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Come 2017, it will be President Trump

Keith Ryzewicz
Community Content/Engagement Editor

Get ready for President Donald Trump.

Yes, that would be a nightmare. But keep telling yourself it couldn’t really happen at your own peril.

It can. And here’s a guess that it will. Frightening, but true.

In the best of times it’s difficult to have a lot of faith in American voters. Far too many robotically pick their party’s candidates over and over and over again, out of misplaced loyalty or the strange belief that only their side can be right about everything, every single time.

WATCH: Trump claims third straight win in Nevada

Toss into that recipe an unhealthy – albeit deserved -- amount of anger at so-called establishment candidates, and you get the political rise of Trump, the billionaire bomb-thrower who is thus far masterfully conducting that rage.

Trump’s powerful win in Monday’s Nevada caucuses extends his early streak of electoral victories and leaves surviving contenders gasping for answers. Their desperate message to fellow Republicans? Don’t do it. Don’t pick Trump because Trump can’t win in November.

But why can’t he win? When Republicans and conservatives and everyone who leans heavily in that direction have no other options, they’ll hold their nose and vote for Trump. They’re certainly not going to switch to Hillary Clinton, who carries an enormous amount of baggage and is widely reviled in Republican circles for her perceived dishonesty and her association with President Obama, among other things. And if Bernie Sanders happens to pull off the major upset, what then? They’re sure not going socialist.

Skeptics keep insisting there’s a hard ceiling to Trump’s support and that he is viewed too unfavorably by too many to win a general election. Don’t believe it. When we’re down to two and Trump has only the Democratic victor to vanquish, roughly half the country will be automatically behind him. As for those undecideds who might make the difference, how many of them are angry too?

The possibility of a Trump presidency is the source of incredulous humor around the world: “Can American voters really be that stupid?” Well, yes. Yes they can.

Or maybe those voters are just so fed up that they’ll back anyone who isn’t being forced down our throats, no matter how unhinged or unpredictable or offensive that alternative may be.

Enter President Trump.