America is in a serious political problem.
My suspicion is that Trump is not particularly popular among right-wing politicians or conservatives. However, according to polls in the newspapers, he is enjoying - still - v. high approval ratings. He has a large and geographically spread out contingent of loyal supporters that will vote for him. I think this comes from populists, not conservatives; and that popularity allows them to dominate the Republican party. And they tend to be fanatical & extremely loud about it (and the elected officials who follow him also tend to be similarly dumb).
We're in an age of American populism; and it's not clear how the American political system can return to "normality" any time soon. Trump is so far ahead in the polls that he doesn't need to debate with the other candidates in the Republican primary debates. That's ridiculous. According to Tim Stanley (below), they're just been sitting back, and pledging their support to him while - no doubt - hoping his campaign implodes under his legal woes.
The American two-party system serves the established party platforms. Most people don't fit perfectly in a given camp, and tend to pick the least worst option. Both parties have populists, and they used to side with Democrats, but have recently enjoyed the Republicans. They usually sat at the back of the bus with conservatives in the driver's seat. If Trump wins the Republican nomination, then the populists will be in the driver's seat. And his polls suggest he enjoys very broad support.
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