"Yes, he is," I replied.
Both of us have pretty much felt that would turn out to be the case since last September. If you understood the mood of the electorate, the cluelessness in that regard of his 16 Republican primary opponents, and the incredibly flawed lifetime criminal the Democrats were intent upon nominating, it wasn't really all that hard to see it coming.
Still, isn't it shocking? This one man, whatever you think of him, has completely overturned one of our two traditional major political parties, and essentially created a new one with a new mission by nothing more really than the sheer force of his will.
He has demonstrated conclusively that our national politics doesn't have to be about who hires the most expensive consultants, who raises and spends the most money, whose consultants are able to come up with the slickest campaign ads, and who can most ably recite their 5 major talking points in response to any question they happen to be asked. It's been this way for so long, we've all forgotten that it really doesn't have to be.
And think about what that meant this week for the Republican Party. This is now a party at which a speaker can get up on the stage, talk about how proud he is to be a gay man, and receive a roaring standing ovation. That is change.
The GOP is now a party at whose convention the nominee's daughter can advocate for more federal help for working mothers and receive a resounding round of applause. That is change.
The GOP is now a party whose revised voter base - who turned out in massive, record numbers during the primary season - has put its elected representatives on notice that the excuse-making in which they have uniformly engaged for not getting anything done over the last six years just won't cut it anymore. Going forward, there will either be results, or there will be new representatives getting elected.
All of this happened through the vision of Trump to clearly recognize the mood of the voters, and use that mood to his advantage through the force of his will. No one else can take credit for this.
His speech was not perfect, far from it. It was too loud, devoid of nuance, unsophisticated in its delivery. But the messages it contained were spot on, exactly what he needed to deliver in order to unite the GOP voter base behind him and begin to expand that base with clear, unambiguous appeals to the independents who will ultimately decide the election.
Naturally, all of the "analysts" at CNN hated it, which in this election season is a pretty sure indicator that it was extremely effective.
Trump will definitely get the bounce in the polls he needed out of this convention, likely enough to take a lead in the polling data next week. More importantly, he laid the groundwork to continue building on that bounce in the weeks and months to come.
"He's going to win." Yes, friend, he is.
