Predicting Donald Trump would prevail over 15 other candidates back in May was perceived to mean I liked and admired him. I did not then. But, now that he has been the victim of unprecedented criticism from all sides -- Democrats, Republicans and media -- I admire his guts, and nearly like him.

Dyed-in-the-wool Republicans of every flavor -- conservatives, moderates, the Christian Right, Libertarians, Tea Party revolutionaries -- all have reasons to hate Trump, at least to hear them tell it. He's not an authentic Conservative. He's not a real Republican. I don't trust him controlling the release of nuclear weapons. He embarrasses me. He's dangerous.

For  the first time in 50 years, Democrats and Republicans agree on something. Some distraught  Dems are announcing they're moving to Canada if Trump prevails and wins the presidency, the same thing they said if Ronald Reagan won the White House. The good thing is Reagan swept into the presidency. Sad thing is the Democrats stayed here.

The majority-leftist broadcast media are annoying Democrats by setting aside their knee-jerk attack mode against any Republican or conservatives to make air-time to have Trump on-camera. Ratings and revenue appear to supersede sanctimonious ideology. And over at conservative Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch but still run by long-time rightist Roger Ailes, commentators are tripping over their own feet backtracking to support Trump after insulting and dismissing him as a viable candidate.  While Fox's Charles Krauthammer has changed course after reading the Trump ratings on the wall, nerdy Republican Fox contributor  George Will, who has made the biggest fool of himself laughing at Trump, remains stuck in the primordial GOP mud.

However, National Review magazine, the original voice of post-World War 2 conservatism, founded by William Buckley in 1955, surpasses Fox TV in lunacy regarding Trump. Editor Rich Lowry dedicated an entire issue trouncing  him. As an editor myself, no matter how much I hated Trump, I would never allow  my publication to commit Seppuku in front of readers.

Lowry and staff gathered 23 conservative guest writers to pen vituperative essays "Against Trump" in one issue. The act was immature, hyperbolic and embarrassing. The fellow travelling conservatives they rounded up to contribute remind me  of the Duke 88, politically motivated radical professors on the Left who condemned the Duke lacrosse players before finding out  what went on. Similarly, the politically motivated National Review 23 on the Right condemned Trump without any idea what was happening in the country to explain his rise. National Review has made an ass of itself, and dragged 23 of their friends into the quagmire where they may sink into oblivion.

What is going on with Trump that the conceited elites on both side of the spectrum miss, is the phenomenon itself, the sea change in American politics. Voters are not swayed by the media anymore after 8 years of their pimping for Obama and abandoning all objective reporting guidelines to fake history and make him a black hero, assuring  his  legacy. The shock in newsrooms about the rise of Trump serves them right. Much to their surprise, Trump's unpredicted ascendancy proved  most people don't believe  them or like them anyway. The media just assumed everyone fell for their biased, make-believe, politically correct, multicultural worldview. Nailing the media "elites" in person, as Trump has done, is stand-alone justification enough to back him.

All that being said, no one pondering the phenomenon of Trump's astounding popularity has ever landed on one good reason for his success. Of course, everyone is learning  that Americans  are angry over the economy, the perception of  American weakness around the globe, Obamacare, the climate change agenda superseding reality, the threat of terrorist attacks, out-of-control immigration and  the dictatorial, politically correct socialism emanating from the Oval Office.  And people are anxious for the future after seven years of double-talk by Obama disguising an agenda that seeks to transform the nation to his personal definition of minority-controlled mediocrity.

But there is a basic intangible answer beyond anger at Obama. What the country is experiencing is pure patriotism. To the bien pensants on the Left,  "patriotism is the refuge of a scoundrel" (quoting Dr. Johnson), intimating love of country is for boorish, stupid people. That is how the progressive elites view their fellow citizens, repeating to themselves EM Forster's words: "if I had  to  choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend. I hope I should have the guts to betray my country".

The lightning coursing through Trump is sparked by good old love of country, something we had forgotten at our own peril listening to the smart-asses in Washington who think the rest of us are morons. Well, we morons have our candidate and aren't letting go.

Bernie Reeves, Editor & Publisher, Columnist, Founder, Raleigh Spy Conference