Have you seen Trump's twitter feed? I've rarely seen such spew outside 4chan. Your average software engineer is more qualified, just by the signal virtue of having self control in public.

It's widely understood internationally that this is not normative US election wank.

I assure you, I'm not a Democrat either. I would probably be a Rockefeller Republican... if such a thing existed today.

Berlusconi was worse. Italy somehow survived.

Italy is in a world of hurt with 12%+ unemployment, a 37% youth unemployment rate, actual problems at the government level with the actual mob, corruption that would make your head spin, and a desperately shrinking economy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/why-italy-s-economy-is-a...

So no, not so much with the survival.

Both major parties denounce the other's candidates as "the most extreme ever" like clockwork.

Once that seed has been planted, confirmation bias does the rest.