"Trump's wide appeal continues to baffle Democrats..."

Hard fact is that the baseline of all Trump support is that he is NOT a DemocRAT. Good starting point for any person seeking the Presidency (see also Bernie and Bloomberg)...MUD

I was surprised by the 26% who did not vote in '16. Hopefully they will vote for Trump this year.

The base of Trump's support is that NEITHER party listened to the American people about controlling immigration and stopping the "free trade" flood of offshoring jobs. Trump built a wall, detention centers in Mexico and precipitated the self-deportation of nearly 1% of the US population. And Trump slapped punitive tariffs on China, and menaced American manufacturers to not dare build plants overseas, but gave them tax incentives to repatriate money held abroad.

Net result, US U-6 unemployment (the real number) is down to 6.9%, and the U-3 unemployment rate (the traditional rate that Presidents usually tout) is 3.6%.

In 2015, U-6 was 10.4% and U-3 was 5.3%.

Unemployment has dropped precipitously, to the lowest in 50 years. Discouraged workers are back in the work force. The People's voice on immigration and "free" trade broke through the bi-partisan wall of resistance.

Trump beat the Democratic Party, but he ALSO beat the Republican Party - the Establishment - the Bushes and the Ryans, the Romneys and the Lindsey Grahams - the people who gave the American public the finger on immigration and on trade for decades.

And the right wing economists STILL are grousing about trade with China, about tarriffs, still pushing out their free trade mantra that Trump has rejected in favor of protectionism.

Trump is popular because he beat the Democrats AND because he crushed the Republican Party too. There is no aspect of Trump's policies other than tax breaks that the traditional Republican Party supports - HE wants peace with Russia and negotiations with North Korea - the traditional national security Republicans HATE this (which is why they testified against him, and why he had to silence the Boltons with Executive Privilege, fire General Kelly, etc. HE is a protectionist. Traditional Republicans scream that protectionism is wrong and bad. HE has built the Wall that the Republican House and Senate refused to fund - he did it by taking money from the military and making it a military project.

And next up, Trump is going to put universal health care in place. He's going to get coverage for the un-covered, and you can bet that part of that will be an expanded government program.

Trump has driven up the deficit with military spending, mostly, just like Reagan did. He has not cut any social welfare programs at all. Republicans used to scream about deficits, but Trump has silenced his party on this.

THAT is why Trump is so popular - he's a populist. Traditional Republicans hate populists. Trump is more popular than Democrats, because he put working people back to work and ended free trade with China, and drove out a million illegals. He has effected a hostile takeover of the Republican Party and has simply crushed out traditional Republican values in favor of heavy spending that increases jobs. Populism, not economic restraint, and not free trade.

Trump is victorious over both the Democrats AND the traditional Republican party. Most Republican politicians have abandoned traditional Republican positions because they want, most of all, to WIN.

And that's fine by me. Most Republican politicians are not populists. Most don't want friendly relations with Russia. Most don't want a Wall and don't want salaries to go up because companies are forced to hire American workers. Most are not protectionists. But Trump is a populist and he, not they, won the election and dominates the party. Most have followed the leader. Ryan wouldn't - so he's retired. The Bushes fought him, and are nowhere to be seen anymore. Romney fought him, and stands alone, ostracised.

Have the Republicans changed and become populists? Not on your life. But they want to win, so they follow Trump. Which is a good thing, because Trump is RIGHT about all of those policies that the Republican Party has been wrong about for years. As long as he is in office, the Republicans will be advancing his populist agenda. The Democrats OUGHT TO BE, but they are so filled with wild hate that they don't. So they lose.

Go Trump! I can hardly wait to see the Democrats lose the election, lose the House, and for Trump to push comprehensive health care reform. It's the final piece of his legacy.

Oh, and he telescoped at the SOTU: Venesuela's government will be gone by November.

"...NEITHER party listened..."

Which is exactly why the Tea Party grew out of nowhere and I think Trump is the first candidate to possess the gravitas to corral that movement into his very own foot soldiers...MUD

I hope Trump's legacy is a downsizing of the DeeCee Swamp in the process of balancing the budget and paying down the Federal Debt. Both parties have been ignoring the $Trillion annual deficits, and only Trump has the gravitas to take this on. However, I see little value in making it an issue before November...would just be too much focus on what will be cut...MUD

Trump will continue to expand debt. Military buildup, a signature feature of his regime, is very expensive. The economy is growing, and taxes are flowing in, but debt is growing faster.

Trump will focus on reforming health care in his second term, and that will further expand spending.

The only way to balance the budget is to increase taxes on the very rich - not crushingly.

Spending is out of control and can be cut accross the board...no way anybody can convince me otherwise. Will a "populist" like Trump do it when it will be politically difficult? Definitely not in his first term...and while you are probably correct about the spending, I still retain some hope that 2nd term Trump will surprise us...MUD

We need to take back the House. They're in charge of the spending. Trump has had to sign their bills because he needed to get wall money, etc. He had little choice.

I can't wait to see him in action once the election is over! He'll rip into that Swamp like a F5!

Absolutely agree about retaking the House...not only will it assist in getting some decent legislation passed and enacted, it will take RE- Impeachment off the table...MUD

AND retaking the House will allow for vindictive search-and-destroy revenge prosecution of Democrats, as they SO RICHLY DESERVE after their behavior for the past 4 years.

No need to be vindictive, the House will simply be undertaking their Constitutional oversight powers to rid TheSwamp of some of the more damaging snakes, gators, and RATS...LOL!

Regards...MUD