Special feature: Trump card or election chump?

I come home to Shrewsbury a couple of times a year. When I return, old friends and neighbours will always ask how I'm getting on across the pond.

"How's the weather over there? Have you brought us some sunshine?" or "have you found a proper pint yet?" You know, the usual pleasantries.

Often they'll tease by proclaiming: "You're getting a bit of Yankee twang, mon." Whatever! I work hard on maintaining my Shropshire accent.

Anyway, this Christmas, when I walked into the pubs in Shrewsbury, those same familiar faces had a different question: "So, what's going on with Donald Trump?"

Do normal Americans want Trump to be president? Have they lost their minds? Can he really win? I was inundated.

Donald Trump has shot to prominence on the back of several outlandish statements that have caused shock, controversy – and no doubt several raised eyebrows.

Here are 10 of his most famous statements:

• “All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”

• “One of they key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government.”

• “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”

• “It’s freezing and snowing in New York – we need global warming!”

• “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”

• “The point is, you can never be too greedy.”

• “My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.”

• “The other candidates — they went in, they didn’t know the air conditioning didn’t work. They sweated like dogs... How are they gonna beat Isis? I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

• “I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”

• “Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog and will do it again – just watch. He can do much better!”

If it's any comfort to you all, I've yet to meet an American who supports Donald J. Trump's bid for the White House – at least one who will admit it.

Yet Trump fans must exist, because he dominates opinion polls, trounces the field in Primary elections to decide the Republican Party's nominee and has 30,000 turning up to his rallies.

To the outside world, it doesn't look good. Watching BBC News at mum's house in Pontesbury over the festive period, the reports depicted a nation teetering on the edge of sanity. Most Americans I talk to are horrified by this – truly embarrassed at what the rest of the world is seeing.

The bookies have Trump as 1/12 favourite to win the South Carolina Primary this weekend, 6/5 favourite to earn the Republican nomination and 7/2 to become president.

What started off as a ridiculous joke has become less funny with each passing day. No-one thought it would get this far. Now there's little choice, but to take him seriously.

What's the appeal? Whatever you think of the billionaire businessman, his message is resonating with dissatisfied sections of the American public and it's worth examining why.

Somewhere buried deep beneath the offensive, hollow and inflammatory soundbites (and all that hair), are arguments that address some of Middle America's deepest (and darkest) concerns.

He's preposterously pledged to "build a wall and make Mexico pay for it" to deal with illegal border hopping, while enlisting a "deportation force" to toss out the 11 million undocumented immigrants, whom he routinely casts as criminals and rapists.

However, both sides believe the immigration system (of which I was a beneficiary, I might add) is broken with too many incentives to stay off the grid. He wants to stop all Muslims entering the country while the ISIS problem is tackled – a vow that made headlines around the world and probably an appearance in ISIS recruitment brochures.

That unilateral approach goes against the founding principal of the United States as a place where anyone can come for a better life, but a lot of people believe some level of additional prudence is required in the short term.

We all have friends and relatives who blame everything on 'all these bloody immigrants'. They're entitled to believe that. Personally, I sleep better knowing they'll never have the power to "send 'em all back." Trump can change that. He talks extremely tough on rebuilding the military so "no-one – and I mean no one – will mess with us," while he's aggressive on foreign policy issues and trade reform with China. It's music to the ears of conservatives who think the country has gone soft under Obama.

Obama himself has desperately attempted to introduce stricter gun controls to tackle the gun violence epidemic, but is countered by: "If you had more guns, you'd have more protection because the right people would have the guns" from Trump.

That sentiment is shared by millions of Americans, who cling dearly to their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Even as a guy from the countryside, I just sit there agape.

If you're looking for policy nuts and bolts, good luck finding it. He just says "It'll be brilliant, believe me," and, staggeringly, people are.

In US politics it's often said, whoever shouts loudest, shouts farthest, enabling extreme views to come to the forefront. Trump is loud, bombastic, unapologetically offensive and impossible to ignore. The spectacle is a TV ratings juggernaut and I can't… stop… watching.

Muslims, Mexicans, the disabled, war heroes, women, journalists, fellow candidates… it's getting easier to list the groups he hasn't offended. As Jeb Bush says: "he's insulting his way to the nomination."

Americans are sick of political correctness preventing discussion of real issues, much in the same way they are at home. They're tired of walking on eggshells through fear of causing offence.

In a perverse way his one-man war on political correctness is only boosting his appeal. Not necessarily because people are agreeing with everything he says, but with his right to say it.

American voters are sick of the Washington establishment – they've seen through the rhetoric and rehearsed speeches. They're tired of politicians serving corporate America, rather than the people they're elected to represent. Millions of Americans don't like the idea of a second President Clinton – (hence the rise of socialist Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side) or a third Bush (Dubya's little brother Jeb is also running as a Republican).

Such political dynasties tend to undermine the notion that anyone here can grow up to be the President.

By pushing himself as a doer unlike the "stupid," "weak" and "incompetent" politicians, Trump is masterfully channelling the frustration of discontented voters. He appeals on a raw level to people's anger and revels in stoking those fires.

In the US, reality TV is king and The Apprentice US boss, might just end up as the last lunatic standing. Really, it's a surprise it has taken this long for the Presidential Election to become a reality TV sideshow.

Rapper Kanye West has already thrown his hat into the ring for the 2020 race. People are laughing now, but it won't be funny when Kim Kardashian is the First Lady.

All-in-all it's enough to make you yearn for a quiet spot on the Shropshire Hills. I moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2010 after falling in love with an American girl, who is now my wife. My better half knows she shares my heart with Shropshire and one day we'll come home.

If Trump wins the presidency in November, we'll be back lot earlier than I thought.