Don the Con making America white and manly again

The Donald (Don the Con man) Trump easily won the Oregon primary against foes who had dropped out of the race.

Yes, he did get nearly 65 percent of the Republican vote, which means that more than 35 percent of GOPers here still detest him.

Hillary Clinton lost by 14 percentage points and still got more votes, by nearly 20,000, than Don the Con did.

No matter, he's the GOP's guy.

Come November, he won't be Oregon's guy, guaranteed.

Nor will "left-coasters," California or Washington, be in Don the Con's camp. Nor will any other traditional "blue" state across the land.

As has been the case this century, the presidential election comes down to three states: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In fact a handful of counties in those states are the only battlegrounds left in this country. Pity the people in those states who have to endure the media and advertising onslaught.

If Hillary wins two of those three states, she'll be president by an overwhelming electoral college advantage.

But Trump will not go away so easily.

He believes he is the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, who brought southern Democrats and other racists firmly into the Republican camp. Trump claims his campaign slogan is totally different than Reagan's, which was "Let's Make America Great Again." Trump's is more emphatic: "Make America Great Again."

Then and now, the inference is clear: Let's make America white again.

It worked in 1980, but there are far more people of color in America in 2016.

By playing the race and bigotry cards in the most brazen way yet, Trump easily dominated the Republican field. White supremacists actively support Don the Con. There's even a slogan out there: "Yes, We Klan."

Even though many Republicans are racists and bigots, they believe Don the Con is being too gauche about it.

Don the Con's next target: Women in general and Hillary in particular.

He has offended and will offend, in words and deeds, women everywhere.

Many Republican women are fine with that. They don't mind that Don the Con is on his third wife, with a fourth one not  out of the picture. They apparently don't care that he cheats on his wives.

Hey, he's rich. That's still a selling point to many women and men.

Don the Con will channel the Republican war on women they way he channeled the GOP's racist heart in the primaries. The GOP honchos may cringe at Don the Con's crudity, but they'll still funnel millions his way.

This war on women, though, is not something cooked up by Democrats in the last 10 years.

On the contrary, a lifelong Republican activist, Tanya Melich, coined the phrase in her 1996 book, "The Republican War Against Women: An Insider's Report from Behind the Lines."

Melich attended every Republican National Convention from 1952 through 1996, except in 1984. She left the Republican party in 1998 over its negative attitudes and policies toward women.

It's hard to see how offending minorities and women will win Don the Con the White House.

Then again, this is America. Anything is possible.