunger for views to cloud their judgment. Political affiliation does not matter. The so-called “liberals” at MSNBC and CNN are just as much to blame as the conservatives of FOX NEWS. They collectively offered Donald Trump 58 percent of their airtime and completely ignored Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley and several of the opposing GOPers. Why? Because they didn’t want a liberal like Bernie Sanders. And, the GOPers are, by in large, crazy. They also weren’t a brand like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are. So the media is to blame for the rise of Donald Trump. But not entirely.

I thought to myself: why is Donald Trump so popular around the south? Is it because all Republicans are bigots? No. While a good amount of them are, the issue with Donald Trump cannot be so easily dismissed. I actually believe that the majority of Americans are liberals because it is the common sense position to hold. If you go down the list of policy positions, many of the average Americans are mainstream liberals. It is a myth that the Republican Party looks out for the little guy. To be honest, it is a myth that the Democratic Party looks out for the little guy. The DNC has its corruptions just as the GOP does, and I would be a fool to deny that. However, the political positions of the Democratic Party do tend to benefit the average American more than the positions of the Republican Party. A lot of Republican voters are one-issue voters. They hear a certain candidate say one thing that they like (regardless of how bigoted and horrifying it is) and completely ignore anything else that person has to say. They’ve already made up their minds based on that one issue, and I think that the media does a poor job at pointing out everything else that contradicts that one issue.

Finally, the rise of Donald Trump should also be blamed on the establishment. Donald Trump appears not to be a member of the establishment. The Republican Party doesn’t like him, and they are hesitant to put their support behind him. In reality, they only have themselves to blame. Since the 1990s, the establishment for both the Democrats and Republicans has told voters what a politician should look like. They told voters that the presidential candidate should be someone who looks like Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio. These sleazy politicians have lied time and time again about how they are going to help the American people, and once they got elected and all the doors were closed, they did the bidding of Wall Street and the establishment. Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be that guy.

I want my fellow liberals to imagine if it were liberal things spewing out of his mouth. What if he was telling the truth rather than bigoted opinions? What if he was promoting liberal ideas? Would you like him? I know I would. He appears to be for the common man. He doesn’t appear to be fake (even though he is). Establishment Democrats and Republicans alike should be ashamed of themselves for allowing it to come to this. You are the reason for the rise of Donald Trump. Not the people, you are. People have gotten tired of your bullshit. You pissed them off to the point of no return. IF the establishment (i.e. Hillary Clinton, as she is the only establishment candidate remaining) just happens to win this election, buckle up. You will lose this war. It will be a hard loss. The American people are so sick of this that they are willing to elect a large, orange-haired ape as the Commander in Chief of the United States of America. You messed up. It’s time to sober up.