The American news media love Donald Trump. He gets them ratings. If they show him waving his arms and ranting, they get viewers. They therefore pretend that Trump is a serious candidate because putting him on the airwaves making moronic and offensive comments is entertaining. But presidential elections are not reality TV. This is self-governance. And just as money is now making a mockery of American democracy, the news media's obsession with ratings is now making a mockery of American politics.

So, here's the question. Is Donald Trump is serious candidate for president? The obvious answer is, or appears to be, "yes." After all, he leads all of the other Republican candidates in the polls. So he must be a serious candidate for president. But let's take a closer look.

Donald Trump leads all Republican candidates with roughly 22 percent of Republicans supporting him. But only 25 percent of Americans now identify as Republicans, the lowest number, by the way, in more than a quarter-of-a-century. So what does that tell us? Well, Trump is the favorite of 22 percent of 25 percent of all Americans. Let's see, that comes out to 5.5 percent of all Americans. That means that just over 1 in 20 Americans supports Donald Trump for president.

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