Donald Trump’s real threat is making extreme bigots seem moderate

[arenean]

From The Guardian:

The clown is no longer funny; the joke is now a sinister threat. Donald Trump has long been treated as a laughable absurdity, the generator of the occasional Twitter storm, a “only in America” caricature who simply could not be taken seriously. Yes, polling makes him the decisive Republican frontrunner with only two months until the first primary; in Iowa – one of the first states to choose – he has a 13-point lead.

But surely a campaign fuelled by idiocy, chauvinism and bigotry is doomed. Surely, as some speculate, he is a spoiler (consciously or otherwise) to help his friend Hillary Clinton. It would be like uber-troll Katie Hopkins becoming the Tory party’s frontrunner for leader.

You can stop laughing now. Donald Trump’s call for a “complete shutdown” of Muslims coming into the United States – including US Muslims abroad – matters, and not just in the United States, for three reasons.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/08/donald-trump-bans-muslims-us-comment-bigotry-racism-isis

[world wide wally]

1. This is what happens in a nation that lives in fear

Even if that fear is only generated by an addictive media.

[prouddemfromaustin44]

7. Well said

Sadly, more and more people in this country are being brainwashed by the RW media, buying into all the nonsense.

[yurbud]

2. if the GOP cakes Trump down it will be tough to get their base excited about anyone else

[yurbud]

3. after spending decades inflaming hate ignorance and fear you can't back down

And keep the lynch mob behind you

[uppityperson]

4. I have thought this also. GOP will get someone else who is bad but then can say "hey, look at Trump,

this other guy isn't so bad "

[T_i_B]

5. And true to form....

....professional troll Katie Hopkins has leapt to the defence of some flagrantly untrue comments from old fartface.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/katie-hopkins-donald-trump-is-right-about-radicalised-london-a3133971.html

Which has lead to old fartface describing the least respected columnist in the UK press as "respected". In any other politician that would be seen as an act of desperation.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/674936832010887168

[MBS]

6. sadly, this is spot on

From the conclusion:

The “Overton Window” is a concept that was born in rightwing American circles. It is a simple idea: everything within the window is seen as acceptable and mainstream, and everything outside is seen as extreme and fringe, but it can be shifted. With one ignominious intervention, the window has now been moved, and various anti-Muslim bigots can say: “Well Donald Trump has gone too far, but here’s what I would say instead.” They suddenly become the more moderate alternatives where once they would have been seen as themselves extreme. Mehdi Hasan has admitted to missing George W Bush because of the anti-Muslim shift that has taken place within the Republican fold since.
It wasn’t just what Trump said; it’s the fact his fans instantly cheered. . .

I'd only add that the shift of the so-called "Overton window" is not new. The Far Right has been steadily moving that window to the right since at least 1980. .. this is just the latest most outrageous shift .