As a non-American I find the Trump/Hillary rhetoric extremely weird. Many "liberals" seem to think Trump is Adolf Hitler reincarnate (which is absurd -- he's just a populist). Many "conservatives" seem to think Hillary is an "SJW" (which is equally absurd -- it's evident a lot of her more progressive stances are window dressing rather than deeply held convictions).

Trump is an opportunistic buffoon, Hillary is cold and calculating. But both really just want power at any cost. The differences are not even remotely as significant as voters seem to believe. Sure, they hold opposing views, but neither of them is a saint and neither of them is going to openly do stupid drastic things like telling civilians to murder other people in the streets.

I agree with everything you say, apart from a part at the end.

> ... and neither of them is going to openly do stupid drastic things like telling civilians to murder other people in the streets.

Sure, that's valid. But while I'm no fan of Hillary, she is, as you said, cold and calculating, which I posit as the major difference between the two. Trump is hotheaded and impulsive, and while we'll never see him (knock on wood) condone senseless killing in the street, he HAS expressed a plethora of outlandish statements (later retracted), so little out of his mouth surprises me.

This does not oppose your description of the two, other than Trump can say ~anything, Hillary won't.

Trump just seems to say what his target demographic want to hear. Take the last mass shooting, he came out with the classic rhetoric :

"If everyone had guns..." and the crowd cheered.

If his target audience believed that killing drug dealers was a good idea, Trump would say it.

True but what presidential nominees are willing to say has very little to do with what they will do if elected. The biggest danger of Trump is probably that he doesn't seem to have any consistent agenda.

Clinton seems rather straightforward: you can look back at her political career and what she did as Secretary of State to figure out where she's headed; you have no such luxury with Trump.

To be quite honest, yes, I could see him say that. But only because he seems to have little inhibition to say whatever comes to his mind without thinking of how people will react to it. But I couldn't see him enacting such policies. That's the important differentiator IMO. Let's also not forget being a president is slightly more involved than just saying things to make them happen.

Absolutely. Thank god for bureaucracy ;)