Take away the misogyny, racism and overall ignorance of billionaire Donald Trump, and you have a man who’s putting a spark back into politics. It’s amazing someone like him can gain 32 percent in the Republican polls, and not a single member from the Republican party can stop him despite their best intentions. Unless you’re one of the 22 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 who are actually invested in politics, presidential elections aren’t that exciting. In 2008, when Barack Obama campaigned against John McCain for presidency, we had something to be excited about with candidates promising genuine change for the country running in the general election and the whole nation witnessed the trainwreck of Sarah Palin.

But Trump is running a middle school campaign. While everyone else wants to talk about serious ideas and topics, Trump’s rebuttals boil down to “Shut up, you’re dumb” or “Look at that face, would anyone vote for that?” when talking about Carly Fiorina, making for interesting debates. A record-breaking 23 million people watched CNN’s Republican Debate Sept. 16, almost three times larger than the previous record. I can guarantee at least half of them tuned in just to watch Trump sling mud at the likes of Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. It’s the same mentality that makes people watch reality television. I couldn’t care less about what’s happening with the Kardashians, but I love seeing the moments where everything goes up in flames.

Let’s remember 2011: Trump announced his run for presidency and then accused President Obama of being an illegal citizen of the United States. So Obama invited Trump to the White House Correspondents Dinner, embarrassed him on national television and even let Seth Meyers have a few punches. Two weeks later, Trump announced he would discontinue his campaign with the parting words, “I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election” as reported by The Guardian.

But now it’s 2015, and we don’t have an Obama to stop Trump, instead, we have 14 Republican and five Democratic candidates with no idea what to do with him. We can’t just point and laugh until Trump goes away like we did in 2011, though I wish it was still that easy.

What in the world makes Trump so appealing to his supporters? In an August 2015 CBS News Poll, most Republican primary voters said Trump “says what he believes, rather than what people want to hear.” Despite Trump’s crudeness and willingness to openly disrespect women and Mexican immigrants, I understand where some of his support comes from. With Trump, people know exactly where he stands on issues, and he’s certainly not afraid of political correctness.  

I can only see Trump’s campaign failing if Republican voters get behind a handful of candidates as the race continues instead of spreading themselves thin through 14 other presidential hopefuls. A slight dip in Trump’s popularity polls shows cracks in his “Make America Great Again” campaign, revealing a lack of any real policy plans for anything other than immigration (but the Great Wall of Trump doesn’t strike me as a solid policy either). Who knows, maybe Jeb Bush’s $100 million  super PAC (organization that supports a candidate financially) will be able to put up a fight.