Donald Trump's lead in the race for the Republican Party nomination for president, is the result of a rising anger over the GOP's broken promises, Alan Keyes, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, tells
Newsmax TV.
"The reaction Trump is getting from the grassroots is a clear sign that the betrayals by the GOP — what I called the quisling leaders in Congress — haven't gone unnoticed," Keyes, a three-time GOP presidential candidate, said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"People in this country are angry and resentful … We are looking at a GOP that has constantly promised resolve, firmness on budget issues, on security issues, on matters that have to do with immigration and so forth. And on every front, they have retreated."
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A new
USA Today/Suffolk University national poll of 349 likely Republican primary/caucus voters, found Trump leading with 17 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 14 percent and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with eight percent and Sen. Ted Cruz with six percent.
Trump's rise to the top comes amid the controversy he ignited when he said that many of Mexico's illegal immigrants are criminals.
While his remarks cost him business relationships with NBC, Univision, Macy's and the PGA, all of whom severed their ties with the billionaire developer, they also won him support from Americans worried about border security and the Obama administration's immigration policies.
Some are also impressed by the billionaire developer's shoot-from-the-lip style in saying what other candidates won't. Keyes believes some of Trump's talk is overly cynical.
"Donald Trump is now speaking to that anger and resentment and exploiting it for his own purposes," he said.
"The sad truth however is that what I hear from him — it voices the anger, it voice the resentment.
"It doesn't voice the deep, serious concern that I've gotten over many years of working with people who were dismayed at the surrender of our sovereignty and our border security not because they hated immigration or hated immigrants but because they wanted to see this country secure and prosperous and they didn't want … false promises."
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