So I've spent the last 30 years living outside D.C. And at least since the Bush Sr. administration I've paid pretty close attention to politics, and have become pretty disillusioned with both parties. Basically as I see it every candidate we get from either side has the same flaws, flaws that Trump, despite being a very flawed individual in his own right, doesn't share.

First, every politician is a corporate whore. Campaign finance law basically exists to be super muddled, keep out 3rd parties, and disguise where any politicians money is coming from. We legitimately don't know who our leaders owe favors to, it's usually a lot of people, and it's definitely influencing policy. With Trump we know exactly where his money came from, it's going to be a lot harder for random lobbyist/backer to manipulate Trump. We've even seen this reflected in some policy ideas he's talked about like the changes to the tax code to close loopholes that he knows as well as anyone because he's used them himself for decades.

Second, if you think about the traits good leaders have had, from a historical figure you admire to a great coach or the boss you really liked, typically those people are straightforward and honest with people, speak their mind and stand up for what they believe in, are open minded but firm in their convictions, and tend to shine when making difficult decisions. I think the traits necessary to be a politician are the opposite of all that. To be a successful politician you have to hide your true thoughts and motives when they're at all controversial and instead give people what they want, you have to avoid tough decisions like the plague and stand for what no one is opposed to. Just look at political debates, no one answers any questions, they all talk and talk and say nothing. Trump seems to legitimately say what he thinks. He seems honest, even when what he thinks is pretty weird. He legitimately doesn't care if people aren't going to like what he has to say. He answers those questions in those debates, it's pretty refreshing.

I'd actually go so far as to argue that Trump is open minded. He used to be a Democrat, now he's a Republican, he's still very liberal on a large number of issues. He was on a Comedy Central roast and was a good sport about it. He's clearly capable of laughing at himself, which implies he's aware he may be wrong at times.

I don't think he's racist at all, though he's definitely more worried about terrorism than I feel is warranted. He's definitely an asshole, but I'm not interested in having him as a friend. George W. seemed like a genuinely nice guy and we invaded two countries, Obama seems like a genuinely nice guy and NSA spying and drone strikes are at an all time high. Maybe being a nice guy isn't that important to running a country.

Trump has been the victim of gotcha journalism and misquotation or out of context quotation pretty heavily recently, and I think people don't know what he really stands for. He believes some weird shit, but it's not all as crazy as it's made out. For instance his statements that made the front page recently on the internet were wildly misrepresented. He was asked specifically about ISIS' ability to recruit online and was talking about trying to take steps to limit that. To me it was obvious from what he said that he doesn't know much about the Internet, but to me what he said about "get with Bill Gates" that was so heavily mocked here was pretty clear in context, that he was saying he wants to meet with experts in the field and see what our options are. As much as it's been ripped I thought he was making a point mentioning Gates. Trump knows Bill Gates politically, and how liberal he is, and I think was implying it's a non-partisan issue and showing the angle they'd take, which was what the next line mocking people crying about freedom of speech was about. Trump knows Bill Gates is the last guy on earth who would want to filter the Internet and restrict freedom, that's the point in dropping his name. I'm far more concerned with the similar statements, from a more informed position, that Hillary and Obama have already made concerning freedoms and spying on the Internet.

TL:DR/summary: All that is not to say that Trump isn't a wildly flawed individual, and I can't say I think Trump would necessarily be a great president. I don't think he can win anyway, but I love what he's brought to the election process. He actually says what he believes in the debates, answers questions honestly, takes stands, and calls people out. He's also clean in a weird way when no politician is, because he was one of the ones buying the politicians in the past. I think there's a chance that if it goes far enough Trump's success can change our political climate and make candidates actually answer questions about real issues in the future. It probably won't but then I never thought he'd do this well to begin with.

Everything /u/immortal_joe said in his post