WASHINGTON – Although he is paid to make sense of American politics, conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson admitted Sunday night that he is thoroughly confused by this election year.
"I am so bewildered by what is happening in American politics," Carlson, a Fox News commentator and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, a conservative news organization, said at a Washington reception sponsored by ReliaMax in advance of the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference. "I am so frazzled by it all."
Carlson said he is shocked by the rise of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) – two political gadflies.
Although he admitted his confusion, Carlson predicted that Trump will win the GOP nomination and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination. He then predicted that Trump will defeat Clinton in the November general election.
Carlson said he was shocked by Trump's victory in the South Carolina Republican primary Saturday night.
"He had nothing in common with the people of South Carolina," Carlson said.
Trump is vulgar, loud and aggressive, Carlson said, noting that is simply the opposite of the typical South Carolina voter.
Trump had a sharp exchange with Pope Francis last week over the construction of a wall between Mexico and the United States to stem illegal immigration. Nonetheless, Trump won Catholic counties in South Carolina Saturday night, according to Carlson. Those voters enjoyed the rawness of the exchange, Carlson said.
Carlson (pictured at left) said the Republican Party establishment is totally shocked by Trump's success.
"The Republican Party had no real idea who their voters were," he said. "They were totally out of touch with their own voters."
The emergence of Sanders, a Democrat who also is a socialist, also caught Democrats by surprise, he said.
"Bernie Sanders is as unlikely in the Democratic Party as Donald Trump is in the Republican Party," Carlson said.
Carlson admitted that he had a stereotypical view of Sanders.
"My view of Bernie was that he was a joke," he said. "You could buy him off with a duffle bag of weed in the parking lot."
Yet, Carlson said he attended a Sanders rally and found middle class voters, rather than the former hippies he expected.
In a more serious tone, Carlson added voters are tired of being lied to about economic issues and that they do not believe they are as well off as politicians say they are.
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