Ryujin
Legend
Yes, he likely "rebooted" it from Barnum

Perfect Republican candidate for the Republican base.
Many conservative intellectuals and journalists- like George Will- are basically saying explicitly that Trump espouses little or no true GOP ideals. They're predicting he's going to wreck the party.
Add to that the growing rift between religious Republicans who are generally social conservatives and corporate Republicans who are not, and things are looking "interesting" for the GOP.
Per this article, what Trump is doing is homing in on what the people who vote Republican want, rather than what the Republican party itself touts as its goals. This means he could shave off a good chunk of voters, just because the Republican leaders don't stand for what the people in their party actually want.
It is important to note that the GOP today is not one "the people". It is an association of a few different peoples, who have been more or less working together recently, but whose desires have been diverging.
It has occurred to the part of my brain that likes conspiracy theories that Trump's candidacy is his personal ploy to make sure the GOP does not win this election cycle. One possible logic goes like this:
1) Assume that Trump isn't an idiot. I know this takes some effort, but do it - the guy runs a billion-dollar empire, he must have some gears up there working.
2) Assume that he knows the value of his real estate.
3) Consider what happens to the value of that real estate as sea levels rise - no, you don't have to wait until NYC is under water for him to have an issue. Increased storm surge alone may damage a great deal of his property during his lifetime. And overall global economic collapse does not serve Donald at all.
4) Now consider that the GOP has been staunchly against taking any action about climate change.
It would seem in his own best interests for Trump to make sure the GOP does not stand in the way of mitigation efforts. And, he realizes he's in an excellent spot to split off part of the part of the GOP base that is most rabidly against actually discussing things, thus ensuring that the Presidency lands in the hands of people who want to act.
I did say it was conspiracy-theory level stuff, so don't yell at me for it.
Sounds plausible. I've had this niggling thought that Trump's plan was somehow to jack with the Republican side of the election. This could be a reason why he might do so.