Donald Trump is so popular he's virtually guaranteed to reach the finals in the race for the 2016 GOP nomination, says conservative pundit Patrick J. Buchanan, who served as senior adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
"He is so strong now that unless there's something really disqualifying and explosive, Trump virtually is guaranteed to be the outsider, insurgent candidate going into the semi-finals and the finals for the Republican nomination right now," Buchanan said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"I can't recall an insurgent candidate or who was this strong at this point ever since say Ronald Reagan and he was even partly an establishment conservative candidate.
"Trump really moves toward the end of the finals here, or the semi-finals easily when we get to January, unless something happens."
Buchanan, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996, acknowledged that some people are calling the billionaire developer "the Pat Buchanan of our time," a reference to the fact of both began as underdog candidates.
"Of course we're very different men and we've had different experiences, different careers and different philosophies in the past," Buchanan said.
"But let me say this: Donald Trump started out raising two issues: massive illegal immigration across our southern border and trade deals that have deindustrialized America and basically built up foreign countries like Mexico and China at the expense of American workers.
"Those were the issues we ran on in the 1990s again and again and again. So sure I saw those issues and used those issues and he's using the same issues today. One real advantage is the American people have seen the consequences of the inaction of the Republican establishment in dealing with those problems."
Buchanan's remarks come as a
new CNN/ORC poll reveals Trump is easily holding his lead among Republicans likely to vote in the Iowa Caucuses.
Trump heads the pack with 22 percent, followed by Dr. Ben Carson with 14 percent, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with nine percent and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas with eight percent.
Buchanan is author of
"The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority," published by Crown Forum.