Republicans are not dismissing Donald Trump yet

HIS Boeing 757 plane landed in Cleveland late on Thursday night last week. One of the world's most famous business magnate and reality television star, Donald Trump (aka "the Donald"), had arrived, taking time out of his otherwise very busy schedule to debate nine Republican politicians vying for their party's presidential nomination. (Another debate featuring seven lower-tier candidates took place earlier in the day).

Unlike the other Republicans who showed up at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena for the first presidential debate, sponsored by FOX News and Facebook, the Donald wasn't relying on political strategists, media consultants and speechwriters to prepare for an event that would be watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers in the United States and around the world.

After all, as he reiterated once again during Thursday's televised debate, Mr Trump considers most of America's politicians to be "stupid". He didn't need any coaching and couldn't care less about how the political and media elites saw him. "I don't, frankly, have time for total political correctness," he insisted during a testy exchange with Fox News moderator Megan Kelley, who reminded him that he had once described some women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals". Mr Trump explained that he only made those demeaning comments about entertainer Rosie O'Donnell. And in any case, "what I say is what I say", he added.