trump will get more votes as an independent than he will as a republican because it will smash the partisan gridlock that sees 90% of the country vote based on letter rather than policy. that said, he's still unlikely to win - it's just the difference between getting 20% as a republican and 30% as an independent. the republicans do not have a monopoly on stupidity.

the biggest problem in the united states is the two-party system and the consensus-leading-to-gridlock that results. trump might be a frightening, lunatic fringe dipshit, but if he can break that system up then he's doing the world an invaluable service

if he can pull that base out of the spectrum, and leave a more moderate republican party behind, it should also help to pull the democrats a little to the left.

i mean, what you want is a four party system that has three serious parties that meet in the center and one to mop up the fringe and keep them out of the system. you need to get to three before you can get to four. but, it's clear where a trump-led "tea party" type party would sit.

while we're at it, why not convince bernie sanders to run as an independent? if trump opens up the spectrum, sanders very quickly becomes more competitive.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-dumped-from-republican-event-after-attack-on-fox-moderator-megyn-kelly-1.3184230